Marriott Made Millions off ‘Deceptive’ Resort Fees, D.C. Attorney General Charges

Marriott International made hundreds of millions of dollars off the much-maligned practice of charging resort fees, recently unsealed documents allege from the Washington, D.C., Attorney General’s ongoing lawsuit against the company.

D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine first sued Marriott in 2019 for hiding the real price of a hotel room through the practice of resort fees, an added price on daily rates that isn't initially showed online for what is supposed to be services unique to that property. These fees, even charged on non-resort locations under other names like amenity or destination fees, are an industry practice owners love as a way to boost revenue and profits. Guests tend to loathe as a bait-and-switch tactic. 

Marriott made at least $206 million off the practice just from its self-managed resorts since 2012, according to depositions from the ongoing lawsuit. The company itself made $17 million from the practice in 2019.

“As alleged in the complaint, Marriott is taking advantage of consumers by purposely misleading them about the price of rooms just to increase the company’s bottom line,” a spokesperson from Racine’s office said in a statement. “AG Racine filed this lawsuit because of these facts – and now we have them confirmed by executives at the company and from the details about the tens of million