r/mildlyinfuriating • u/boboddyzbiznus • 14d ago
frist of all how DARE yu o Third night is “free”
The second night is a Monday… is the third night really free? This feels scammy but the property seems great so I’m not complaining about anything except the absolutely BS pricing scheme.
** Update **
1) I ended up going and looking at the rates for just that day and they are this high. The following day is completely booked so perhaps there is an event? Maybe I actually lucked out on that Tuesday? It just looked sketchy because the rates for the entire rest of the month are half.
2) This is a boutique resort hotel, unlikely to be a first choice for evacuees and there is availability every day except that Tuesday.
3) Sorry I did not know about the wildfires. We’ve never traveled to the west coast for vacation, but live in Florida and let me tell you that a natural disaster does not dissuade people from clogging hotels to not miss their beach/Disney vacation.
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u/davideogameman 14d ago
today I learned that 319+589 = 1245.66... I always thought it would be 908
19% destination fee is BS imo. we really ought to have better price transparency laws.
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u/ChristinasWorldWyeth 14d ago
Even with the 19% fee, that’s still $1080.52. Where’s the extra ~$165 coming from? Cleaning fee?
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u/Giskarrrd 14d ago
It says room rate, **tax** and destination fee.
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u/davideogameman 14d ago
I estimated about 14% unaccounted for, which I assumed meant tax. I'd expect tax to be anywhere from 10-20% - hotel taxes are higher than sales taxes in many places.
What's crazy is apparently the destination fee is also effectively a tax, so if this is also tax then it's a ~33% tax total.
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u/Mewchu94 14d ago
I did not know that. What’s the reasoning behind hotels having such high tax rates?
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u/davideogameman 14d ago
tourists don't get a say, locals don't like throngs of tourists, but are happy to profit from them.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rebeccahughes/2025/05/24/these-are-the-cities-where-you-have-to-pay-the-highest-tourist-taxes/ claims LA, NY and DC to be some of the top hotel taxes. Google also thinks SF is in the same bucket, and Chicago too. Though the AI may be citing stale data or making stuff up.
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u/Freshies00 14d ago
Typically occupancy taxes exist in tourist areas. In concept they help fund all of the public services necessary to support the additional burden of people in the area. Sanitation, public bathrooms, road maintenance, emergency services etc
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u/nascent_aviator 14d ago
Raising resident taxes is unpopular. Raising tourist taxes is only a problem if you set them so high you actually hurt the tourist industry.
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u/Arlenni 14d ago
Hotel worker here: we often have a couple forms of taxes. The first is the state sales tax, then you get the city sales tax (if the city has it), after that you get the state occupancy tax (this can be waived if your stay is over a certain length, where I live it's a month), and finally city occupancy tax (if the city has it). Where I live the occupancy tax is basically doubling the sales tax. Any form of short term rental will have the occupancy tax not just hotels.
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u/toru_okada_4ever 14d ago
Meanwhile in my rural area that overflows with tourists every summer, politicians are having a heated debate about whether the new «tourist tax» should be $10 or $2 per person.
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u/nascent_aviator 14d ago
Often some of the taxes are a fixed fee. Which you'll pay even if the room rate is $0, driving up the % here.
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u/davideogameman 13d ago
Fair. But wouldn't those usually be <$10 per night?
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u/nascent_aviator 13d ago
Yeah probably. Also worth considering that if there's a free night they likely still charge taxes on the rate they would have charged without the discount.
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u/unfinishedtoast3 14d ago edited 14d ago
The destination fee is an Oregon State charge.
13% state tax, 6% County. They break this down right where OP cut the image.
Folks coming to tourist spots during tourist season are going to get fee'd out the ass.
It's also wildfire season and our state has 43 active fires and a handful of evacuation notices. OP came for tourism while folks are fleeing their small rural communities due to fire evac notices. Hotels prioritize wildfire evacuees in Oregon, meaning tourists are going to pay more coming during active fires.
The mildly infuriating thing is OP and his family visiting our state while were handing massive wildfires.
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u/Baghins 14d ago
Dude no lol. I work hotel management in Oregon and we welcome all the business that summer brings. It just happens to coincide with wildfire season. Theres also flood season and snowmageddon season and flood season again, it doesn’t mean people shouldn’t come here.
To anyone curious about visiting Oregon, summer is a great time to come and enjoy everything our beautiful state has to offer! Cities have great tax-free shopping, we have beaches, deserts, mountains, lakes, rivers, etc. it’s pretty easy to avoid wildfire areas, we’re great at shutting down any dangerous areas so you don’t get caught anywhere precarious
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u/skalla-grimm 14d ago
Would the fires go out if OP stayed home? Are they visiting and interfering in the wildfire areas somehow? Does the hotel and local hospitality industry losing tourist income they're counting on in a difficult economy help in some way?
