English couple blindsided by hundreds in extra fees at Chicago's Ambassador Hotel, booked through travel agency

A couple visiting Chicago from England for their babymoon paid hundreds of dollars in extra surprise hotel fees after booking through an online travel agency with an inaccurate listing.

Mark Scullion reached out to CBS News Chicago, calling the extra charges "truly extortion, a shakedown Al Capone would be proud of."

Scullion and his girlfriend Hannah enjoyed their holiday in Chicago, where they visited Wrigley Field, the lakefront, took a river boat tour, went to the Art Institute and chowed down on deep dish pizza as they prepared to welcome their first child.

They had prepaid five nights at the Ambassador Hotel through a European travel agency called Love Holidays. Their booking confirmation shows a $0 remaining balance due, but when they arrived at the hotel, they were told they'd have to pay hundreds more.

"It seemed like a hell of a lot, really," he said.  "They're saying it's some sort of, like, guest membership club, VIP club. I said, 'But either way I don't want it, and I didn't agree to it.'"

Scullion showed CBS News Chicago all the vouchers the hotel gave him for the hundreds of dollars he was charged, for free breakfast and drinks, dinner and spa discounts. The couple didn't use any of them.

"They were trying to, like, make out you were getting all these benefits with these fees that I hadn't signed up for that, I hadn't agreed to that," Scullion said.

When CBS News Chicago brought this to the attention of the Ambassador Hotel, they fired off a cease and desist letter to Love Holidays, saying the agency does "not adequately disclose mandatory amounts due directly at the hotel check-in" and ordering Love Holidays to "cease offering reservations for all Chicago Hotel Collection properties" until it's listings are more accurate.

Love Holidays responded, saying it's "absolutely committed to providing our customers with clear and transparent pricing." The travel agency acknowledged its listing was incorrect and is investigating how that happened.

"The bottom line is, who's protecting the traveler here?" said travel editor Peter Greenberg.

He took issue with the failure to inform the guest about the $80-plus-tax a night resort fee, and also with a second charge from the hotel: another $40-a-night, for a service fee, just for the privilege of making a reservation.

"How can they justify those fees?" Greenberg wondered. "It's like saying you bought an airline ticket but they're gonna charge you to arrive at the airport. Well, of course you have to arrive at the airport to get on a plane."

"I don't want other people being scammed and being put in this position, because there are people going on holiday with a tight budget and this might change the complexion of the whole trip for them," Scullion said.  "We were fortunate to be in a position where we could pay out that extra money, even though we hadn't anticipated it, but for another family that might have been all of their spending money for their holiday gone."

Despite their hotel drama, the couple had a great time in Chicago and said they will return some day.

After CBS News Chicago reached out, Love Holidays agreed to return the fees the fees the couple paid, and the agency is no longer selling rooms at the hotel in question as it reviews the fees being charged.

Experts say it's best to book direct with a hotel and skip online travel agents. The Ambassador said all its fees and pricing options are clearly disclosed on its website, and it maintains travelers get a value because of all the benefits.

Hotel management shared a number of positive online reviews with us, but there are also many more where guests felt blindsided by the high fees as the couple in this story did. 

Full statement from Love Holidays

We are absolutely committed to providing our customers with clear and transparent pricing. We work closely with our suppliers to ensure we have information about locally chargeable resort fees in order to display them to customers at the time of booking. Regrettably, we were supplied with the incorrect fee information for this hotel, and we are investigating how this happened.

We always want our customers to have the best experience possible, and we recognise this has not been the case for Mr Scullion due to these unnecessary fees. We have been in touch with him today to apologise for his experience and will be reimbursing him for the additional fees charged by the hotel to ensure he is not left out of pocket.

We have also taken the decision to remove the hotel from sale pending further review of the fees it chooses to charge customers locally.

We disagree with arbitrary resort fees imposed by the hotels that choose to apply them, and believe holiday pricing should be genuinely easy for customers to navigate and understand. We would encourage all hotels, the Chicago Hotel Collection Ambassador Gold Coast included, to include all mandatory fees in their room rates rather than collecting them on arrival.

Full statement from Ambassador Hotel

The guest booked through Love Holidays, an independent third-party travel agency. The Chicago Hotel Collection does not have a direct business relationship with Love Holidays and does not control the content of its website, booking process, pricing displays, or confirmation documents. 

On our own website, where we control the booking experience, all applicable fees and charges are clearly disclosed to guests before a reservation is completed. That is information entirely within our control. We cannot, however, control how independent third-party travel agencies—particularly those with whom we have no contractual relationship—present pricing, fees, or reservation information to their customers. 

If the confirmation provided by Love Holidays states that no balance remained due while failing to disclose charges that are collected by the hotel, we cannot explain why their confirmation was presented in that manner. That is a question that should be directed to Love Holidays, as they control the information displayed to their customers throughout the booking process. 

Our hotel charges only the fees applicable to the reservation at check-in. Those charges are not created at the front desk or assessed arbitrarily, and they are applied consistently to reservations where they are applicable. 

We are committed to transparency with our guests and are always willing to work with travelers to resolve legitimate concerns. However, because this reservation originated through an independent third-party seller, only Love Holidays can explain what information was displayed to the guest before the reservation was completed.