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Michi's Guide to Hotel Incidental Fees.

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Mahou Shoujo Michi:
So~! It'll be awhile before hotel registration opens up, and that's just fine.  We're all hopefully, relatively patient people.  However there's one topic that seems to come up often, and drop kick new con-goes, as well as some older ones.

That is the hotel incidental fee, known here on in as the HIF, because acronyms are fun!

Now I know what you're saying "Fees?! They're already charging me $99 plus tax per night, and they want to add on fees, what for!?"  Well my friend, it's to make sure that you, their guests, does not act like a hyperactive mentally challenged monkey.  You see, some people have the mindset that since it's a hotel, and not their own place, they can do whatever they want to it.  After all, they have house keeping, right? WRONG.  People steal blankets, towels, washcloths, use permanent hair dye in sinks and showers, etc.  It's not pretty.  I once saw a mattress hanging out of a balcony window.

So in short
What the HIF covers: Possible damages to the room
What the HIF does not cover: Room service, PPV, Internet.. these are all separate charges on your final bill.

But fear not, my monetary challenged friends..the HIF is a deposit! Meaning that, providing you do not draw on their walls with Sharpies or other such tom-foolery, it will be refunded!

So why is this a problem?  Well the problem is in the method a lot of people, especially younger people, chose to pay for their hotel room.  The debit card.  Now! Don't get me wrong, debit cards are handy pieces of plastic to have in one's wallet, but for hotel reservations they're potential death traps for the unprepared.

Let's say you're going to NDK for the full weekend, two nights. Let's also say you have a budget of $300.  You have an regular $89 a night room, and you know the tax is 14.85% a night.  $102.22 for two nights=$204.44.   You brought your food from home, so you think "I have $95.56 to spend in the dealer's room and artist alley."

Not so fast! Remember that HIF? Well at $25 a night, that means you have to tack on an extra $50.00 to your final room bill.  Making it $254.44.  That leaves you with only $45.56 for your shopping.  Meaning that print in artist alley you want? That moe-moe figurine, that DVD box set? Those could all potentially put your bank account in the negative, which is never a good thing.  Banks don't like it when you're in the negative, they charge you for that.

You see, when the hotel receptionist swipes your debit card, your bank doesn't know you're at a hotel, it doesn't know that you'll be checking out in a couple of days and that extra $50 is a refundable deposit.  It simply says 'Okay this money is now unavailable' it ties up your funds.

Simple way to avoid this? Pay with a credit card.  "A credit card.. are you mad?! Credit cards are evil.. they cause debt and steal your left sock!"  Well yes, credit cards can be bad, they can also be quite good if you're responsible with them.  Think of your convention going as a way to build good credit!  My advice: Credit card for the room, cash and debit cards (while knowing the balance on the card!) for everything else.


** There's also the option of paying with cash, but I have no experience with paying for an entire room in cash, and from what I hear, more and more hotels aren't keen on the idea of guests paying with cash only.  Perhaps a more experienced person could fill us in on cash only details.

So that's it! Sorry I rambled on so much, but this seems to be a topic that comes up quite a bit.  Also, all of this is from my own experiences only.  To my knowledge it's correct, but someone could very well post "Actually.."

Ciao my loves~ ♥

The Ronin:
Excellent information Michi! Now let's just hope that more will read this.

allpowerfulbob:
Your best option is to budget for the incidental fee no matter what. Do not count on your money coming back in a timely fashion. Banks will wait up to 10 business days (read 2 weeks) to refund your money into your bank account after it has been refunded. This is so that they can earn more interest off of your money while it sits in their bank accounts instead of yours. So if you budget for the incidental fee you won't run into any problems with overdrawing your account either during the convention or for the 2 weeks afterward.

We normally pay in cash for hotel rooms whenever we stay, but because you have to reserve the room with a credit card (or debit) many times this can cause a problem. We have been double charged for rooms several times, because we paid in cash but the hotel did not update their records and so they charged the credit card on file for the stay. Even when this happens and you speak to the manager, they are the only ones who can refund your money, it can still take a long time to get your money back. This is all because the hotels have their own billing periods where they correct their records, then you have to deal with the up to 10 day period for the bank to refund your money I mentioned before.

I would recommend that if you are planning to pay in cash, and have a debit card, use the card to reserve the room and keep the cash in your account and consider it spent. Once again so that you do not overdraw your account.

Breanna:
I payed for the hotel with cash. Never had any problems with it. Besides, they still had my card info in case we did do something with the room.

Freya1991:
I've always used a credit card for the hotel room (mostly because cash would go towards meals and other stuff).~

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