Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
I stumbled upon something really cool last week. Sometime recently (I don’t know when), Marriott added a new price transparency checkbox to their web-based property search. Checking this box changes the display to show prices with taxes and resort fees included. This is an awesome step in the right direction.
In an ideal world, all-in pricing would be the default view, but with competitors not yet matching this feature it’s understandable why Marriott has made it optional. At the time of this writing, this feature appears to be available only on the web and not via the mobile app.
Here’s an example of how it works. I searched for St. Regis or Autograph Collection hotels in New York City. By default, I see the rates before taxes and fees, but I also see the new price transparency checkbox:
After clicking the price transparency checkbox, I get an updated display. Note that the St. Regis’ displayed price jumps from $724 per night to $892:
When I select a property (the St. Regis, in this example), price transparency follows through to room selection:
Then, after selecting a room, I click to view a Summary of Charges. This shows that the all-in price includes the $50 per day destination fee:
Want to learn more about miles and points? Subscribe to email updates or check out our podcast on your favorite podcast platform.
This is a step in the right direction.
[…] Marriott shows rates with taxes and ALL fees (price transparency checkbox) by Frequent Miler. Great, now this should be the default and also on third party sites. […]
Looks like ” my dates are flexible ” is gone.
That’s not the case. The flexible dates option can be found in the calendar drop-down when selecting the dates of stay.
Thanks Greg. I missed it. My page was already populated with a hotel I was was looking to book so did not see the option.
Impressive. Let’s hope other chains follow suit.
Well, hallelujah.
> In an ideal world, all-in pricing would be the default view, but with competitors not yet matching this feature it’s understandable why Marriott has made it optional.
I can see your point. But default price transparency would increase trust among consumers, and this can only help the brand. I know that I have to seek out hidden fees when visiting tourist destinations. But knowing that Marriott would always be up front with me would steer me in their direction.
Similarly, Google Flights shows me who has hidden fees, and I generally ignore airlines that have the hidden fee icon.