<p>Could the $25 be for room tax which has to be paid even when you get a rewards room?</p>
<p>I’m 99% sure that we paid the room tax when I paid for the groupon but I can’t find a confirmation of the original price to confirm that. And I know for sure that the desk clerk did not charge my card for that when we checked in. He took the card, as they always do, and said they needed it for any charges made in the hotel. But, of course, we didn’t make any charges there.</p>
<p>We just used hotel points. No charge…no tax. They did take our credit card in case we used it for incidentals. We didn’t. So…no charge at all.</p>
<p>I would think the total charges were paid when you did the groupon. Last time we did a groupon, we presented it at the vendor. Ours happened to cover the full charges…including the tax. Mine was for a service and I did give a tip.</p>
<p>Could the $25 be a “resort fee”. Hotels in popular locations are known to charge this fee. I have no idea what it is for other than upping the cost of the room. It wouldn’t be included with the cost of the room and taxes. Go to the website for the hotel you stayed at and see if they mention this fee on the website.</p>
<p>Not a bad suggestion VAMom, but I highly doubt it. This is the largest Marriott in DC, one often chosen for conventions.</p>
<p>I used Starwood points for a stay at the Sheraton Burlington this weekend (hi kathiep, I pm’d you!) and noticed they put a $35 pending charge (hold) on my Visa. We did not use the restaurant or any other services, and the hold has now disappeared.</p>
<p>And how was that Sheraton snowdog? We’re planning to visit our son in October. </p>
<p>I am really hoping that the charge disappears too, but I think it’s unsettling that the people supposedly in charge of billing don’t even see it in their system.</p>
<p>^ It was okay, nothing fancy but convenient to downtown and only 7000 SPG points ;)</p>
<p>Kathie, I’ve never used a groupon for a hotel but I’ve used them for other things and usually received no receipt because I didn’t actually pay them for anything. Not sure if it’s the same for hotels or not. Good luck with the 25 dollars. Once you find it you can take me out for coffee or something. ;)</p>
<p>I thought of this thread when we checked into the Sheraton in Cambridge, Ma. last weekend. We are gold members and wanted to stay on the club floor but she didn’t upgrade us. All I did was ask. Got it. I would feel sleazy to slip $$ to her, just me. I think maybe she’d be insulted?</p>
<p>I tried to get an upgrade at a posh Washington DC hotel this week. Fail! They said nothing was available but it doesn’t appear to be very crowded. I guess I don’t look rich enough. lol</p>
<p>It’s always worth at least asking for a special request. </p>
<p>We once took a redeye from CO to DC for a family trip. Our plan was to leave our luggage at the desk and tour until check in time. When we arrived around 8am I asked what was the earliest check-in time possible. They said "who about now?? Wow - we had the nicest 2 hour nap ever.</p>
<p>I stayed at a beach area hotel in the LA area in January, March, and June. The June trip was a bit of a fiasco personally – some of my hotel nights were spent in the hospital instead of the hotel – and then when I was discharged, needed to extend my stay and they were able to accommodate us if we swapped rooms. </p>
<p>The hotel was absolutely wonderful to me – and I wrote a great review for them on TripAdvisor. Among other things, I said this hotel was my first-choice hotel in the area, and I was disappointed that they were booked for my July trips.</p>
<p>The most recent stay, last week, we were upgraded to the high end ocean front rooms. </p>
<p>I think it was related – we didn’t ask for the upgrade, it just happened for us!</p>