I actually faxed this senator about the issue. When I was in Dallas last month, the Holiday Inn charged me $15 for an energy surcharge!!! $3 would have been great! ------------------ So, I took the million dollars and bought a steaam shovel.
I can hardly wait for other businesses to find out about this and follow suit. I'm sure that I'll soon be paying a $3 surcharge to buy groceries at Albertsons. And a $3 surcharge to see a movie at the UA is probably not too far behind. I'm sure Wendy's will be adding this fee to my combo meals soon, too. This energuy crisis fee is silly. These hotels have simply found a way to increase their profit margin while trying to convince patrons that it isn't their fault that prices are rising. Yes, energy costs have been more expensive in the last year or so, BUT there is no "energy crisis" in Texas. And I even doubt that the increased costs would equal $3 per room per night at a hotel (and certainly not $15 per room per night). I don't have a problem with a business raising its prices to offset increased costs (or just because they want to. It is a realtively free market). I just hate that they make up some phony excuse for doing it. ------------------ Houston Sports Board Film Dallas.com
I should be clear in that I paid $15 TOTAL for 3 nights. They just charged a flat $15 whether you stayed 1 night or 5. ------------------ So, I took the million dollars and bought a steaam shovel.
Add too this -- they are passing it off, almost as a tax, and stating a lower price for the rent. I really hate being nickled and dimed to death by taxes and fees. Utilities have been bad about this for a while -- You're phone or cable bill may not be too bad, but then the additional taxes, fees, surcharges, etc. can add 25-40%. Banks are also getting into it. My $24.99/mo cell phone ends up being $40 after all the fees, etc. I even looked at an apartment last year where they recently added a surcharge for water -- "We ask our tennants to pay a portion of the water bill." Something like $25 for two people, and add $10 for the washing machine, per month. She said it was only fair that tennants pay this, rather than the apartment. I told her that the tennants did pay for water, maintenance, etc., in a monthly payment called rent. Now hotels are jumping on the bandwagon. I majored in economics -- and it drives me nuts. If it's a market condition, then it should be included in the price. Either the prices for everyone in the market goes up, or companies learn to be more efficient. ------------------ Stay Cool...
Sigh. I don't know what's going on down at the Econo Lodge level, but I'd better not be charged for anything extra. (I didn't mind taxes on hotel rooms, etc., for pro sports arenas and the like while I lived in Houston, but now that I don't and actually have to pay for these motel rooms...) Energy crisis? Texas had better not be turning into California... and the water bill in addition to your rent... by Houston standards, it's a ripoff. By Austin standards, everybody does it and there's nothing you can do about it. Rents are a lot higher here. Nobody picks up your trash bag from outside your door. Some people get free cable, but some don't. It's hard for students here to get by without a roommate... Sigh. Why can't everything be free? ------------------ Isabel,clutchcity.net lurker since 1996 All your base are belong to Heypartner.
My college tuition jumped $3,000 for next year because of the energy crisis. I'm quite miffed about this, sense BC's infamous with its students for heating buildings when it's 75 degrees outside, and its completely unnecessary. GRRRRR... ------------------ I would believe only in a God who could dance. - Friedrich Nietzsche Boston College - NCAA Hockey National Champions 2001
Some hotels are now charging an energy surcharge -- to help cover the costs of Texas' "Energy Crisis." Is this right? Is it smart? Should electricity costs be a part of the room rental? http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/894432 May 1, 2001, 12:37PM Senator hacked over area hotel's 'energy crisis' fee By POLLY ROSS HUGHES -- Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau AUSTIN -- A state senator on Monday railed against the Doubletree Hotel near Houston's Galleria for charging guests an extra $3 a night and blaming an "energy crisis" in Texas. Sen. Kenneth Armbrister, who reluctantly paid the extra fee during a stay at the hotel last weekend, complained about it on the Senate floor during discussion of an energy bill. Energy crisis? What energy crisis? he asked again and again. It's not as if Texas is California, after all. "Now, we have hotels in this state trying to make an extra buck over something that doesn't exist in Texas," he said. Marc Grossman, spokesman for Hilton Hotels Corp. in Beverly Hills, Calif., said its Doubletree Hotels are not alone in passing on rising energy costs. "The fact is the word