The 13 biggest rip-offs in travel it’s nearly impossible to avoid

Travel is expensive. Everyone knows that, and we mostly accept it. It’s pricey to fly in an aeroplane halfway around the world, and it should be. It costs money to rent someone’s beautiful room and sleep in their bed, which seems reasonable.

Those things shouldn’t bother anyone. What should bother you, however, is the unnecessary extra costs, the massive rip-offs that are routinely imposed on travellers – so routinely that we sometimes forget just how unnecessary they are.

Hotels are key offenders here, though airlines also do their fair share, and airports get in on the action. These are flagrant price gouges, completely superfluous price hikes – and we mostly just have to put up with them.

Hotel laundry

Five dollars to wash a pair of undies? Something like $15 per shirt? Thirty dollars to wash a dress? Hotels charge outrageous fees to wash clothes. So much so that I can’t believe anyone – unless their company is paying for it – would ever use the service. Plenty of cheap-and-cheerful hostels charge for laundry per bag (at a reasonable rate), which is how everyone should do it.

Data roaming

Clearly it doesn’t cost your phone company $1000 per gigabyte of data for you to access the internet overseas, though that is genuinely what some Australian providers will sting you for global roaming. You can buy an eSIM that does it far, far cheaper – or, quite often, a local SIM that’s even less. But phone companies have unilaterally decided to charge incredibly high fees for a relatively simple service.

Airline seat selection

This used to be free, but then the airlines twigged that selecting your own seat is a desirable practice, and that people might pay a lot of money for it. So they began charging a lot of money for it. Now, depending on your ticket class, you might find yourself being charged something like $100 – as I would have been recently by Turkish Airlines – to select your seat even during the online check-in process.

Dynamic conversion

Truly, this is the work of a devious, capitalist mind: “Would you like to pay in your own currency?” Wow, you think. That sounds like a good idea. Only it isn’t, because if you ever select this option at a foreign ATM, or when paying at a foreign EFTPOS machine, you will be charged far more than you would have had you paid in the local currency, thanks to hidden fees and terrible exchange rates. And some foreign ATMs are now charging up to $15 per withdrawal even without dynamic conversion.

Early check-in fees

Most hotels are pretty good with early check-ins – they’ll get you in if they can, or hold your luggage if they can’t. I was in Seoul recently, however, and the hotel there wanted to charge about $20 for every hour guests hoped to check in before the official time. Just another little extra cost travellers have previously not had to bear.

Hotel mini bars

You know the truth of this. Something like $5 for a can of Coke you could get for $1 downstairs; $20 for a beer; $15 for a bag of nuts. Hotel mini bars are a shameless rip-off, and when you finally stay in a hotel that has reasonable prices, or even provides its mini bar contents free, it seems like the greatest place on the planet.

Lounge access

If airport lounge access is included in your ticket, or you have status to get in, or some sort of free pass – great. Do it. If, however, you are considering paying extra for one-off entry to an airport lounge you should really think again. The price will be high and the facilities will be nowhere near the paradise you were picturing.

Buffet breakfast

Much like lounge access, if you have buffet breakfast included in your hotel room cost then by all means, fill your boots. If, however, you’re going to have to pay $50 or even more just to shovel in some food from the bain-marie, you should reconsider. You never get your money’s worth at a buffet: the food just isn’t that good, and there’s only so much you can eat.

Airport parking

Airports are a universe all of their own, with an economy that exists outside any you have previously known. For what other reason would you find yourself being charged something like $8 for 15 minutes of parking, a rate that quickly skyrockets the longer you stay?

Sydney airport train fee

Travel by train from Sydney’s Central Station to Mascot, just near the airport, and it will cost you $3.03. Go one stop further to the Domestic Terminal and it will cost you $20.95. That’s due to the state government’s “station access fee”, a charge that pretty much ensures anyone travelling from the CBD to the airport with two or more people will be better off taking an Uber than riding public transport. Great system.

Airports in general

We have to leave room for all the other airport rip-offs out there: the outrageously priced coffee (I paid almost $14 for a flat white in Istanbul recently), the overly expensive food, the duty-free shops that are not at all cheaper than those with duty, and the currency exchange places, which are the worst offenders.

Rental car upsells

“Would you like to upgrade to zero-excess insurance? Do you want to cover windscreen and tyres? Would you like to upgrade to a larger vehicle?” On and on it goes, when you just want to pick up the car you booked and pay the price you were quoted.

Airbnb’s cleaning fee

It’s sneaky, the way this used to happen. You would see the price for your Airbnb, click through all ready to book, and then discover a $150 “cleaning fee” had been added. What gives? Don’t all places need to be cleaned? Isn’t that just part of the system? It felt wrong. But then something rare happened: travellers won. Airbnb now discourages its users from adding cleaning fees – its algorithm “prioritises total price” – and many owners seem to have got the message that it’s very unpopular.

Did we miss any? Share your thoughts in the comments below