Hotels, other commercial buildings, and even homes can save money by making energy-saving green investments, and there are government programs that provide subsidized loans to support these investments. The selling point is that the owner saves more money than the improvements cost, and government subsidies tip the scales even more.
The loans can be paid back as part of the property taxes. Two months ago I wrote about a Marriott hotel in Missouri charging guests a fee to cover property taxes, and imposing a fee on award nights even though points stays are supposed to include all taxes.
It turns out that the guests at the hotel are also being billed for their property taxes. They're adding a 7.5% tax to room rates to make it seem like it's a tax on a daily rate that the guest is paying. The fee is described by the Curio Collection Tulsa Club Hotel.
The hotel invested in the building to reduce energy use. They're imposing an add-on fee to improve revenue and save money. That makes it sound like an official tax, and is misleading.
According to the Department of Energy, a property's debt is tied to the property and not to the guests.
The hotel claims to have reduced their energy use by 40%. They make money on the difference between the cost savings and subsidized loans. They are imposing a fee and misleading guests about the program.
The Marriott Courtyard Jefferson City doesn't have a resort or destination fee, so it adds $4.90 to award bookings. The website doesn't tell you what the fee is for. It's really quite interesting.
In hotels.
The Westin Houston Medical Center adds a fee to guest bills. It's impolite to question anything that's framed as a charge for building maintenance, because you're supposed to accept a hidden add-on.
In hotels.
MCR Hotels is the fourth largest hotel ownership group in the country with 125 hotels in 34 states. The CEO says that hotels need to move to an a la carte pricing model based on their success.
In hotels.
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