Unexpected items in the billing area

Simon Calder’s Travel Week [SUBSCRIBE]( [SUBSCRIBE: £1 FOR 3 MONTHS]( May 12, 2023 [View in browser](   [The Independent]( [The Independent]( As travellers make up for lost sunshine, city breaks and adventures, so the travel industry is compensating for two years of lost tourists... Tourists in Venice, also known as La Serenissimma   [Get inspired...]( //link.e.independent.co.uk/click/31457955.5391/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaW5kZXBlbmRlbnQuY28udWsvdHJhdmVsL3N1c3RhaW5hYmxlLXRyYXZlbC9nb3pvLW1hbHRhLWdyZWVuLXN1c3RhaW5hYmxlLWVjby1iMjMzMTA0MC5odG1s/583d2887487ccd777a8b7489B3f94adb4[Carry on camping]( Find your perfect pitch for happy camping in the great British outdoors with this pick of the [top 10 UK campsites]( to visit, from the Highlands to the Isle of Wight [I'm an image]( [Dog-friendly digs]( Looking for your next escape to the countryside and planning on taking your pet pooch? Check out this [selection of Cotswolds hotels]( that welcome four-legged friends [I'm an image]( [Off-season Croatia]( As one of the Mediterranean’s most beautiful oases, [Dubrovnik and its islands]( are no secret. Get there before or after peak summer to find them at their most serene   Simon’s dispatches A week ago, British Airways’ parent company, IAG, predicted that higher fares combined with lower fuel costs would drive [full-year profits to an hourly average of above £200,000](. On Wednesday, Europe’s biggest holiday company, Tui, said average selling prices for the coming summer are 26 per cent ahead of the last pre-pandemic year, 2019. Paying for the flight or holiday is one thing: but other costs are soaring too. At the cafes flanking St Mark’s Square in Venice, the minimum price of a coffee – even a thimble-sized espresso – has risen to €12 (£10.50). So says tour guide and travel writer Neil Taylor, who was in the city this week. “The price list is usually at the back of the cafe to avoid the risk of potential clients seeing it before ordering,” he notes. If your funds are running low, keep an eye open for musicians: Mr Taylor also reports that prices increase by “an extra €6 if the band happens to strike up whilst you are sitting there”. Unexpected items in the billing area seem to be the story of 2023. Last month Manchester become the first location in the UK to levy a [tourist tax](, with a nightly charge of £1 per room. Across the Pennines, the Rudding Park Spa outside Harrogate has introduced an “optional service charge”. Upon checking out, customers discover their bill shows an extra 3 per cent on room charges, 10 per cent on food and drink “and £5 for each spa treatment”. My golfing spy at Rudding Park tells me she and her party were bemused to see sums of up to £19 added to their bills. “One of us was told it was for tips for non-client facing staff, another was told it was to cover ‘amenities’.” The North Yorkshire property explains: “The optional service charge is a payment which recognises and rewards all employees who deliver outstanding guest service … We believe the whole team, regardless of their role, are involved in delivering outstanding guest service so it is fair to reward everyone.” If anyone asks not to pay the charge, “we will remove it immediately”. That puts the onus on the customer first to notice the added extra and then to ask for it to be subtracted, which some will find awkward. At least, though, the charge is genuinely optional – unlike [the mandatory resort fees beloved of some American hotels, which President Biden is seeking to outlaw](. The previous US president, Donald Trump, took the opposite view – and actually tried to introduce resort fees in Scotland. While he was in the White House, [guests at the Trump Turnberry in Ayrshire were briefly charged £20 per room per night]( that was supposedly to cover amenities such as wifi, the swimming pool and in-room coffee machines. On the subject of coffee, back in Venice Neil Taylor offers a welcome solution for tourists in St Mark’s Square: “Locate the Museo Correr on the south side of the square. Climb to the first floor and you come to the museum cafe, which does not require access to the museum itself. Here an Americano costs €3.50 [£3] and pastries are a similar price, with some tables overlooking the square.” [How to visit Venice responsibly](     Tip of the week: Vermeer lottery at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum The current [Vermeer exhibition]( at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam has been an unprecedented success. Tickets sold out just three days into its run, which began in February. For the final weekend, three weeks from now, the museum will extend opening hours to 2am – making an extra 2,600 tickets available. They are being allocated randomly to prospective visitors who [apply online]( by 4pm British Summer Time today, Friday 12 May. If successful, you will then be able to buy a maximum of two tickets for an evening start time between 9.30pm and 12.30am on the evening of Friday 2 or Saturday 3 June. [10 things to do in Amsterdam]( Deal of the week: ‘Single-leg pricing’ on East Coast main line [LNER](, which runs trains on the East Coast main line from Edinburgh, north-east England and Yorkshire to London King's Cross, will