Meeting planners no longer have to worry about their attendees being zapped with an energy surcharge from your host hotel — if your hotel happens to be a Hilton or Hyatt, that is. The surcharge was instituted in some areas earlier this year to offset the rising energy costs that were draining hotels. Hyatt, which led the pack by announcing in July that it was dropping the surcharge, said in a statement that the decision “was based on apparent stabilizing of energy prices as well as input from Hyatt's hotel owners and guests.”

Hilton agrees. “Our evaluation of energy prices in the markets where the charge has been in place indicates that energy costs appear to be stabilizing,” says Dieter Huckestein, executive vice president, Hilton Hotels Corp., and president, hotel operations owned and managed, of his chain's decision to drop the surcharge as of September 1.

Marriott and Omni Hotels are expected to follow suit over the next several months.