$1.55 billion in hotel fees

That's what the hotel industry scored last year: $1.55 billion in fees for all those things that used to be bundled into the room rate. I found this particularly disturbing:

For example, if you take a can of soda from the mini-bar in your room, you might pay up to $2.50 for the drink - plus a restocking fee of as much as $5.95, [Bjorn Hanson, one of the nation's leading hospitality experts and an associate professor at New York University] said.

Is it a good thing that they've only risen half a billion dollars in the past six years?

(Thanks to Joan, leader of the MiForum listserv, for the pointer!)