For years, travelers booking a hotel room faced a familiar frustration: an advertised nightly rate that ballooned once mandatory “resort,” “destination,” or “amenity” fees appeared, often not until checkout. A federal rule finalized in December 2024 was designed to end that practice, and its rollout offers a genuinely useful case study in how consumer protection actually plays out. Here are ten things to know about hotel resort fee disclosure rules in 2026, counted down one by one. (Rule status and enforcement details reflect reporting through mid-2026; confirm current status directly with the FTC or your specific booking platform.)
1. The Rule Requires the Total Price Shown Upfront
Mandatory fees must now be included in the first price displayed. This targets a practice known as drip pricing.
The Federal Trade Commission’s Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, which took effect May 12, 2025, requires hotels and short-term rental platforms to display the total price, including any mandatory resort or destination fees, at the very first point pricing is shown, rather than revealing it only deep into the booking process. The rule requiring the total price shown upfront targets a specific tactic known as drip pricing, where a low advertised rate gradually accumulates hidden mandatory charges as a customer proceeds through checkout.
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2. Vacation Rentals Like Airbnb and Vrbo Are Covered Too
The rule extends beyond traditional hotels. Short-term rental platforms must follow the same disclosure standards.
The disclosure requirement isn’t limited to traditional hotels, it explicitly covers short-term rental platforms as well, meaning mandatory cleaning fees and other required charges on a vacation rental listing must also be included in the prominently displayed total price. Vacation rentals like Airbnb and Vrbo being covered too broadens the rule’s practical impact considerably, addressing a pricing frustration that had become just as common in the vacation rental market as in traditional hotel booking.
3. Only Three Categories of Charges Can Be Excluded
Government taxes, shipping, and truly optional add-ons remain separate. Nearly everything else must appear in the headline price.
Under the FTC’s rule, businesses may only exclude three specific categories from the prominently displayed total price: government-imposed taxes, shipping charges, and fees for genuinely optional add-on goods or services a customer actively chooses to add. Only three categories of charges being excludable is an important detail for understanding the rule’s actual scope, since nearly any mandatory fee tied to simply completing the basic transaction must now be folded into the headline price shown.
4. Major Hotel Chains Had Already Adjusted Ahead of the Deadline
Several large chains proactively updated their pricing display before the rule took effect. This suggests broad industry compliance from major players.
In the lead-up to the rule’s effective date, several major hotel chains publicly confirmed they had already updated their booking systems to display total, fee-inclusive pricing, with some noting they’d made these changes proactively years earlier in response to growing consumer frustration. Major hotel chains having already adjusted ahead of the deadline suggests meaningful voluntary compliance among large industry players, even before the federal requirement formally took effect.
5. Enforcement Authority Faced Real Staffing Challenges in 2025-2026
Federal agencies overseeing the rule experienced significant staffing reductions. This has raised genuine questions about consistent enforcement.
Following the rule’s implementation, the Federal Trade Commission and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, both agencies with some role in consumer-protection enforcement, experienced significant staffing reductions during 2025, prompting consumer advocates and legal experts to raise genuine concerns about how consistently the rule would actually be enforced against noncompliant businesses. Enforcement authority facing real staffing challenges in 2025-2026 is an important caveat for travelers to understand, since a rule’s existence doesn’t automatically guarantee uniform, well-resourced enforcement against every violation.
6. Congress Has Considered Additional Legislation
A bill called the Hotel Fees Transparency Act would further codify disclosure standards. It has moved through part of the legislative process but remains unresolved.
Separate from the FTC’s regulatory rule, Congress has considered the Hotel Fees Transparency Act, legislation that would establish a uniform, legally codified definition of “total service price” for lodging nationwide, a bill that passed the House of Representatives but had not yet been taken up by the full Senate as of mid-2026. Congress having considered additional legislation reflects bipartisan interest in reinforcing fee transparency standards beyond the current regulatory rule alone, though its ultimate fate in the Senate remains genuinely uncertain.
7. Airlines and Car Rentals Fall Under a Different Regulator
The FTC’s hotel rule doesn’t apply to airfare or car rental pricing. Those industries answer to the Department of Transportation instead.
It’s important to understand that the FTC’s fee-disclosure rule doesn’t extend to airline tickets or car rentals, both of which fall under the jurisdiction of the Department of Transportation rather than the FTC, meaning any fee-transparency issues with those specific industries are governed by separate rules entirely. Airlines and car rentals falling under a different regulator is a meaningful distinction travelers should understand, since the hotel-specific rule offers no direct protection against similarly frustrating fee practices in air travel or vehicle rental.
8. Live Event Tickets Are Covered by the Same Rule
Concert and sporting event ticket sellers must follow identical disclosure standards. The rule addresses both lodging and entertainment pricing together.
The same FTC rule that governs hotel and short-term rental pricing also applies to live-event ticket sales, requiring concert, theater, and sporting event ticket sellers to display the total price, including service and convenience fees, upfront rather than adding them progressively through checkout. Live event tickets being covered by the same rule reflects the FTC’s recognition that drip pricing had become a parallel frustration across both the lodging and entertainment ticketing industries simultaneously.
9. Complaints Can Be Filed Directly With the FTC
Travelers who encounter undisclosed fees have a formal reporting channel. Documentation of the violation strengthens any complaint.
Travelers who encounter a hotel or rental platform still failing to disclose mandatory fees upfront can file a formal complaint directly with the Federal Trade Commission, and legal experts recommend keeping screenshots or other documentation of the undisclosed pricing as supporting evidence. Complaints being able to be filed directly with the FTC gives consumers a genuine, if imperfect, recourse when they encounter continued noncompliance, even amid broader questions about the agency’s enforcement capacity.
10. Comparison Shopping Remains the Best Practical Defense
Checking total prices across multiple booking platforms helps catch remaining inconsistencies. This habit protects travelers regardless of enforcement uncertainty.
Given the genuine uncertainty around enforcement consistency, comparing total displayed prices across several different booking platforms for the same hotel remains a practical, traveler-controlled way to catch any remaining pricing inconsistencies or a platform not yet fully complying with the disclosure standard. Comparison shopping remaining the best practical defense is sensible advice regardless of how enforcement ultimately plays out, a habit that protects travelers’ interests directly rather than relying entirely on regulatory follow-through.
A Rule Still Finding Its Footing
Taken together, these ten points show that hotel resort fee disclosure has genuinely improved since the FTC’s rule took effect in 2025, even as real questions remain about consistent enforcement heading through 2026. For travelers, understanding both the rule’s real protections and its current limitations helps set realistic expectations.
The practical upshot for most travelers is genuinely positive: major booking platforms and hotel chains have largely adjusted their pricing displays, making the total cost of a stay considerably easier to see upfront than it was just a couple of years ago. Still, given ongoing enforcement questions and ongoing congressional debate over additional legislation, remaining a careful, comparison-minded shopper, and knowing how to file a complaint if something still slips through, remains a genuinely worthwhile habit for 2026 and beyond.
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