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(c) Elliott Publishing.

VCR Scam
ChrisCrossings · October 5, 2000

Q: I am flying to Honolulu and staying at the Hilton Turtle Bay Resort in Kahuku to get away for a few days in early September. However, my company informed me just the other day that I will need to study up for an upcoming project.

I asked the hotel if I could rent a videocassette recorder and they said they would put one in my room - for $75 a day.

I don't mind paying $75. But for each day? This is just insulting and proves hotels don't care about the needs of customers. I am a member in Hilton HHonors, but don't use it enough to have any leverage. Maybe I am being cheap, but for $75 I can buy a VCR and ship it to Hawaii.

The hotel doesn't want to talk about it. The assistant manager is a boy with a nasty attitude. Doesn't anyone care anymore about the hospitality one receives for paying good money for services? I don't think so.

-- Mark Flippen

A: You've stumbled across one of the hotel industry's favorite scams - whacking guests with outrageous rental charges.

Rental fees accounted for almost two percent of the hotel industry's revenues last year, according to a survey by PKF Consultants. While large hotel chains such as Hilton and Marriott generally regulate what their hotels can charge to rent hardware, the rules aren't always enforced. Looks like that's what happened here.

Sometimes you end up paying more in rental fees than you did on your room. A few months ago, I reported the story of Regina Berens, a guest at a Marriott property who was socked $800 a day to rent a projector. She declined.

I suggest you do the same. For heaven's sake, buy a VCR if you have to, but don't rent one. You might as well throw your hard-earned money out of the window if you accept the hotel's offer.

In fairness to the property, I have to note that oftentimes its rentals are handled by a business center that's outsourced to a third party. These centers are in it for one reason - and one reason alone - and that is to make money. They'll charge whatever the market will bear, and the hotel has little control over what it does.

Let me give you an example. A few years ago I stayed at an upscale New York hotel for a few nights. I needed to make a printout of the document I was working on, so I went to the property's business center. I asked one of the assistants how much it would cost, and he quoted a reasonable rate. So I proceeded.

When I got to the cashier, the same assistant quoted me a different price. Why? He'd "failed" to mention the cost of sitting at the computer while I reformatted my document. I balked.

What happened next surprised me. The assistant, who worked for a company that contracted with the hotel, began to haggle with me. "How much do you think it's fair for you to pay?" he asked. I suggested that maybe the rate he'd originally quoted would be the appropriate fee. He finally caved in.

I mention this story because it illustrates nicely how easy it is to get nickeled and dimed while you're staying in a hotel - even when the hotel chain has a stated policy against overbilling its guests. It's better to play it safe and leave the hotel and its business center out of it on your next trip.

Buy a VCR. Or just go to the nearest video store and rent one.

Christopher Elliott's column appears on Thursdays. All e-mailed questions to ChrisCrossings become property of Ticked.com and may be edited, condensed or republished at the site's discretion. You may reach Elliott at chris@ticked.com. Or visit his home page at http://www.elliott.org.