Hotels Still Charge Resort Fees: What Travelers Should Know

A hotel room that looks affordable at first glance can get expensive once resort fees, destination charges, and taxes enter the picture. Even a modest daily fee adds up when you’re staying several nights, and not every traveler gets much use out of the amenities it supposedly covers.

There has been a major change, though. Since May 2025, federal rules have required U.S. hotels and booking sites to show mandatory fees in their prominently displayed upfront prices. That doesn’t make the charges disappear. It does make it easier, at least in theory, to compare the full cost before you commit.

Seattle Travel revisits the resort-fee debate using reporting originally attributed to Travel + Leisure, Skift, CNBC, The Points Guy, and Booking.com, along with current Federal Trade Commission guidance and state consumer-protection rules. Here’s what the fees cover, where they show up, and what to check before booking.

Resort Fees Aren’t Limited to Resorts

Despite the name, you don’t have to stay at a sprawling beachfront resort to encounter a resort fee. Some city hotels call them destination or amenity fees, even when the property doesn’t have much more than a fitness room and Wi-Fi. The charge is usually tied to the room, not to whether you use the facilities. That can feel like paying extra for things you assumed were already included. The key question isn’t what the hotel calls it, but whether the charge is mandatory and how much it adds to the stay.

U.S. Tourist Cities Still Have Plenty of Resort Fees

Resort fees remain a familiar part of booking trips to places such as Las Vegas, Orlando, and New York. In Las Vegas especially, major properties continue to charge daily fees on top of the room-rate component of their pricing. The difference today is how those charges must be displayed. Federal rules require a prominently advertised total that includes mandatory fees, so a hotel can’t use a bargain-looking room rate while burying an unavoidable resort charge. You may still dislike paying it, but you should be able to see it before booking.

A Federal Rule Changed Hotel Pricing in May 2025

One of the biggest developments in hotel pricing came on May 12, 2025, when the Federal Trade Commission’s rule on unfair or deceptive fees took effect. Hotels, vacation rentals, and third-party booking services offering short-term lodging must prominently show a total price that includes known mandatory charges. This covers resort and destination fees you cannot reasonably avoid. It is a disclosure rule, not a ban on the fees themselves. Hotels can still charge them; they just can’t advertise a lower total by leaving required charges out of the main price.

Why Resort Fees Made Hotel Prices Hard to Compare

For years, a hotel could advertise an appealing nightly rate and list a mandatory resort fee somewhere else in the booking process. That made it harder to compare properties without opening multiple pages and doing the math yourself. The Federal Trade Commission has identified that type of split pricing as a problem for shoppers. Under today’s U.S. rule, the required fee belongs in the prominently displayed total. Hotels may still break out the room rate and resort fee separately, but the lower figure should not overshadow what the room actually costs.

California Required Upfront Hotel Pricing Even Earlier

California was ahead of the federal change. Its Honest Pricing Law, which took effect in July 2024, generally requires businesses, including hotels, to include mandatory charges in advertised prices. The law doesn’t set a limit on what a hotel can charge, and it doesn’t automatically erase a resort fee. It requires the price shown to reflect unavoidable costs rather than saving them as an unpleasant surprise. For travelers, the practical takeaway is simple: compare the total offered price, not just whichever nightly number happens to look cheapest in a search result.

International Travelers Should Check the Total Cost

Hotel pricing isn’t presented the same way everywhere, and that can catch travelers off guard. Someone used to seeing taxes and required charges included in a published price may find a U.S. booking screen confusing, especially when it lists government taxes separately. The new U.S. federal rule covers short-term lodging advertised by hotels and booking intermediaries, including the mandatory fees they know about. Still, if you’re booking across countries or currencies, check the final payment amount, exchange rate, and any local taxes or optional extras before confirming the reservation.

What Does a Resort Fee Actually Cover?

Depending on the property, a resort fee might cover Wi-Fi, pool access, fitness facilities, bottled water, local calls, or other small perks. Some hotels add food-and-beverage credits or activities; others offer amenities most guests would consider pretty basic. The annoying part is that the charge usually applies even when you don’t touch any of them. Ask for the property’s current list of included benefits and compare it with what you’d use. A credit that requires a separate purchase isn’t much of a bargain if you had no plans to spend that money.

Mandatory Fees and Optional Extras Aren’t the Same

There is an important difference between a required resort fee and something you choose to buy. Under the federal rule, an unavoidable daily fee has to be included in the advertised total price. Optional expenses, such as a parking upgrade or travel-protection plan that you actively select, generally don’t have to be included before you choose them. Government taxes can also be shown separately at first, but the final amount must be disclosed before payment. That’s why the last screen still deserves a careful look, even if the hotel has already shown an all-in rate.

