Scoring that discounted hotel room for the next trip for the weekend getaway that you have been waiting for ages to take was exciting news for your wallet.
Unfortunately, when you checked out of the hotel, the bill reflected that the discount did not even make a difference.
Quite the opposite, the bill was enormously ridiculous and you are now irate.
Extra fees are quite often unavoidable, for instance taxes, for the vacationer.
Taxes are a part of our living existence, though, and we are all normally used to the taxation structure when it comes to food, houses, and even hotels.
But, when it comes down to undisclosed fees that are added to the bill at a hotel, it makes us stop and analyze the bill in depth.
There are questions that can be asked and precautions that can be made prior to stepping foot in the door of the hotel to make sure you are not scammed by the extra hotel fees.
Stay as far away from room service as possible.
As a matter of fact, unless the hotel offers a free continental breakfast, stay completely away from the hotel menu.
The hotel presents a menu for the convenience of the customers staying there, but the food is not obtainable at an economical price.
You are paying for convenience when it comes to the price of the hotel food, so take it upon yourself to hit a restaurant down the street instead of purchasing the food at the hotel.
If you are simply stuck on the fact that you do not have the energy to go anywhere other than the hotel to eat, and you end up ordering from room service, be sure to either pay when it is delivered and hold on to the receipt, or check the hotel bill carefully on the line item where your order is to ensure proper billing.
Using the telephone can quickly boost your bill to the sky level.
Local phone calls are not always free.
Check with the hotel about their phone policies prior to using the phone.
Quite often, the hotels will post the cost of phone charges right on the phone in the room for liability.
In this day and age, though, most people carry their own cell phones, so utilize your cell phone for as much business as you can, and try to avoid the hotel phone altogether.
Another item that might catch you off guard is the mini-bar.
This is the convenient stock of junk food and alcohol that the hotel places in your room to torture you with.
Most likely, you could walk down the hallway to the vending machine and get a candy bar for a fraction of the price than the one in the min-bar.
The alcohol is priced so ridiculously that you might as well be purchasing stock in alcohol.
Simply stated, make sure to stay away from the mini bar unless you're ready to pay exorbitant prices.
In order to avoid those little fees from adding themselves on your bill and sneaking up on you, be aware of what services are included and which will incur extra fees.
Ask the hotel concierge what fees you can expect to see on your bill before you ever check into the hotel.
Finally, straightforwardly ask the person at the reception desk what you can expect the final bill to be and which services are included in your stay while you are checking in to ensure that score on the hotel you found comes out discounted after all.