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By Christopher Elliott, Tribune Media Services

When looking to the future of travel, see fees. Lots of fees. Here are a few of the most recent and crazy travel fees.

1. Vicky Burton encountered an odd fee when she checked into an Embassy Suites property in Atlanta. "I was expecting about an 18 percent service charge. Well, the service charge is now 20 percent and the entree choices are through the roof! I ordered anyway." Later, she discovered a $2.25 "tray fee."

The property's Web site lists a reasonable $2 "room service" fee, but there's no mention of its expensive trays, pricey meals or 20 percent service charge.

2. When it comes to fees, hotels are in a league of their own, at least when it comes to creativity. Mayer Nudell checked out of the Hilton Trinidad and found a mysterious $1-a-day surcharge. "I was told it was a donation directed to a charity favoured by the prime minister," he says. Not feeling particularly charitable, he asked the hotel to remove the "donation" and they did.

3. Kari Harwanko was asked to pay a "safe fee" of about $2 a day at a Sleep Inn property recently, and asked to have it taken off her bill, too. It did. Considering that a reliable hotel safe costs less than $200 -- and bearing in mind that hotels are reluctant to take responsibility for the items you store in these safes -- the safe "fee" is among the most disingenuous of all hotel surcharges. Extra points for originality, though.

4. You call that a package deal? When Tony Garza received an overnight envelope at the Las Vegas Marriott Suites, he also got a surprise on his bill -- a $5 fee for "envelope delivery." "The manager told me that it was hotel policy," says Garza, an auditor who lives in Houston. Interestingly, Garza says he hadn't encountered the envelope fee at any other Marriott properties.

5. We'll turn down your room for $36. Geoffrey Millstone checked into the upscale Greenbrier resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, a gorgeous 721-room property where rooms will set you back about $400 a night. "Then I found out they charged $36 a night for turndown service," says Millstone.

Now, for the uninitiated, "turndown" service means that just before bedtime, your housekeeper pulls down the bedspreads, drops a chocolate on your pillow and draws the curtains. I phoned the hotel to find out about the "turndown" fee, and was told there was no such charge, but there was a $25 a day as a "resort" fee to your room charge, which covers gratuities for housekeeping service.

6. Your luggage costs more than your ticket. "Ryanair has an amazing structure of charging for baggage over 20 kilos," says Patrick Harris. On his last flight, he spent more for a second bag than he did on his airline ticket. He's hardly alone. This summer, my colleague Peter Greenberg encountered the same silly airline rule when he flew on easyJet.

The travel industry is a true innovator when it comes to surcharges, extras and other little add-ons. It loves to surprise you, the traveler, with them. And if the present is any indication, there's no doubt that our future will be filled with more fees than we can imagine.