InterContinental New York Times Square adds a ‘resort fee’

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

The InterContinental New York Times Square, a popular choice for Head for Points readers, has become the latest New York hotel to add a ‘resort fee’ to its rates.

According to the website:

The Daily Destination Fee of $30.00 USD plus applicable taxes allows our guest to enjoy: $25 Food & Beverage Credit per day, $15 Laundry/Dry Cleaning Credit per day, Premium High Speed Internet Service, Free Local & International calls, Gulliver Gate Museum pass, VIP pass for discounts at The Shops at Columbus Circle, Time Warner Center

If you use the credit against breakfast then you are almost even, although there are no shortage of places nearby to get a good breakfast for a lot less than $25 (including the diner used in Seinfeld, the name of which I always forget). You are in more trouble if you have already booked a ‘bed and breakfast’ rate as you are then arguably forced to eat in at night.

This fee is not made clear on ihg.com until the final booking page. Given that taxes are also excluded from the headline price, it is now getting a bit silly. You have the IHG website quoting you $620 per night which suddenly becomes $750 per night when taxes and the ‘destination fee’ are added.

Meanwhile, the lawsuit between IHG and the hotel owner is continuing. The landlord wants to dump InterContinental as the operator but IHG is resisting this. I would be wary of making any cash bookings for this hotel well in advance.

The other InterContinental in New York, The Barclay, does not have a ‘destination fee’ (yet?).

IHG Rewards update – December 2021:

Get bonus points: You can earn up to triple IHG Rewards base points with IHG’s new Autumn promotion. It runs from 1st October to 31st December. You can register here and our full article on the offer is here.

New to IHG Rewards? Read our overview of IHG Rewards here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on ‘What are IHG Rewards points worth?’ is here.

Buy points: If you need additional IHG Rewards points, you can buy them here.

You will get a 100% bonus when you buy IHG Rewards points by 4th January 2022. Click here to buy or learn more.

Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from IHG and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Category

IHG Rewards

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Tom1 says:

10 May10 May 07:36

On a similar note to resort fees….

Hilton Lake Como is charging to use sunbeds by the pool….

Price: 24 Euros per sunbed per day (if you purchase it up on check in)
29 Euros per sunbed per day
44 Euros per person per day Sunbed on the Terrazza + entrance at the Spa
50 Euro for circular bed ( 2 people) per day

So using the rooftop pool is free (the indoor pool in the shows us chargeable).
These fees aren’t listed on the website anywhere.

When a family room is 300eur+, it’s then another 90 EUR per day for three sunbeds!
- Alex W says:
  
  10 May10 May 07:57
  
  Outrageous. I’d be bringing a sun bed as part of my baggage allowance. Covered in cobwebs and snails from the shed. See how the hotel likes that!
- Anna says:
  
  10 May10 May 08:10
  
  Utterly ridiculous. Own towels and inflatable lilos are the future (and the lilo doubles up as a great pool/sea toy).
- Anna says:
  
  10 May10 May 08:59
  
  Someone ought to compile a directory of hotels which don’t impose these kind of charges and hopefully they would get enough extra business to make the rip-off merchants think again.
- Graham Walsh says:
  
  10 May10 May 08:59
  
  Wow. That is ridiculous. Dick Turpin!!
- Sussex Bantam says:
  
  10 May10 May 09:28
  
  That was also the case at the Hilton we stayed in at Giardini-Naxxos in Sicily – although they kindly waived the cost per towel for Gold members !
Chris says:

10 May10 May 07:39

I thought the IC Times and the main London one were going to stay owned by IHG (having flogged all their other hotels). What made them sell? And what is the dispute about?
Alan says:

10 May10 May 07:46

Certainly hope the Barclay doesn’t introduce such a fee (I’ve got an AMB cert weekend booked there for later in the year), although if they do I’ll be pointing out it didn’t exist when I booked so I won’t be planning on paying it!
ankomonkey says:

