Jul 15, 2019

Marriott CEO says resort fees will continue in spite of D.C. lawsuit

Dion Rabouin

Marriott International president and CEO Arne Sorenson said in an interview Friday that so-called resort fees are not going away despite a recent lawsuit from the attorney general of Washington, D.C.

Why it matters: Resort fees have certainly helped Marriott's bottom line. Shares have outperformed the S&P 500 by 11% so far this year, rising a little more than 31% year to date, and has outperformed the S&P by around 340% over the decade-long period D.C.'s attorney general alleges the "drip pricing" scheme has been happening.

What's happening: "We'll obviously fight it," Sorenson said of the lawsuit, which alleges Marriott made hundreds of millions of dollars from the fees, which are described as deceptive and in violation the District's consumer protection laws.

  • By advertising a base rate for rooms and then adding the fees after customers booked a room or when they checked out of a hotel, Marriott used a practice known as "drip pricing," the complaint says.

Go deeper: Airbnb's growing foray into hotels

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Dion Rabouin

More hidden fees may be on the way from Trump's China trade war

Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios

The U.S.-China trade war looks set to continue and likely escalate, bringing more tariffs to imports of Chinese goods, with the latest round adding a 10% charge to consumer products like clothing, toys and electronics.

Between the lines: Large retailers like Walmart and Target have said they will have no choice but to pass the cost of tariffs on to customers, but it's very likely the cost of the tariffs and many other increased charges won't be fully disclosed on price tags.

Go deeperArrowAug 12, 2019
Bob Herman

Whistleblower alleges DaVita, Fresenius paid kickbacks

Fresenius is one of the largest U.S. dialysis providers. Photo: Arne Dedert/picture alliance via Getty Images

A whistleblower lawsuit alleges dialysis giants DaVita and Fresenius padded their profits by donating money to the American Kidney Fund charity, which in turn subsidized patients' premiums as a way to steer them toward insurance plans that pay the dialysis firms particularly well, Bloomberg reports.

The big picture: The Department of Justice did not intervene in the lawsuit, and the companies did not immediately respond for comment. But the lawsuit reignites the debate of whether this technically legal practice is a violation of anti-kickback law, and when the federal government will propose another rule to clear the air.

Keep ReadingArrowAug 2, 2019
Felix Salmon

The appeal of price opacity

Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios

DoorDash dominated more of the news cycle than it should have this week, after an NYT article brought broad awareness to its idiosyncratic policy on tips. The company would give its "dashers" a guaranteed minimum fee for delivering food; that minimum included any tips. The result was that most tips ended up going to DoorDash rather than to the delivery workers.

Driving the news: After defending the policy as recently as last month, DoorDash CEO Tony Xu backtracked on Tuesday, tweeting, "Going forward, we’re changing our model - the new model will ensure that Dashers’ earnings will increase by the exact amount a customer tips on every order."

Go deeperArrowJul 28, 2019