I remember going with a bunch of friends split among two hotel rooms to Atlantic City for the night and receiving the bill the next day that said one of the rooms had "purchased" a movie by way of staying on a channel. The friends in that particular room swore up and down they never watched that movie and adamantly refused to pay it. Knowing these friends wouldn't have any reason to pull one over on the hotel (it's not their style or prerogative) but in the end had no choice. When it's your word against theirs, what sort of recourse do you have? How can you protect yourself from these tack-ons?

I'm not surprised there has only been one comment. I've never heard of fees being tacked on like this in a US hotel.

In other countries, sure, which is why I felt really good about being able to speak Portuguese when I stayed in Rio so I could talk to the hotel chambermaid about some tricky discrepancies between the minibar list and the actual contents of the minibar. Really, the minibar is an instrument of Satan. I don't know why it exists other than as a source of questionable charges.

I've just booked a week at the Red Rock Canyon Resort and Spa in Las Vegas and one night at the Signature MGM Grand. Both have added $25/night resort fees. Ugh! And, Red Rock told me they are going to charge my credit card a security deposit for incidentals of $150/per night of my stay, upon check in! Thank goodness they told me ahead of time or I could have been in trouble if I only brought a debit card on the trip - as I often do when traveling within the US since I don't often use a credit card.

I wasn't gouged, but this was ridiculous. My husband and I did a long NYC weekend, and we stayed at a very good hotel on Broadway. I sometimes get allergy headaches when traveling to NYC, so I had brought one of those gel masks you can chill to help nip that problem in the bud.

As it turned out, the small 'fridge was a packed-to-the-gills minibar. I thought I would have had at least one shelf or a part of the door, but it wasn't at all possible. So I had to balance the mask in its case on top of some items in order to chill it.

When I removed the mask later in the trip, I nudged a few items ever so slightly in the process. So the software that tracked the minibar actually registered this as me having consumed four separate items.

I went down to the front desk before checkout and told them about the problem. The staff did apologize and say I wasn't the only one. It was a new system at the time and giving them all sorts of grief. Apparently you could bump the fridge with your suitcase and end up with an extra $100 on your bill...

I always check my bill now, and ask ahead of time what kinds of fees and taxes I can expect to be added.

The InterContinental Miami (downtown) had an electronic minibar, similar to that described by Chasmosaur, above. There was a posted warning sign that moving any item in the fridge or upper container (non-fridge goods and amenities) would trigger a fee on the bill. I called the desk to ask how I could store restaurant leftovers, they informed me (and then provided) a non-minibar, empty fridge, which was delivered by Maintenance. I inquired further at check-out about this practice, and was told it was possible to request an EMPTY fridge at check-in, as some rooms have them. (For those that do not, an empty one could be delivered, as I had done.) It was recommended to request this in advance, as they have a limited number of extras available, and they are given by priority to people who need them for medical reasons, e.g., storage of medicines, insulin, etc.

At a different hotel, I was once charged for minibar items I had not used-- it had not been restocked after the departure of the previous guest, so when Housekeeping took inventory, they logged the missing items to my bill. I was able to successfully dispute this with the front desk staff at checkout (glad I reviewed the bill carefully!), as I had declined to receive a minibar key upon check-in.

The Embassy Suites in Niagara Falls had annoying hidden fees that prompted us to knock off our last day there, once we figured out what was going on. The first surprise was the manditory valet parking fee, $20 daily, plus tips, of course. We were informed of this at check in, but not when we made reservations. Then tips all around at the "free" breakfast, because they had staff bring drinks. Then there were outrageous nickel and dime taxes at the end which made what seemed like a bargain vacation cost like we had stayed at the Ritz. The Embassy Suites was nice, but come prepared to pay half again in fees, taxes and tips.

I was unpleasantly surprised to find out that I was charged $1.00 each for telephone calls to an "800" number years ago (before hotels started nickeling and diming people for every little thing and before cell phones became so prevelent). I wrote the hotel management a letter saying that I didn't approve of their practice, and I would never return, but they should enjoy the money and not spend it all in one place. They refunded the money to me.

I had the misfortune of staying at a crummy hotel in the Caribbean where they put a lot of food in your room (which had a kitchenette) along with a note saying that the food had to be returned to the hotel's convenience store within 24 hours or you would have to pay for it. The convenience store was closed and didn't open until after the 24 hours were up. I had to argue with the store's employee not to pay for the food. I returned it and got a receipt saying that I had returned it. Nevertheless, there was a charge for the food on my bill when I check out of the hotel. I showed my receipt indicating that I had returned the food, and the charge was taken off. I gathered that not many guests bother to return the food (or check to see that they weren't charged for it).