Your Room Had One More Guest
You booked the room, checked the price and assumed the days of mysterious hotel add-ons were finally over.
Then a $65 resort fee appeared. But “junk fees” are illegal now, aren’t they?
Yes, There Really Is A New Junk-Fee Rule
You did not imagine the announcement. The Federal Trade Commission introduced a rule aimed directly at surprise charges on short-term lodging and live-event tickets. It took effect on May 12, 2025, and hotels, resorts, vacation rentals, travel agents and booking websites are all covered by it.
But The Word “Ban” Did A Lot Of Work
The rule was widely described as a junk-fee ban, which made it sound as though resort fees were about to disappear completely. That is not quite what happened. The government targeted a particular pricing trick—but hotels did not lose their ability to charge every fee customers hate.
Here Is What The Rule Actually Targeted
The FTC went after bait-and-switch pricing. That is when a hotel attracts you with one number, lets you get deep into the booking process and then reveals that the room costs considerably more. The new rule says mandatory charges must be included in the price shown upfront.
So The $65 Fee Can Still Be Legal
A resort fee is not automatically prohibited. The hotel can still charge $65, $100 or some other unpleasant number. What changed is how that charge must be presented. The rule was designed to make the advertised price honest—not force hotels to make their rooms cheaper.
The FTC Used Almost This Exact Example
The FTC’s own guidance describes a resort advertising a $199 nightly rate and adding a mandatory $39 daily resort fee. Its answer is direct: the $39 must be included in the displayed total. The hotel may itemize it later, but $199 cannot be the number doing all the advertising work.
Imagine Your $65 Fee The Same Way
Suppose the room rate is $235 and the resort fee is $65. The hotel may break the charges down as $235 plus $65, but the prominent advertised total must be $300. It cannot make the lower number enormous while treating the real price like a mildly embarrassing footnote.
The Timing Decides Everything
Look back at the first bookable price shown after you selected the dates and room type. If that prominent total already included the $65, the hotel likely followed the federal pricing rule—even if the confirmation or final bill later separated the amount and called it a resort fee.
A Surprise At Check-In Is Different
If the resort fee was not included in the displayed total and the hotel first revealed it at check-in, that may violate the FTC rule. A mandatory charge cannot wait behind the front desk until you have arrived with luggage, tired children and very little interest in restarting the hotel search.
A Tiny Footnote May Not Save Them
Required pricing information must be easy to understand and difficult to miss. On a website or app, the disclosure must be unavoidable. Hiding the real total behind a faint link or an optional information button may not be enough when the much larger number excludes a mandatory charge.
The Real Total Has To Be Most Prominent
Hotels may still display a nightly room rate and provide a breakdown of charges. However, the total containing all mandatory fees must appear more prominently than the other pricing information. A hotel cannot technically disclose the truth while designing the page to make sure almost nobody notices it.
Even The “Total Price” May Not Be Final
This part sounds unnecessarily confusing, but there are two important numbers. The upfront “total price” must include mandatory hotel-created charges. Before payment, the hotel must then display the “final amount of payment,” which adds government taxes and any optional extras you selected.
Taxes Still Get Special Treatment
Government-imposed taxes and charges do not have to be included in the first advertised total under the federal rule. They must still be clearly disclosed before payment and included in the final amount. A hotel-created resort fee cannot simply be renamed a tax to receive the same treatment.
Renaming The Fee Changes Nothing
Calling it a destination fee, facility fee, urban fee, amenity fee or hospitality charge does not create a loophole. If the charge is mandatory, it belongs in the upfront total. The hotel must also truthfully explain the fee rather than using a misleading name that suggests the money goes somewhere it does not.
You Do Not Have To Use The Pool
Hotels often say resort fees cover Wi-Fi, gym access, towels, local calls or the pool. But declining to use those services does not automatically make the fee optional. When every guest must pay it as part of the stay, the charge remains mandatory and belongs in the displayed total.
Even A “Waivable” Fee May Be Mandatory
The FTC specifically addresses hotels that automatically add a resort fee but occasionally remove it when a guest notices and complains. That does not make the charge optional. If customers must discover and challenge a fee to escape it, the hotel has not given them a meaningful choice.
Hryshchyshen Serhii, Shutterstock
Genuine Extras Are Treated Differently
Trip protection, room upgrades, pet accommodations, spa treatments and late checkout may be excluded from the first total when guests genuinely choose whether to purchase them. Once you select an extra, however, the hotel must update the price and include it in the final amount before requesting payment.