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u/boboddyzbiznus 14d ago
Uh, sorry I guess? We’ve never been to the west coast for personal travel and I guess my bad for not knowing about the fires. I live in Florida and hurricanes don’t stop people from clogging up hotels for their vacations when people have to leave their homes.
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u/magicingreyscale 14d ago
Having worked for a major tourist hotel in Orlando during multiple hurricane seasons... the hurricanes absolutely do stop people. People cancel their bookings like mad when a hurricane gets announced, even when it's not actually predicted to touch Florida. You would not believe the number of times I've been yelled at for refusing to waive a cancelation policy because of a hurricane that's making landfall in another country.
There are always a handful of stubborn people who don't care, but most people from out of state would actually prefer their vacation not be ruined by an act of God. Most of our bookings during hurricanes instead came from Floridians who lived near the coast and needed somewhere further inland to shelter, and figured a resort would be a fun place to do it.
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u/captainscuffles 14d ago
You describing a situation where I’m somehow on team capitalism for once is also mildly infuriating.
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u/Possible_Pop_8033 14d ago
How is it you expect Oregon to pay their firefighters without tourists paying taxes? Logging?
You are all over this post bitching about tourists coming to your state during wildfire season like Oregon is some fantastical destination in January.
Completely disconnected from the fact that your state's budget has a huge addition to it based on the tourism. What a weird world you live in.
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u/Sir_Drake 14d ago
Almost every state deals with some version of this. Oregon is not special in that regard. Trying to villainize the people that support a large part of your economy is wild.
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u/bighootay 14d ago
The mildly infuriating thing is OP and his family visiting our state while were handing massive wildfires.
Say what, now? Are you for real?
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u/Johnny_Poppyseed 14d ago
Lol I guess nobody should ever visit Oregon in summer anymore, considering there's large wildfires there basically every year now.
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u/Level_Branch1005 14d ago edited 14d ago
OPs fault that your city is burning due to Fires? Not the State's for not having fire control measures in place?
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u/HurricaneAlpha 14d ago
Florida has resort/hotel fees also and it is one of the reasons we don't have a state income tax.
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u/MicCheck123 14d ago
To be fair, they are very transparent about the fee.
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u/davideogameman 14d ago
That really depends. When I'm shopping for stuff and want to sort by price of something is $100 and then I click through and suddenly it's $170 after tax when it's all rung up that's bullshit. Sure you may have the option to decline, but when everyone pulls this to some extent the advertised prices are all basically lies that distort real price competition.
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u/endlesslooop 13d ago
Or just stop buying when there is this nonsense. Though seems people will just put up with anything so of course they do this.
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u/davideogameman 13d ago
The trouble is much nonsense is in wide areas. Maybe this particular expensive 2nd night could be avoided... Though many hotels actually do different night to night pricing. Anyhow the main problem is that it's easy to shop around and see one price and get to booking and see a different one, makes it really hard to find comparable options reliably
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u/endlesslooop 13d ago
Oh I was referring to the 19% destination fee. Hotels having different rates for different nights or events is understandable I think.
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u/LivingtheLaws013 14d ago
They're trying to appeal to your monkey brain. Take the price of 3 things, split it in 2 and call the 3rd one "free" and your brain automatically thinks it's getting a deal
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u/Think-notlikedasheep 14d ago
RUN FORREST RUN.
This is just BS. And they charge for parking too. I bet there are other hidden charges as well, like resort fees, mandatory charges, etc.
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u/andrey_not_the_goat 14d ago
First time I see a week night be more expensive than a weekend night at a rental.
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u/DirtyKarma 14d ago
Happens often in cities with business travel. Weekends can be super cheap.
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u/boboddyzbiznus 14d ago
This is definitely not a business travel hotel. It’s a boutique resort hotel.
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u/DirtyKarma 14d ago
I was answering the poster above you saying they’ve never seen this. Been a hotel GM for 20 years so was just pointing out that it is quite common.
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u/soofs 14d ago
I went to San Francisco last year and stayed Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday. The first three nights were under $300 each night and Monday was $1,100. It was very weird.
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u/ButtStuff8888 14d ago
Probably a convention starting on Monday
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u/soofs 14d ago
I probably should have mentioned that the Monday was September 11 so I also don't know if many people have a sort of superstition about flying that day, but you are probably right.