Caribbean Resorts May Have Additional Charges

A Caribbean getaway can involve more than the nightly room price, even at a property advertising an all-inclusive package. Some resorts have mandatory service charges, government-imposed levies, or optional extras that depend on the destination and booking terms. It’s not accurate to assume every island hotel charges a resort fee, or that a particular fee will exceed $100 a night. Instead, read the property’s total-price breakdown and find out exactly what the package covers. An all-inclusive meal plan, for example, doesn’t necessarily mean every activity or service is included.

The Final Hotel Bill Can Include Several Charges

A hotel stay can involve more than a room rate and one resort fee. Depending on the property, you might also encounter lodging taxes, parking charges, pet fees, or charges for optional services. That doesn’t mean every hotel stacks multiple mandatory destination fees, and it doesn’t mean all of those charges have the same disclosure rules. Known, unavoidable charges must appear in the upfront U.S. total; taxes and genuinely optional extras may be shown later, before payment. For an accurate comparison, look at the complete cost for your entire stay, not an isolated nightly figure.

Some Hotel Loyalty Benefits Waive Resort Fees

Before paying a resort fee, it’s worth checking whether your hotel loyalty status or redemption qualifies for a waiver. World of Hyatt, for example, says participating hotels waive resort fees on free-night awards, and Globalist members also receive waivers on eligible paid rates. Those benefits are subject to program terms and won’t apply to every traveler or every booking. Other hotel groups have their own rules, so don’t assume the same perk follows you everywhere. Checking the conditions before booking could make a real difference on a longer stay.

Booking Websites Must Show Mandatory Fees, Too

Booking through a third-party travel site doesn’t put the company outside the U.S. fee-disclosure rule. The FTC says booking platforms and other intermediaries that advertise or sell short-term lodging are covered, just like hotels themselves. Required fees should be included in the prominent total rather than hidden behind a low teaser price. That said, it’s still smart to compare the booking site’s final price with the hotel’s own website. Check cancellation terms and payment arrangements as well, because two listings with similar totals can have very different restrictions.

Resort Fees Don’t Automatically Escape Hotel Taxes

One claim that deserves clearing up is the idea that labeling part of a room charge a resort fee automatically removes it from lodging taxes. That’s not how it works everywhere. Tax treatment varies by jurisdiction, and some local authorities explicitly include resort fees in taxable lodging revenue. In parts of Nevada, for example, local rules treat these charges as taxable. A hotel may itemize the fee separately for business or pricing reasons, but that alone doesn’t establish a legal tax loophole. For travelers, it also means the resort fee itself may have tax added to it.

Las Vegas Is Still a Major Resort-Fee Market

Las Vegas helped make the daily resort fee a familiar part of hotel booking, and the practice is still common along the Strip. Large properties often charge fees running into the tens of dollars per night for amenities such as internet access, fitness facilities, and pool use. Those amounts add up quickly over a three- or four-night trip, especially when applicable lodging taxes are factored in. Since the federal disclosure rule took effect, the mandatory charge should be included in the prominently displayed upfront price. Always compare the full stay total, including taxes, before deciding which hotel is cheaper.

Hotels Must Show the Full Mandatory Price Upfront

The old advice to wait until the final checkout screen to discover a mandatory resort fee is out of date in the United States. The FTC’s rule requires hotels and booking platforms to display the total price, including mandatory fees, prominently when they advertise a price. Government taxes and truly optional purchases may be excluded initially, but the final payment amount has to be presented before the guest is asked to pay. If a hotel still springs a required fee on you after advertising a lower total, keep the reservation details and ask for an explanation.

Complaints Have Helped Change the Rules

Travelers have complained about resort fees for years, and those complaints have been part of a much bigger debate over honest pricing. Regulators eventually acted: California’s price-transparency law took effect in 2024, followed by the federal lodging-fee rule in 2025. Neither law forces hotels to offer free Wi-Fi or waive resort charges, but both give shoppers more information before they book. That’s a meaningful improvement, even if the final price still stings. Clearer pricing makes it easier to decide whether a property is worth the money or whether to take your business elsewhere.

What to Do if a Hotel Adds an Undisclosed Fee

If a required charge appears that wasn’t included in the advertised total, don’t just assume there’s nothing you can do. Save screenshots of the original price, the booking confirmation, and the final bill. Ask the hotel or booking platform to explain the fee and correct any discrepancy. If the charge appears to violate U.S. disclosure requirements, travelers can also report the issue to the Federal Trade Commission through ReportFraud.ftc.gov or contact the appropriate state consumer-protection office. The rule doesn’t guarantee a refund in every case, but clear records give you a much better starting point.