LightField Studios, Shutterstock
Parking Depends On Whether You Choose It
A hotel may list parking separately when only guests who choose to park are charged. But if the property automatically adds a parking fee to every reservation—even for guests arriving without a car—that charge is mandatory and must be included in the upfront total.
Vacation-Rental Cleaning Fees Count Too
This rule does not stop at hotels with pools and lobby fountains. The FTC specifically says a mandatory vacation-rental cleaning fee must be included in the displayed total. Moving the same pricing trick into a house, condo or home-sharing app does not make the fee disappear from the rule.
Some Charges Really Can Appear Later
A hotel may charge for damage, smoking in a non-smoking room, late payment or other conduct that could not be calculated when the room was booked. Those charges are different from a resort fee the hotel already knew every guest would owe before anyone reached the checkout page.
Booking Websites Do Not Get A Free Pass
Third-party travel sites must also display the required total when advertising hotel rooms. Hotels must provide the platform with accurate fee information, and the platform must use that information correctly. Passing the reservation through an app does not turn a hidden mandatory charge into somebody else’s problem.
The Rule Does Not Ban Surge Pricing Either
Hotels can still use dynamic pricing and raise rates based on demand, location or available rooms. Your $220 room can still become a $420 room during a major event. The rule does not control that number—it requires the hotel to honestly display the mandatory total attached to it.
The Government Put A Price On All That Clicking
The FTC estimates that upfront pricing could save consumers as many as 53 million hours every year that would otherwise be spent hunting through booking pages for the real price. Over ten years, the agency valued those time savings at more than $11 billion.
The Rule Is Already Being Enforced
In July 2026, travel-app operator Hopper agreed to a proposed $35 million settlement over FTC allegations involving hidden and preselected fees. The complaint also alleged that certain short-term lodging transactions after May 12, 2025, violated the new fee rule. The proposed order still requires court approval.
One Employee Said The Quiet Part Out Loud
According to the FTC complaint, Hopper’s own testing allegedly showed that most users would decline certain supposedly optional fees if they were clearly displayed and not selected automatically. Employees also raised concerns internally, with one reportedly describing the company’s approach as “tricking users.”
Start With Your Confirmation
Find the original listing, checkout page, confirmation email and final receipt. Do not focus only on whether the words “resort fee” appeared somewhere. The critical question is whether that $65 was already included in the most prominent total before you completed the reservation.
Ask The Hotel To Show You
Contact the hotel and identify the price you agreed to pay. Ask exactly where the $65 appeared in the displayed total during booking. If the hotel cannot show that it was included, request that the charge be removed or refunded because it was not properly presented upfront.
Save The Evidence Before The Page Changes
Take screenshots of the listing, the booking flow and any current page showing how the hotel advertises its prices. Save emails, receipts and messages with the property. A complaint supported by the actual numbers is much stronger than telling someone that the fee felt like it came out of nowhere.
You Can Report A Hidden Fee
Suspected violations can be reported through the FTC’s ReportFraud system. Businesses that violate an FTC trade regulation rule may be ordered to change their practices, provide refunds and pay civil penalties. Your state attorney general or local consumer-protection office may also accept complaints.
State Law May Be Even Stricter
Federal law is the starting point, not always the finish line. California’s Honest Pricing Law generally requires advertised prices to include mandatory charges other than certain government taxes and shipping costs. Businesses must also follow stronger state or local consumer protections when they apply.
The Credit-Card Clock Starts Quickly
If the hotel charged more than the amount you agreed to pay, contact the property and then ask your credit-card issuer about disputing the charge. To preserve federal billing-error protections, a written dispute generally must reach the issuer within 60 days after the first statement containing the charge was sent.
A Chargeback Is Not An Automatic Refund
The issuer will review the booking terms, price disclosures and evidence from both sides. Credit-card protections are generally stronger than debit-card protections, but neither guarantees victory. Screenshots showing that the $65 was absent from the advertised total could make a major difference.
So Is Your $65 Resort Fee Legal?
Possibly—but only if the hotel prominently displayed a total that already included the mandatory $65 before you booked and did not misrepresent what the fee was for. The government banned the surprise, not the fee itself. If it first appeared at check-in or on the final bill, the hotel may have a serious problem.
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