Resort fees, destination fees; call them what you want, they all stink. Hotels have a menu (except we don’t get to pick and choose) of junk fees that are attached to our bills for all kinds of “services and amenities” that used to be complimentary or something we could choose to pay extra for. I don’t think any of us really believe hotel claims about why they’re now adding on these fees. From what I’ve read, it seems like these fees enable hotels to still claim their rates are lower and also pay less to travel agents since commissions are paid based on the base rate, not the total rate.
Some of us though do have a work-around for these fees and I was reminded of this recently when booking a Hyatt hotel. As I was finishing up my booking the total rate for the night seemed so high that I actually noticed it. The taxes and fees came to 20% of the total bill.