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United States Inches Toward Price Transparency
The United States has many unique, peculiar aspects to how it operates, but there is talk this week of substantial improvements to one of them. No, not the election system, the practice of hidden travel fees.
Some of it has been spurred by a creative new hotel fee just unveiled in Los Angeles. One Mile at a Time notes:
As noted by rambling man on FlyerTalk, it looks like some LAX-area hotels are adding a new surcharge to room rates. For example, when you go to the Marriott LAX’s website, you’ll see the following note, without a further explanation:
“Please note – A daily Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance Costs Surcharge-local fee of USD 10.72 plus tax will be added to the room rate.”
The Hotel Worker Protection Ordinance (PDF) is a Los Angeles city law regulating overtime work in the hotel industry and also requiring that staff be supplied with panic buttons.
Just a year ago, a settlement where Marriott promised to disclose full prices up front was being hailed as the beginning of the end for hidden hotel fees.
On the flip side, Airbnb has lately noticed that people are upset about hard-to-see fees, particularly cleaning fees, and has vowed to do slightly better:
Starting in December, we will begin rolling out the option to display total price in countries without existing price display requirements. Total price will include all fees before taxes and be shown in search results, as well as on the map, filter, and listing page.
That still leaves state and local lodging taxes, which can add up to 17% to the cost of a hotel booking. There is of course nothing but habit and a fear of scaring off bookings preventing conventions from taking the initiative and revealing their true room rates.
There may be real improvements coming for airfares, however. A proposed rule from the Department of Transportation is currently open for public comment:
The Department proposes to require U.S. air carriers, foreign air carriers, and ticket agents to clearly disclose passenger-specific or itinerary-specific baggage fees, change fees, and cancellation fees to consumers whenever fare and schedule information is provided to consumers for flights to, within, and from the United States. The Department also proposes to require these entities to clearly disclose passenger-specific or itinerary-specific fees for adjacent seating whenever fare and schedule information is provided to consumers traveling with young children on flights to, within, and from the United States, and make these fees transactable. The Department further proposes to require that carriers provide useable, current, and accurate information regarding baggage fees, change fees, cancellation fees, and adjacent seating fees if any to ticket agents that sell or display the carrier's fare and schedule information.
The comment period closes December 19th. If the rule moves forward, it is unclear when it would take effect, but the timeline is likely to be measured in months at least.
In Brief
The Uncanny Experience (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, September 16-17) has added Larry Houston and Cal Dodd as guests.
Event Calendar
Weekend of November 11-13
Novacon 51, Nottingham, UK
TusCon 49, Tucson, Arizona, USA
Windycon 48, Lombard, Illinois, USA
SFW XIII, Great Yarmouth, UK
OmegaFall 2022, Siren, Wisconsin, USA
New England Crime Bake 2022: History is Mystery (mysteries), Dedham, Massachusetts, USA
Dragonsteel 2022 (Brandon Sanderson works), Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
Flüüfff: Tropical Trouble (anthropomorphic), Brussels, Belgium
TeslaCon (steampunk), Middleton, Wisconsin, USA
Steampunk November, Mansfield, Texas, USA
Kee Con V (gaming), Cherokee, Iowa, USA
JeffCon: The Final MACE (gaming), Charlotte, North Carolina, USA
MEPACon (gaming), Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, USA
Hexcon (gaming), Trondheim, Norway
BGG.CON (gaming), Dallas, Texas, USA
Tampa Nerd Con (gaming), Clearwater, Florida, USA
Compass Games Expo 2022, Meridien, Connecticut, USA
Gridcon 3 (boardgames), Taunton, UK
Spielewelt in Bielefeld (boardgames), Bielefeld, Germany
EuroQuest 2022 (Eurogames), Annapolis, Maryland, USA
The Long Con (RPGs), Longview, Texas, USA
MillenniumCon (miniatures gaming), Round Rock, Texas, USA
Arcade Expo, Houston, Texas, USA
KeyForge Celebration (KeyForge CCG), Roseville, Minnesota, USA