crisis means different things to different people," he said. "Energy costs at our hotels in Texas have gone up over 20 percent." Armbrister, a Democrat from Victoria, apparently went on the warpath as soon as he saw the hotel's posted sign. "It says due to the energy crisis in Texas, you will be charged an additional $3 per night per room," he told fellow senators. Incredulous, he asked the young desk clerk what the sign was all about. As Armbrister tells it, the clerk said: "Well, we're running out of energy in Texas." The senators chuckled. "Well, we're not running out of energy, and you can't be charging for something (a crisis) that doesn't exist," Armbrister said. "I just work here," he quoted the clerk. Sen. David Sibley, R-Waco, sponsored the electric deregulation bill in Texas that became law two years ago. He and House sponsor Rep. Steve Wolens, D-Dallas, prided themselves on avoiding the mistakes California made when it lifted regulations from the electric industry. Sibley said hotels in California began charging for their state's energy crisis -- including shortages so severe, residents have endured periodic blackouts -- some months back. "There is no energy crisis here," he said, although prices are up sharply. "Maybe they choose to pass the price on through and call it a crisis. To do it that way, I think, is misleading, to say the least." By the end of this summer, Reliant Energy's fuel costs are expected to rise 30 percent higher than a year earlier, a spokesman said. A quick spot check of hotels in Houston and Galveston turned up only one -- the Warwick -- that said it is charging $2.11 extra a night to cover energy costs. Several Houston hotels said they are not charging their customers a separate fee to cover utility bills. Representatives at the Houstonian Hotel, the Hyatt, the Four Seasons, the Boardwalk Inn in Kemah and the San Luis Resort in Galveston said they have not added energy surcharges to their bills and are not planning to do so any time soon. One hotel manager, who wished to remain unnamed, said the "energy crisis" fees are spreading across the country at large hotel chains as energy costs double and triple. "Mine has gone up two to three times. That's $100,000 a month," he said. Hilton's Grossman sounded miffed that Armbrister is making such a big deal about the extra charge, even asking for an investigation by the Texas attorney general's office. The senator also complained that Doubletree charged him sales tax on the surcharge. "It is purely an offset to expenses. It is not a revenue generator. Consumers and our guests have been absolutely understanding of our need to do this," he said. Chronicle reporter Greg Hassell contributed to this story. ------------------ Stay Cool...
Let me make sure I get this straight...you guys would be OK with the increase in price to cover the increasing energy expenses, as long as they disguise it or hide it from you in the total price?? HUH???? The fact is, energy costs have risen. Our lease in our office building for my business has increased....the cost of doing business has gone up. We have to account for that. So if I were to tell my clients why we had to raise rates, that would be no good?? That would offend them?? It would be better if I made no mention of it at all?? I mean, we're talking about energy costs increasing by about 1/3...that's pretty damn significant. Maybe that's not how you define crisis...but I can tell you right now, to a lot of my small business clients, that means crisis!!! ------------------
I went through my first rolling blackout today, over here in Folsom, CA. It SUCKS. Everyone is just sitting around in the dark waiting for the computers to come back on so we can get back to work (or CC.net as the case may be). Since the temperatures are just beginning to rise for the spring, I can look forward to many more ahead. At least they didn't send me home so I still get paid. ------------------ "Of course, thats just my opinion, I could be wrong" -- Dennis Miller
The issue I have with it is that they are hiding it in a surcharge. If they came out and said, "We're raising prices for our rooms to x amount per day". I wouldn't have a problem with it. I would know beforehand how much my room is gonna cost, instead of checking out and getting hit with this surcharge out of nowhere. BTW, I got my electric bill today. With us being in an energy crisis and all, I was suprised to find out it was about the same as it was last year around this time. ------------------ Founder and President of the Houston Homers Club(HHC) - Are you a homer? Join now! The Rockets will be NBA champions. Believe. [This message has been edited by Puedlfor (edited May 02, 2001).]
Puedlfor -- I understand what you're saying. Count yourself lucky on your electric bill...wish I could say the same. And as I mentioned,rent in our office building has gone up because of the energy costs. ------------------
