Hotel and short-term rental junk fee compliance

Hotels and short-term rentals attract enforcement because the gap between the advertised nightly rate and the actual price paid is often substantial. Common patterns regulators have flagged as deceptive:

• Resort fees or destination fees added at booking that were not in the rate displayed in search results.
• Mandatory cleaning fees on short-term rentals not included in the per-night price.
• Service or hospitality fees described in vague terms ("property fee," "hospitality charge") that do not explain what the consumer is paying for.
• Booking platforms displaying a per-night rate that excludes resort, cleaning, or service fees imposed by the property.
• Late-checkout, early-departure, or pet fees described as optional but functionally unavoidable.

Effective May 12, 2025, the FTC's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees (16 C.F.R. Part 464) directly covers short-term lodging — including hotels, motels, inns, vacation rentals, and home shares. The rule requires the total price (inclusive of all mandatory charges other than government taxes) to be displayed at least as prominently as any other price, and prohibits misrepresenting the nature, purpose, amount, or refundability of any fee.

Coverage extends to direct hotel sites, online travel agencies (OTAs), metasearch sites, and reseller platforms. The rule is enforceable through FTC Act § 5(m)(1)(A) civil penalties — adjusted annually for inflation and currently set at $53,088 per violation.

State all-in pricing laws apply alongside the FTC rule. Lodging operators must comply with the strictest applicable rule for any given consumer:

• California SB 478 (Cal. Civ. Code § 1770(a)(29)) requires the displayed price to include all mandatory fees, with no lodging-specific carve-out.
• Colorado HB 25-1090 (effective January 1, 2026) imposes maximum-total-price disclosure across consumer transactions, including hospitality.
• Minnesota Total Price Disclosure (Minn. Stat. § 325D.44 et seq., effective January 1, 2025) requires all mandatory fees in the displayed price.
• New York City's DCWP hotel fee rule (effective February 21, 2026) requires hotels and booking platforms operating in NYC to display the total stay price at least as prominently as any other rate.

• The first price a consumer sees in any advertisement, search result, or rate listing must include the resort, destination, cleaning, and any other mandatory fee.
• Any fee excluded under a permissible exception (taxes, optional add-ons) must be clearly labeled with its nature, purpose, amount, and refundability before the consumer commits.
• Avoid vague labels like "property fee" or "hospitality charge." Describe what the fee is for.
• Booking and confirmation flows must show the total price at least as prominently as the original advertised rate.
• Loyalty and rewards displays must apply the same total-price logic — points-plus-cash redemptions are within scope.