Tips – Hidden Fees in Panama City Beach Restaurants

No one minds paying their bill at a restaurant, but it can be frustrating when you get your bill and there are fees on it that you weren’t made aware of prior to ordering. It seems that there have been a lot of people complaining about hidden fees lately that are popping up in restaurants all over the Panama City Beach area and elsewhere. These fees are not illegal, but many people are arguing that the restaurants should make the consumer aware of these fees. Florida law currently requires that any “automatic gratuity or service fee” be displayed on the menu and included on the face of the bill. However, officials are unsure if these fees are being displayed on the menu. 

Panama City Beach officials are making a recommendation that all restaurants disclose those hidden fees to their customers.  They feel that services that mislead customers about fees violates the spirit of the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and they want to make sure that all restaurants are being honest.  

PCB City Council directed staff to send out a letter addressing local restaurants on their added service fees. Some customers are saying that restaurants are putting blame on the city, stating that it’s a “sales tax”, but the City only requires a 1% City tax. Any additional fees charged are at the discretion of the individual business and are not assessed by the City of PCB.  To read the full article and see the letter that will be going out to restaurants, go to Channel 7 news.

Be Aware

Until such time that the restaurants start to disclose their fees, we just wanted to inform you of the situation and recommend that you ask your waitress or waiter about any hidden fees that they may charge. That way you know what to expect and can decide if you want to pay those fees or choose to go elsewhere . 

Many complaints have been about service fees for using a credit card, when the customer has paid cash. Other complaints have been about an AE&P fee in the amount of $2.98, which is for artwork that you may never see, or entertainment that never existed and some restaurants are charging for parking. One customer complained about a $.50 charge for having lettuce removed from his burger and another for a “to go” fee for a slice of pie in the amount of $1.25. How about an occupancy fee for “occupying” the booth?  To read the full story and for more on these charges, PCB Life has the full story.

What Can You Do?

The bottom line is that these types of fees are popping up everywhere.  Restaurants charge these fees so they don’t have to raise the price of their menu items so they can remain competitive with other restaurants.  Hidden fees aren’t a new idea, but they’ve gotten much worse across service industries amid increasing inflation and COVID-19 pandemic cutbacks. Just make sure you are paying close attention to the fees and that you are being charged fairly for them.

There are some things you can do to possibly remove these hidden fees or avoid them all together. If you are not happy with the fees and charges, you can always talk to the restaurant owner or manager. Try to be calm and friendly, and ask if there is something they can do to remove the charge(s) from your bill. Restaurants are not the only places that are charging hidden fees.  Here’s a great article from Consumer Reports on how to avoid other hidden fees.