And they're not just for hotels. Cruise lines also are thinking fees might be an interesting way to scare up some extra cash by charging where no cruise line has charged before (at least as far as I'm aware)--the main dining room.
According to this report on Tripso, the main dining room at one line now is charging $14.95 for an "all-natural" steak. As Janice Hough says, "Supposedly, it is a trial to see if customers want “all natural” beef and that eventually the steak will be moved to the alternative dining room “Chops” that already carries a surcharge."
She continues, "Yeah, right. And if Royal Caribbean determines that people will pay extra in the main dining room, I am sure they will go back not to charging for anything there as soon as the trial is done."
Having never been on a cruise, I wasn't surprised to hear they charge extra for some things outside the main dining area, but for some reason I thought that everything in there was included. I wonder who/what/where else will be the next front on the fee wars?
Hey, maybe the rest of us can start charging fees, too. I'll write a good story for my regular salary, but if you want me to write a really good story, it'll cost you an extra really-good-story fee? Can you even imagine working that way? It'd be a career death sentence in my business.
Thanks to Bill Geist, one of my favorite new-to-me bloggers, for the pointer.