Guest left stunned after hotel charges him for electricity usage and dubs it 'energy recovery fee'

It has become increasingly common for people to be charged subscription fees for items that were once owned outright. However, some charges or add-ons seem unreasonable or even hard to believe could be legal. A person found themselves in a similar situation when a hotel they were staying at charged them an extra fee for using a credit card to pay the bill as well as an additional charge for electricity usage in their room. The guest, @storewanderer, took to the traveler's forum, FlyerTalk, to ask if such fees were valid.

The guest shared that they stayed at the US Holiday Inn Express in Elko, Nevada, using 100% of their credit card reward points for the room rate. However, the hotel informed them of an additional $12.95 energy recovery fee and a 3% credit card surcharge. The guest was surprised, as they had never encountered such charges before and wondered if this practice was permitted by InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), or if others had experienced something similar. "I've redeemed hundreds of rewards nights all over with these programs and I have never had to pay a fee like this," they revealed.

In an update, the customer added, "I was going back through some old records and about 12 years ago when I quit messing around with the Choice program and did full redemption of all of my points, I did find two different rural Comfort Inn 100% points for the rate redemptions with Choice where I was charged a $2.95 and a $4 'energy recovery fee,' so I misspoke when I said I've never seen it before... but I've never seen it with Hilton, IHG or Hyatt. I seem to recall some properties that tried to charge me this 'energy recovery' fee in the past when I was paying for the rooms (pretty sure those were Choice or Best Western) and when I called them out on it at check out, they waived it."

People in the comments of their original post had some advice to offer. Many also did a little digging and found more information about such charges and whether they were legal. @Jon wrote, "I don't know if it is permitted by the rules, but it is definitely unusual. If there is any other IHG option in the area, I will choose a different property rather than pay this junk fee as a matter of principle. Even if there wasn't another IHG option in the area, I would be tempted to skip this property, regardless and stay somewhere else. Oh wait, they renamed it a resort fee. Now that is okay... Not."

Another person pointed out, "They bury it in the reservation confirmation either way. I find it suspicious that they do not have the Energy Recovery Fee included in the total price that is on IHG when you book. They mention it but do not include it in the total. This has me suspect that it is not okay by IHG and they are sneaking it in. It seems if you make a money reservation, they just hit you with the 3% credit card surcharge in the quote on the IHG site, but then in the comments, they mention this 'energy recovery fee.'" @Travelingdesuz remarked, "I would avoid a place doing this on principle--especially a HI Express. I am not paying their fees; that is what the $180 room rate should include. Points should be it. Period. Thank you for naming and shaming."