Change in rate for Sheraton booking

[Radio8tiv]

I booked a suite at the Schiphol Sheraton for a very cheap rate a few months ago for three people, for a booking in Feb. I just had a look in the app and looks like they going to try and charge me an extra 225 euro for an extra person charge, this was not on the booking initially and only Marriott hotels seemed to charge this fee (when I was researching hotels in Singapore at the same time), that is why I ended up booking the Sheraton.

I have a printout and emails of the price without the extra fee, how likely are they to charge me on the day? Or should I ring them beforehand to get this sorted? I think the charge only came about after the merger this month. I am elite gold if that helps me win the argument.

 

[Isochronous]

Take a look at the room description and see if there is any 'rollaway' bed fee. I had this issue at an Autograph Collection hotel in Europe recently where I booked a Junior Suite for 3 people, paid the prepaid price in full, but on arrival was told there was an extra EUR 80 a night "rollaway bed fee", despite this being a Junior Suite which has a sofa bed. This was explained to me as, in substance, a 3rd person fee and they printed out the room description page which showed the rollaway bed fee (which is a misnomer for a room which contains a sofa) but EUR 80 is within industry norms for a 3rd person so I didn't push it further, even though the total price charged when booking for 3 on the website made no mention of it.

I think they key is to simply not tell the hotel that there will be a 3rd person when booking a room that has capacity for 3 people.

 

[KitKat]

I think if you have a booking for 3 persons noted when you booked and in the confirmation email with the total price you should stand your ground.....

I usually have a look to see how much the total is for a booking for two and then for three to see what the difference is when booking to make a final decision as to how to configure the booking (1 suite or two separate rooms etc) - this will also alert you to the difference for the third person

Not unusual the price is different for a booking of 3 adults vs 2 adults despite the room being able to accommodate 3 adults easily

 

[Radio8tiv]

Thanks for the advice, I think I will try to just argue the point once I get there, the booking was for three adults and on an advance booking rate. I think the change came about from the merger this month, as Marriott seems they have a habit of charging for the extra person. The extra charge in this case is more then the original room rate. Checking the hotel page, no mention of a roll away bed fee, only fees mentioned are parking fees, and maximum occupancy of 4 with the king bed and sofa

 

[Isochronous]

Thanks for the advice, I think I will try to just argue the point once I get there, the booking was for three adults and on an advance booking rate. I think the change came about from the merger this month, as Marriott seems they have a habit of charging for the extra person. The extra charge in this case is more then the original room rate. Checking the hotel page, no mention of a roll away bed fee, only fees mentioned are parking fees, and maximum occupancy of 4 with the king bed and sofa

Print copies of everything so you have it all on hand - that way they can't weasel out with some confected excuse.

 

[Radio8tiv]

Print copies of everything so you have it all on hand - that way they can't weasel out with some confected excuse.

If this forum has taught me one thing, it is to take copies of everything. I do it for credit card apps to hotel bookings, bonus offers to statement credits. I take a paper copy of all the bookings with me as well as upload all the documents to the cloud (one drive) for easy access on the go.

 

[thatsthatmattressman]

The 'old' websites were not good at showing these additional fees but the new Marriott site is much better now. Are you sure at no point you saw messaging on the site that said you would get hit with an extra charge? This is very common in Europe (and some other regions) and I am rarely not hit with it. You can see the 'new' site is better at displaying the detail - previously especially SPG.com it would rarely be factored in to the total and often tucked away in to a notes field often barely visible. Sometimes you had to go to the hotel's main page and look up policies.

 

[Radio8tiv]

The 'old' websites were not good at showing these additional fees but the new Marriott site is much better now. Are you sure at no point you saw messaging on the site that said you would get hit with an extra charge? This is very common in Europe (and some other regions) and I am rarely not hit with it. You can see the 'new' site is better at displaying the detail - previously especially SPG.com it would rarely be factored in to the total and often tucked away in to a notes field often barely visible. Sometimes you had to go to the hotel's main page and look up policies.View attachment 150208 View attachment 150209

Nothing on the website when I booked and nothing in the email confirmation.

Actually just checked again, and Marriott must be having some major issues on their site, couldn't find any of my bookings and had to search for it manually, maybe the merger is causing headaches. Marriott is now going to charge me only the 75 euro extra, which was 225 euro extra two days ago.

 

[Isochronous]

I also had a redemption booking at JW Shanghai made online simply disappear into the ether so when I arrived on check-in there was no record of it...!

 

[Radio8tiv]

So a final update, I stayed at the hotel and upon arrival was ready with all my paperwork. I did not need this as they charged almost the same amount ~5 euro more then my original booking due to changes in City taxes. Never once was the extra person fee mentioned. Happy days.

 

[LadyC]

Annoyingly, they seem to charge the 3rd person fee for young children even though according to the terms and conditions they won't. Have managed to circumvent so far by booking through a travel agent.