It was days inn Ottawa hunt club/airport. They clearly listed the fees which is why I jumped on it.
I looked into it and made some calls, it's really consumer-unfriendly:
The hotel opts to join a regional tourism group then they create an internal policy to levy the fees which are usually 3%, because as they put it "there is no government funding to promote our industry". They insist they do not pocket the fee and therefore it justifies the fees' existence as not being a "cash grab", yet the actual handling of the collected fees is not transparent to the consumer paying for them. The Ontario Government supports this program because it keeps the hotels off their backs.
The hotel has voluntarily joined this group, but retains the right to pay the fees forward to the consumer and force them to pay it, because: when you sign your hotel agreement, it states "you agree to pay all applicable taxes and fees". They can easily, legally and without harm to themselves remove this fee, but if they don't feel like it that day, or don't like your face, they can legally force you to pay, because it's in the contract.
My take on it is this: it's very unfair that the consumer is forced to pay above the room cost, fees that were charged because the hotel chose to join a promotional "pay to use" organization. Those fees are used to gain monetary profits for the company and to basically market there own business, which should be their own responsibility anyway.... As it is in any business. Most people are unaware of the surcharge and pay it without thought, which makes it a very profitable scheme.
Hotels are generally way overpriced and dirty and cheap, this surcharge is just a reminder that they are not in the business of taking care of clients as they like to advertise, but in the business of squeezing out every penny from people who are forced to stay in accommodations, be it for business or personal reasons. It's a bully tactic for their own gain. Drives me nuts and I'm glad I called the GM a creepy bugger because he had full power to remove the fee and should understand that it looks bad and it a cash grab in the eyes of the consumer.