SMOF News, volume 2, issue 10

Travel prices and hidden fees in the US, and news in brief.

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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