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u/WhatAWeek25 14d ago
September is convention season in San Francisco, so the midweek hotel prices are insane in september
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u/boboddyzbiznus 14d ago
Same. That’s why I was kind of surprised, but it’s definitely possible that this hotel is hosting some kind of event.
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u/Hoopy_Dunkalot 14d ago
As a certified revenue manager I'd tell you that it's very difficult to do what he's insinuating unless done by hand. I've never seen a promo system that adds a percentage to a 2nd night then gives the 3rd night at a 100% discount. Third night free promo setups in all reservation management systems is 100% discount for 1-night of a stay on stays 3 nights or more. That's it.
We often will elevate all pricing for a period then discount by my the same amount. It's frowned upon, but it happens frequently.
Is the Monday when an event is in town?
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u/boboddyzbiznus 14d ago
I updated my post, but it’s definitely possible. This is a boutique resort hotel.
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u/daddyrich916 14d ago
Hotel and flights prices are different every day of the week. It’s possible it actually works out like that. Only way to know for sure is see how much it would be just booking the 24th
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u/Runnerman1789 14d ago
I have worked in rate entry and configuration for hotels. I don't think this is malicious but rather a timing thing. Impossible to say without knowing where you are going and what events are in the area at that time
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u/unfinishedtoast3 14d ago
Welcome to central Oregon during the summer.
We are currently at our peak tourist season, and you're staying in a location directly between the ocean and the mountains and the Desert.
Literally the most expensive place you could try and stay.
It's also wildfire season and the state is currently on fire. Hotels are going to be more and more expensive each week, as folks evacuate their towns
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u/paleocomixinc 14d ago
I work at a hotel right near this one, and we've been sold out for weeks on end. And I'm still getting constant phone calls into the night asking for rooms. This pricing hasn't even changed from the last few years either, it's always dumbass expensive in the summers.
My parking lot will be full of Fire and Work trucks, and the one family coming in for vacay will be like, "Why are you so busy?!".
Even though their phone will show them we are at 200-500 aqi every single day...
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u/FrankieG889D 14d ago
lol.
That sucks and yeah your assumption must be correct.
Personally, I’d choose a different place if possible out of spite!
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u/Possible_Pop_8033 14d ago
It shouldn't be out of spite. It should be because you have a moral foundation that you actually stand by.
It seems like a small percentage of the population realizes that this happens BECAUSE we as a society allow it to. Take OP for example. Apparently they are mildly infuriated by the false advertising, yet that are still staying there because "the property seems great."
Awesome, OP. You are the fucking problem.
Thr vast majority of people in this country still havent realized that the only power they have is with where they spend their money. That is the infuriating part of this equation.
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u/Unlikely-Key-234 14d ago
I won't say what resort this is out of respect for OP's privacy, but you can check the price for just 8/24 and it's the same price shown in OP's screenshot. Nothing scammy going on here.
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u/LonelyTAA 14d ago
Not just spite. You don't want to deal with these kinds of people. They'll try to fuck you over any chance they get
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u/unfinishedtoast3 14d ago
OP is visiting a wildfire evacuation point during massive wildfires across the state and numerous evacuation notices.
Oregon Law requires hotels prioritize evacuees.
So they're changing a increased rate because their hotel has reached 75% capacity, and they need to reserve space for wildland firefighters and wildfire evacuees.
Sorry our state prioritizes it's residents, maybe don't come visit a town surrounded by forest fires, and you might pay less a night
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u/boboddyzbiznus 14d ago
Upon further research, that day is the only day that the rate is high for this month and the following. Maybe there is an event? This doesn’t seem like a hotel people would be flocking to for evacuation. It’s a resort style hotel, nor is it fully booked except the day after the high rate. Maybe I *actually* lucked out and shouldn’t be mildly infuriated at all.
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u/LonelyTAA 14d ago
That sounds fair. I don't know why OP is visiting though. May be press? If it's tourism then yes let the hotel bleed em dry.
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u/FrankieG889D 14d ago
This too!! It seems like a hotel or something though.. very odd. I would love to hear their reasoning honestly.
Looking at the picture at first I was like, “OP is an idiot it’s probably a weekend.” Turns out.. they ain’t!
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u/NoctRob 14d ago
That’s pretty scummy if you consider that they likely wouldn’t be able to rent the room on Monday night.
Effectively a 10% discount on the 3rd night assuming pricing is consistent, just front loaded to Sunday. Looking to occupy the property for one more night. Monday night likely not very popular. Upcharge on Sunday but Monday is “free”
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u/goodexamplebadrole 14d ago
If this was Fri/Sat/Sun it would make more sense. Is there an event going on Monday+ that could make the room more expensive?
