Sneaky Add-Ons Fleecing the Road Warrior

July 16, 2007 — -- It really is a jungle out there, and we who travel for a living are pretty savvy about staying at the top of the food chain. Whether protecting your own little company or watching your employer's budget, you arm yourself with your laptop and a host of travel sites to help you zero in on the best bargains.

Stalking the lowest rates through the tall grass of competing airlines, car companies and myriad hotel chains, you slowly close in for the kill, pulling the trigger at last on that great rate as your credit card number rockets through cyberspace to seal the deal.

Congratulations, you've just been had — again. That $45-per-day rental car is going to cost you $110 per day, and that airline ticket to get to Fernortin Falls is actually $45 more than you were told, and the city fathers of Fernortin Falls have discovered that they can tax the marrow out of your hotel room and add on an additional 20 percent just for the privilege of sleeping in their city.

Yes, it's true: Irritating add-ons and additional taxes have been around for decades. But the practice of adding on add-ons and trying to hide them is accelerating out of control, and the companies you trust to show you the true price of their products and services are increasingly engaged in a conscious attempt to hide or understate that final price, for fear you'll take your business elsewhere or decide not to rent or buy in the first place.

There's a word for that in American jurisprudence, by the way. It's called "fraud."

What travel sites, rental-car companies and hotels often fail to make clear — that's the most charitable explanation, by the way — is the increasing percentage and type of add-on charges you'll pay with the final bill for the services they're hawking. The additional items are pawned off with obscure titles such as "airport taxes" or "concession charges," and in many cases (especially overseas) they can double or even triple your final bill.

For example this month in Amsterdam: An advertised 26-euro-per-day car rental sounds great, until you add the 47 euros charged for the privilege of renting at the airport in addition to the 19 percent local tax.