You found a great hotel rate. Then checkout added a resort fee, a service charge, and a tax you never saw coming, and the total looked nothing like the number that got you to click book. New pricing rules were supposed to stop that. They didn’t stop all of it.
Mandatory Resort Fees Belong in the Upfront Total
The FTC’s hotel-fee rule requires a displayed total price to include mandatory charges the business knows about and can calculate in advance. A hotel can still itemize a resort fee, but that breakdown cannot be more prominent than the total. The rule took effect May 12, 2025.
A Fee Is Still Mandatory If You Have to Challenge It
A hotel cannot treat an automatic fee as optional just because staff will remove it after a guest complains. FTC guidance specifically says a resort fee charged automatically at check-in is still mandatory when a guest has to notice it and challenge it. That fee belongs in the displayed total price.
Taxes Can Appear Separately
The first total you see does not always have to include government taxes or charges. The FTC allows those amounts to be excluded from the advertised total, but they must be disclosed before you are asked to pay. The final payment amount must include them.
Truly Optional Add-Ons Can Stay Separate
The federal total does not have to include charges for optional goods or services you choose to add. FTC guidance gives hotel trip protection as an example when the guest must affirmatively select it. Once selected, the added charge has to appear in the final amount before payment.
Booking Sites Have to Follow the Rule Too
The federal rule is not limited to a hotel’s own website. It also covers businesses that advertise or sell short-term lodging, including third-party platforms, travel agents, and online marketplaces. That means the total-price requirement follows the room across the booking process.
California Has Its Own All-In Pricing Law
California’s Honest Pricing Law has applied since July 1, 2024. It generally requires advertised prices to include mandatory charges, apart from specified government taxes and shipping costs. Hotels can still explain how the total is broken down, but they cannot advertise a lower room price and add a required hotel fee later.
Hawaii Taxes Resort Fees
Hawaii treats mandatory resort fees as part of the gross rental proceeds subject to its transient accommodations tax. State tax guidance also uses a strict test for whether a fee is really optional: if avoiding it takes more effort than simply declining it, the charge is treated as mandatory for this purpose.
New York City Has Another Layer
New York City’s hotel fee rule took effect February 21, 2026. It requires clear disclosure of the total price, including mandatory fees, and bars misleading descriptions of hotel charges. A separate requirement covering the general policy for deposits and card holds has been delayed until January 22, 2027.
Las Vegas Fees Still Vary by Property
MGM Grand’s current SKYLOFTS room pages say a daily resort fee plus tax normally applies to reservations, while The Carriage House, just steps from the Strip, advertises no resort fees. That difference is why comparing the total and the policy on the exact room you are booking matters more than assuming every Las Vegas hotel works alike.
Check the Total, Then Check the Terms
The safest way to compare hotels is to look past the nightly rate and read the total, the fee breakdown, and the booking terms together. Federal rules now make mandatory charges harder to bury, but taxes, optional extras, local requirements, and property policies can still change what you actually pay.