10 May10 May 08:04

OT: Has anyone here ever flown Ukraine International Airlines in Y? Any feedback?
- Chris says:
  
  10 May10 May 10:58
  
  Flown them a few times mid haul (LON-KBP; KBP-DXB). Absolutely fine with good service / equipment and sizeable sandwiches given out for free. Clean and safe and communication is good. Had one bad experience where a passenger who was clearly under the influence (of several things!) boarded the flight and sat in the row opposite me. Proceeded to swear and shout all the way back to London and was in need of a good shower given the absolute stink. I rather suspect that if it wasn’t for his (British) passport he wouldn’t have been allowed to board at KBP, and he certainly wouldn’t have in the UK. But whether that’s UA’s fault or the airport staff I don’t know. Depending on price would still fly them again.
  - ankomonkey says:
    
    10 May10 May 16:34
    
    Thanks for the reply. I’ve taken the plunge as the price was good and timings were better than most of the competition. Also flying mid-haul, so not too long if things go awry.
Alan says:

10 May10 May 08:18

This resort fee thing is going to come to a head in NYC soon. The City isn’t happy about it as the taxes are lower on resort fees than they are on rooms and they are losing millions of dollars a year.
- Andrew says:
  
  10 May10 May 09:13
  
  Create a 100% tax on the presented “value” of resort fees. So 30$ fee plus $40 tax.
  
  No resident of the City is going to protest about them.
Kathy says:

10 May10 May 08:19

Does that $25 credit actually buy you breakfast at the IC? I would have thought it would be more than that.
- Graham Walsh says:
  
  10 May10 May 09:11
  
  Looking online now breakfast is about £32 extra to be included in the room. Oddly picking a random date next month there is no option for a room with breakfast rate. There is an additional charge of £25.41 with no explanation of what it is.
  
  Also on the IHG app I hate their marketing of “Book anywhere else and you’ll overpay”.
  - Kathy says:
    
    10 May10 May 10:30
    
    The difference between room only and B&B is about £18 for some nights next week.
    Shocking the difference between the quoted ‘per night’ cost and the actual end cost – a £298 per night rate for 2 nights totals to £740!
    
    Expedia displays the cost for the same nights as £700 +$60 due at the hotel. My maths makes that about a £5 more than booking direct with IHG, which makes it the simplest and quickest way to get a reasonably accurate price. And, really, once you’re using Expedia and comparing prices with all the other luxury hotels in the same area you’re going to be tempted to book something cheaper – they’re shooting themselves in the foot!
Judge says:

10 May10 May 08:24

When first made available to book last year, Indigo Leicester Square was 50,000 points per night. It very quickly rose to 60,000 per night, long before the latest devaluation. In other words it was actually the same price as the IC Park Lane for a while. At least it didn’t go up to 70,000! I do think the price can be justified though given the location, since the IC is at the edge of the West End rather than bang in the middle. Can’t expect as big a room on Leicester Square.

P.S. Note some of the smaller rooms are windowless!
- Lumma says:
  
  10 May10 May 09:56
  
  Leicester Square is such a ridiculous place for hotel prices when you consider it’s the armpit of central London. The Premier Inn is often around £200 a night, so going off 0.4p an IHG point this is £240 worth of points.
  - Kevin says:
    
    10 May10 May 13:10
    
    It’s quite a good location. Perfect for Chinatown, Covent Garden, Portrait and National galleries. Theatre tickets booth. Falafel at Gabbys. If you’ve got kids you have the Lego store on your doorstep.
    
    If I was a tourist I’d rather stay there than Park Lane.
Tim W says:

10 May10 May 08:41

“Vueling … has launched a €29.99 sale (including booking fees and card charges)”
I thought card charges were illegal now?
- john says:
  
  10 May10 May 09:59
  
  Vueling were still adding ‘Airline Card Fee’ to them in January. I booked it through Expedia as the Vueling site wouldn’t take my amex and I moaned at Expedia who refunded the £4.12 of card fees!