According to Travel-Hawaii.com, some Hawaii hotels will soon begin charging a cleaning fee upon a guest's checkout to cover the cost of cleaning the room for the next guest.

The new checkout cleaning fees are due to begin at 16 condominium properties on Oahu, Maui, Kauai, and the Big Island managed by Outrigger starting in December of 2013. Other hotels will likely follow suit as Outrigger is one of the largest and most successful hotel management companies in Hawaii. The cleaning charges range from $40 for a Studio to $70 for a Three Bedroom Condominium, except at the Kapalua Villas on Maui where the charges range from $130 to $180. State taxes are added to these fees as well.

The new cleaning fees follow a pattern of Hawaii hotels "unbundling" services that were previously included in the daily room cost, and then charging separate, additional fees for the previously included services. Most notable in this regard have been "resort fees" which started around 10 years ago with a few high-end hotels charging these fees. Today there are 59 Hawaii hotels that charge resort fees ranging from $2.50 per night at the AQUA Hotel Molokai to $36.65 per night at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Waikiki.

"Unbundling services that were previously part of the room charge allows the hotels to make more money in two ways," said John Lindelow of Travel-Hawaii.com. "First, they don't have to pay the State of Hawaii's 9.25 percent hotel tax on the unbundled fees. Second, they don't have to pay commission to travel agents on those amounts because they're collected directly from the guest upon checkout."

Within the travel industry, unbundling first became prominent when US airlines started charging separately for such services as meals, baggage, and even seat assignments, which used to be included with the price of an airline ticket. This has the sensible effect of having passengers who use more services paying more than passengers who use less.

"With cleaning fees, though, it's more just a way of collecting extra money from the guest, as all rooms need to be cleaned," said Lindelow.