Oni-Con XIX (anime), Galveston, Texas, USA
Kumoricon (anime), Portland, Oregon, USA
anime expo chibi, Ontario, California, USA
Anime Destiny 2022, Berkeley, California, USA
Animaine 2022 (anime), South Portland, Maine, USA
Thought Bubble (comics), Harrogate, UK
Grand Rapids Comic Con, Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA
Fanboy Expo Indianapolis (media), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Twin Cities Con (media), Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Fanboy Expo Indianapolis (media), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
FanQuest 2022 (media), Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Monster-Mania 52 (horror media), Oaks, Pennsylvania, USA
Philip K. Dick Film Festival, New York City, New York, USA
The Great Con-Junction (The Dark Crystal), Los Angeles, California, USA
Weekend of November 18-20
Philcon 2022, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, USA
Consequences O: Otherworldly Consequences (gaming), Christchurch, UK
Condensed 2022 (gaming), Billing, UK
Free Play Florida (video games), Orlando, Florida, USA
DreamHack Atlanta 2022 (video games), Atlanta, Georgia, USA
Colossalcon North (anime), Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, USA
Kaiga Anime Convention, Perth, Australia
Anime NYC, New York City, New York, USA
Anime Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
Anime Pasadena, Pasadena, California, USA
Sin City Anime, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
Con Nichiwa 2022 (anime), Tucson, Arizona, USA
Memphis Comic and Fantasy Convention #12, Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Naiccon 2022 (media), Nairobi, Kenya
Heroes Dutch Comic Con, Utrecht, Netherlands
Comic Con Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
CharlestonCon (media), North Charleston, South Carolina, USA
Meglos 2022 (Doctor Who), Holtsville, New York, USA
Nakamacon (One Piece), Panama City Beach, Florida, USA
Pokécon Memphis (Pokémon), Memphis, Tennessee, USA
Weekend of November 25-27
Loscon 48, Los Angeles, California, USA
Chessiecon 2022, Hunt Valley, Maryland, USA
Chambanacon 51 (relaxacon), Normal, Illinois, USA
GobbleCon (gaming), Burlingame, California, USA
LFG Canberra: Essen Unplugged (boardgames), Griffith, Australia
De Bello Ludico (wargaming), Bracciano, Italy
FG Con 2022 (RPGs), online
Anime Festival Asia, Singapore
Anime Dallas, DFW Airport, Texas, USA
Akimatsuri (anime), Richmond, British Columbia, Canada
Comic Con Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
Stars of Time Comic Con, Weston-super-Mare, UK
Fan Expo San Francisco (media), San Francisco, California, USA
Chicago TARDIS 2022 (Doctor Who), Lombard, Illinois, USA
Starbase Indy 2022: Imagine Anew (Star Trek), Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Weekend of December 2-4
Smofcon 38 (con-running), Montréal, Québec, Canada
Midwest Furfest: Heroes (anthropomorphic), Rosemont, Illinois, USA
Dragonmeet (gaming), London, UK
Midwest GameFest, Independence, Missouri, USA
PAX Unplugged (tabletop gaming), Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Shorehammer (miniatures gaming), Ocean City, Maryland, USA
Winter’s Tide (video games), Asheville, North Carolina, USA
Anime Frontier, Fort Worth, Texas, USA
Columbia Anime & Video Game Expo, Columbia, South Carolina, USA
Anime Town: Pensacola 2022, Pensacola, Florida, USA
Geek Days Lille (media), Lille, France
Abilene Comic Con, Abilene, Texas, USA
GalaxyCon Columbus (media), Columbus, Ohio, USA
Comic Con Okinawa, Camp Foster, Okinawa, Japan
For the Love of Sci-Fi 2022 (media), Manchester, UK
L.A. Comic Con 2022, Los Angeles, California, USA
Weekend of December 9-11
Aetnacon 2022/Italcon 2022 (Italian national sf convention), Catania, Italy
Cosplay Expo, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
FURUM 2022: Con of the Lost (anthropomorphic), Petaling Jaya, Malaysia
Cayden’s Ascension 4722 (Pathfinder and Starfinder RPGs), online
28 Manga Barcelona (anime), Barcelona, Spain
Kuri 2022 (anime), San José, Costa Rica
Yama-Con 2022 (anime), Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, USA
Heroes Assemble 2 (media), Richmond, Virginia, USA
Ocean City Comic Con, Ocean City, Maryland, USA
Maui Comic Con, Wailuku, Hawaii, USA
Raptor Con (media), Evansville, Indiana, USA
RADP 27 (Disney theme parks), Walt Disney World, Florida, USA
Coda
Voting open for Oddest Book Title of the Year (The Bookseller)
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