introduce “single-leg pricing” on all its services from Sunday 11 June. The main effect will be to remove the long-standing anomaly whereby an off-peak single is typically only £1 cheaper than a return. The price of a one-way off-peak ticket between London and Durham will fall by 48 per cent – from £163 to £84. This is a “walk-up” ticket that requires no pre-booking. Passengers who are able to commit to a specific outbound train but who need flexibility for the return will now find it easier to combine an advance ticket with a reasonable off-peak single that allows them to choose between a wide range of trains. The move will also benefit passengers making more complex journeys – such as York-London-Birmingham-York – or who want to take LNER one way and an “open-access” rival, Grand Central or Lumo, the other. [Why are UK rail fares so irrational?]( £99 £20 for 1 year ✓ Full access to Premium news analysis ✓ Advert-free reading across web and app ✓ The Independent Daily Edition newspaper ✓ Puzzles, virtual event tickets and more [SUBSCRIBE NOW](   Question of the week: New England highlights? Q We have a two-week holiday to New England in early September. What highlights do you recommend? A You will probably fly in or out of Boston. The Massachusetts state capital is where the US was born. Immerse yourself in the story of America's 18th-century struggle for freedom from its British colonial overlords, or simply indulge in cuisine and culture. Visit Spectacle Island in the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, which provides you with a boat trip from Boston as well as some good hiking trails and beaches; the Atlantic should still be warm in September. [Six foodie reasons to visit Portland, Maine]( Heading south, Rhode Island is fascinating for its “old money” extravagance in lovely natural surroundings, while the city of Providence is a smaller, more manageable version of Boston. New Haven, Connecticut, is home to Yale, an “Ivy League” university with superb museums and galleries. It is also the birthplace of the hamburger, at least according to Louis' Lunch (established 1895). Also visit the coast of southern Maine, near Portland. Old Orchard Beach is a classic US seaside resort, with great food on offer as well as a good old-fashioned pier and funfair. And Chebeague Island, accessible by ferry from Portland, offers lobster huts, woodland and quiet beaches. [Eight of the best locations for autumn leaves]( STAT OF THE WEEK 7 million My calculation of the number of British adults who have not had an initial course of Covid vaccinations but who, [from today, can visit the United States – for the first time in 38 months]( What you might have missed... - Luton loser: [My tangle with security at the Bedfordshire airport]( - Train trouble: [TransPennine Express stripped of contract](//link.e.independent.co.uk/click/31457955.5391/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuaW5kZXBlbmRlbnQuY28udWsvdHJhdmVsL25ld3MtYW5kLWFkdmljZS9ibHVlLWFpci1yb21hbmlhLWZsaWdodHMtc3VzcGVuZGVkLWIyMTYxNTY1Lmh0bWw/583d2887487ccd777a8b7489B60d1f02b - Destination unknown: [Woman flies 900 miles in wrong direction]( SIMON'S DIARY Every day from Monday to Friday I tackle a top travel story, or explore a topic in more detail than usual in ‘Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast’ – available free on [Spotify](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Pocket Casts]( or [Acast](. Every day from Monday to Friday I tackle a top travel story, or explore a topic in more detail than usual in ‘Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast’ – available free on [Spotify](, [Apple Podcasts](, [Pocket Casts]( or [Acast](. I find the easiest way to rush out stories is to tweet them. It’s also an easy way to contact me. My direct messages are open and I read all DMs, though regrettably I can’t respond to every one. Let me know your thoughts [@SimonCalder]( I find the easiest way to rush out stories is to tweet them. It’s also an easy way to contact me. My direct messages are open and I read all DMs, though regrettably I can’t respond to every one. Let me know your thoughts [@SimonCalder]( Each Saturday and Sunday I take questions live at 5.30pm British time on Instagram Live – from wherever I happen to be in the world – so please do come and say hello. Follow me on [@Simon_Calder]( Each Saturday and Sunday I take questions live at 5.30pm British time on Instagram Live – from wherever I happen to be in the world – so please do come and say hello. Follow me on [@Simon_Calder]( Or you can find me on TikTok. Come and have a look at what I have been up to as I bring you top travel topics and report on the latest changes in a minute or less via [@caldertravel]( Or you can find me on TikTok. Come and have a look at what I have been up to as I bring you top travel topics and report on the latest changes in a minute or less via [@caldertravel]( [INDYBEST]( / [BEST TRAVEL BUYS]( [12 best camping mats for sleeping comfortably in the great outdoors]( Whether for a hiking trip or festival season, snooze soundly on your next [camping holiday](. [Shop now]( Trending: [Travel cots for hassle-free holidays]( Essential reading What to you need to drive in France? 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