Utah-based frequent traveler Michael Sommer says he hates getting ripped off with all kinds of fees while traveling, and one recent fee he was charged in Hawaii nearly made him explode.

Sommer and a guest dined on Kauai at the Oasis restaurant on the grounds of Outrigger’s Waipouli Beach Resort & Spa Kauai. They weren’t staying at the hotel, which rents one- and two-bedroom condos, but the restaurant’s bill charged them a 5% resort operating fee.

“I can understand a resort fee when I’m staying at a hotel, but not when I’m eating dinner at a hotel I’m not staying at,” says Sommer, who lives in Park City. “I’ve eaten dinner at other hotels on Kauai and haven’t had to pay an additional fee.”

Sommer asked the waitress at the Oasis restaurant why he was being charged such a fee and said he did not receive a satisfactory answer.

This journalist sent an email to the Oasis asking about the resort operating fee and received a response without identifying the person representing the restaurant. The signature was an “Oasis team member,” who did not respond to a subsequent request for the sender’s identity.

The team member responded that Oasis operates “under the hotel umbrella” and is not affiliated with the hotel other than its location on hotel property. The hotel collects the fee from guests — “similar to a homeowners association fee,” the team member wrote.

“It’s a percentage of every bill,” the team member’s email reads. “It’s listed on our menu and our website. We definitely don’t get it. It’s 100% charged by them (the hotel).”

However, representatives of Outrigger Hotels, which manages many condos and handles reservations at the Waipouli Beach Resort, say their company has nothing to do with such a fee. Outrigger Hospitality spokeswoman Monica Salter says, “The money collected from a resort fee at the restaurant is not paid to Outrigger.”

Outrigger “has no interest in the restaurant – either as a restaurant owner, landlord or tenant,” says Salter, the hotel company’s vice president of global communications and corporate social responsibility.

Salter recommended contacting Oasis owner Stefan Mandel to discuss the restaurant’s resort fee and provided his email address. Mandel and Kevin Reiss, the general manager of Waipouli Beach Resort, did not respond to repeated emails from this journalist.

Sommer isn’t the only guest upset about the restaurant’s resort fee. Three guests posted their frustrations on Tripadvisor in April.

One guest posted: “Great place. Service and food are good. However, there is an issue with the ‘resort operating fee’. We were only there for dinner, not to swim in their pool. What stupid brain came up with that idea?”

Another guest wrote: “We opted for four appetizers and two cocktails and it was still $150! Plus there was a $6 resort fee plus tax. We felt taken advantage of.”

A third guest wrote: “The only disappointment was the 5% resort management fee that was added to our bill. No mention of this on the website or on the menu. The suggested gratuities started at 20% IN ADDITION to the 5% fee!! This left a bad taste in our mouths and an imperfect ending to a lovely meal.”

The restaurant only responded to the third guest on Tripadvisor. “I just wanted to let you know that we disclose the resort operating fee on your menu and website,” wrote an Oasis employee. “It is located at the bottom of the menus. Thank you for your understanding regarding some taxes and fees that are outside of our control.”