Marriott Quotes Total Bill

Marriott International late last month introduced total trip pricing at all of its more than 2,700 properties worldwide. Marriott now fully discloses to its guests before they book a stay all additional charges—such as taxes and surcharges—that before were not factored into the total hotel bill, allowing travelers to dispense with the guessing game that they often face when settling a bill.

Whereas many hotel company Web sites list additional charges separate from the room rate or in small print, leaving it up to the traveler to figure out, Marriott's total trip pricing computes all fees. Meanwhile, other hotel companies, including Hilton and Omni, the Worldspan and Sabre global distribution systems and third-party sites Expedia and Travelocity have provided total hotel rate calculation for more than a year. Presenting total hotel pricing is something that Robert Mandelbaum, director of research information services at PKF Consulting, said hotel companies are offering to try to direct more traffic to their sites in lieu of paying third-party commissions.

With its huge worldwide footprint and Web presence, Marriott's embrace of the concept makes all-inclusive pricing the de facto industry standard. Marriott.com grossed $2.7 billion in revenue last year. "This forces hotel companies toward doing something like it," said Mandelbaum. "It's a great step toward disclosure and that alone will moderate any negative effects of additional charges."

"The whole thing with surcharges, taxes, resort fees—it's upsetting to people, but what irks people more is the disclosure," Mandelbaum said. "That's always been the big issue and this is a great step toward hotels disclosing everything up front." Added Maria Chevalier, vice president of hotel relations at BCD Travel's Travel Procurement Solutions division, "Marriott is known for being trend-setting. I applaud them in educating consumers about what their real cost will be."

Amy McPherson, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Marriott, said, "Total trip pricing will remove much of the uncertainty in planning and budgeting for an upcoming business trip by making pricing more transparent."