Hilton Hotels Newspaper Fee Class Action Lawsuit

A federal class action lawsuit claims Hilton Hotels is pickpocketing unsuspecting hotel guests one quarter at a time by charging them a 75-cent daily newspaper delivery fee, even if they don’t ask for a newspaper and even though they “reasonably believe” that the newspaper is free.

The Hilton Hotels class action lawsuit says the hotel company has been perpetrating this “scheme” for years, in which they supply its hotel guests with a newspaper that is delivered to the door of each guest’s room. This is done as standard operating procedure, without any request on the part of the guests, the class action lawsuit states. This leads to the “reasonable assumption and expectation” of hotel guests that they are not being charged for receiving these newspapers.

The Hilton Hotel newspaper fee class action lawsuit goes on to say that the 75-cent fee is “disclosed” unfairly and fraudulently in a manner that conceals the charge. “The newspaper charge is inconspicuously placed in the paper sleeve in which the guest’s room card is placed upon check-in…[and is] written in extremely small font which is difficult to notice or read.”

The Hilton newspaper fee class action lawsuit is brought on behalf of a national class of all U.S. residents who stayed at one or more Hilton Family Hotels and were charged $0.75 for a newspaper they reasonably believed was being provided to them without charge. It is seeking restitution and damages for Class Members for Unfair Business Practices, Violation of the Consumers Legal Remedies Act, and Unjust Enrichment.

The case is Rodney Harmon v. Hilton Group, et al., Case No. 11-CV-3677, United States District Court, Northern District of California.