Lisa O'Neill of Boston doesn't want to hear the excuses. Fifteen dollars for an hour of sweat. Often, the littlest fees bother vacationers the most. Apparently, he wasn't the only one irritated. Tuckman says the donation charge, which started popping up on bills last May, has been eliminated at U.S. hotels.
Hoteliers say some of the new fees are simply responses to the increasing demands of customers.
A growing number of travelers, for instance, are spending hours in their rooms on the Web. One of the most hated fees is the charge for calling a toll-free number. Calif. Also drawing criticism are the proliferating fees to receive a fax. Even Hanson, paid to watch the industry, was tripped up by one. He recently stayed at a hotel that had started charging by the page, and when his office accidentally sent him the same fax over and over, the costs ballooned.