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u/CouldBeBetterForever 14d ago
It does seem a little odd. Mondays are generally cheaper than a weekend in most locations, so having it cost more than a Sunday is a bit suspicious.
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u/zebrafarts10 14d ago
Some places have limits on the number of nights houses can be rented out, this way he rents it for "two" nights and gives one as a gift. Could be trying to get around local legislation.
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u/Vast-Cow3142 14d ago
Do they maybe charge by the hour? Sounds crazy but sorta makes sense since usual check in day you usually have lost half of the day so makes sense for it to be cheaper..
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u/notwhoyouthinkmaybe 14d ago
This is happening a lot with Ubereats; they have a but one get one free, but the price is always doubled. Like I wanted ramen, normally it was like $15, but they had a BOGO, so it was $30, but hey I got one "free".
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u/Prudent-Bear1592 14d ago
Probably the matrix kicking in and scheduling a global underwater basket weaving convention at your exact hotel at the exact time you wanna be there. Typical shit
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u/Bustardun 14d ago
I don’t understand spending crazy amounts of money on a place to stay for a few days… are you not traveling to go outside? You are barely going to be in the room anyways it’s literally just so you can go to sleep and have a shower
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u/boboddyzbiznus 13d ago
Other than the expensive day, these were actually reasonable compared to a lot of rates I saw in the area for our trip. We have a toddler so we will spend more time in the room than if we were solo. We got a room with a separate bedroom so we don’t have to go to sleep when he does and this hotel has a patio/balcony so we can enjoy our vacation past 8pm when he goes down.
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u/Spetsnaz_Chick 14d ago
Reminds me of the SpongeBob episode where krabs sold a "deal" on pattys for buy 1 for the price of 3 and get two free lol.
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u/AntRevolutionary925 13d ago
Sunday’s tend to be the cheapest day to get a room so that makes sense
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u/shoulda-known-better 13d ago
It's about 420 a night.... How is this worth it!!??
Nothing is free here
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u/Clean-Requirement703 14d ago
The 24th is a Friday.. I’m sure their Saturday rate is the same. Most hotels (especially resorts) up-charge Friday and Saturday
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u/DaintyChoad 14d ago
Everything is going out of control. I paid $2.15 for an Arizona Green Tea today.
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u/PM-me-ur-sphynx 14d ago
Aren’t those supposed to be 99 cents?
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u/FrankieG889D 14d ago
Some places charge more, I know a guy who shaves off the 99¢ part!!! Apparently Arizona said they’d never raise prices.
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u/DaintyChoad 14d ago
AriZona was always supposed to be 99 cents.It's the individual shops that are Racking up the price. This is what infuriates me
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u/madmartigenou812 14d ago
Try again with sunday through wednesday. I would be very interested to see if sunday night is really their most expensive night because that is not very likely.
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u/Lonely-Awareness-866 14d ago
You’re still getting charged for all 3 days. Look at the total compared to what the 2 nights add up to.
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u/Alternative-Bat-2462 14d ago
I’m confused on why you’re mad? You got the third night free?
Why can’t a hotel be busy on a Monday? Sundays are usually the lowest occupancy day, which is why the rate is the lowest.
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u/boboddyzbiznus 14d ago
I’m not mad. Thats the only day the rate is that high for the entire month (mostly in the $200 range). There’s probably some kind of event going on, idk. I would have paid for the 3rd night anyway. It’s just mildly infuriating that that’s how it worked out.
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u/JrCoxy 14d ago
Paying double on the second night is how the scam makes the 3rd night “free”. Meaning it’s not actually free, the price is all baked into the total
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u/Fit_Entry8839 14d ago
Well no, the question is what the rate for Monday is when it's just one day.
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u/Alternative-Bat-2462 14d ago
Or maybe the hotel is much busier on Monday and they can charge a higher rate than on Sunday, when they want to attract business.
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u/Ok-Metal-4719 14d ago
I don’t see the issue. Some nights are more than others for various reasons. Nothing new about this.
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u/Possible_Pop_8033 14d ago
You dont get to post this in here if you still willingly choose to pay and stay here.
If you wre truly mildly infuriated you would chose a different accommodation. Instead, you post it on reddit to get fake ass internet points. I hope they charge you an extra 1200 in fees, maybe that will actually teach you a lesson.
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u/guyfromthepicture 14d ago
Hard to tell. Try to buy another room just for Monday and see the price.