Drip Pricing: A Fee Guide to Hotel Taxes & More

In today’s competitive online shopping environment, companies have an incentive to show the lowest price possible because they know that a consumer’s hunt for the best deal is only one tab and Google search away. However, the price displayed might not be accurate with what the consumer sees during checkout, leading some to wonder if this practice has gone too far.

What is Drip Pricing?

Drip pricing is most likely to be discovered in industries where price is one of the most important purchasing decision factors. The whole price of the item or service in question is revealed gradually as a method of trying to make the investment seem cheaper than what is really is. Drip pricing is often found in online situations where people shop around, such as purchasing travel.

Advertised vs. Reality

Logging onto a website and seeing a low fee to rent a room or grab an airplane ticket makes that person much more likely to purchase right away. After entering all the necessary information, however, the price viewed at the end of the process including all fees and taxes can be much higher than expected.

If a hotel room is advertised as $99 per night, but the actual checkout puts the total closer to $139 because of local taxes and resort fees, a consumer might feel duped into thinking they were going to pay closer to $99.

Drip Pricing Examples

There are several different kinds of drip pricing examples that can influence the total price for what someone spends when purchasing an item or service. Most examples of this are found in the hospitality industry such as baggage fees, taxes, seat selection fees, and other expenses that consumers might assume are usually part of the process of booking an airline ticket.

In hotels this practice involves showing a very low price for the room without explaining that gym or pool service, resort fees, hotel taxes, or local taxes will make the price much higher when all is said and done.

Many times, companies will go out of their way to list these fees in fine print or won’t display them until the checkout hoping that the customer will have already invested their time in preparing to buy and will just go through with the process anyways.

Regulations

Some consumers have started to fight back against this practice. One recent example includes a lawsuit against Marriott claiming that the company attempts to conceal their price and then tacks on an “amenity fee” or “resort fee” later.

Multiple attorneys general at the state level have been at the forefront of arguments over whether this practice should be prohibited. Throughout Europe and the U.K., there are already some laws forbidding this kind of practice and requiring companies to list details about the total cost or taxes charged from the outset.

Do you think that you’ve been a victim of drip pricing? If so, you could be part of a growing pool of consumers in the U.S. who believe this is a violation of their consumer rights.

If you stayed at a one of the Marriott group hotels and were charged unexpected fees that raised your rate higher than the advertised price, you may qualify to participate in a FREE Marriott hotel fees class action lawsuit investigation.

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This article is not legal advice. It is presented
for informational purposes only.