Resort fees have long frustrated travelers, and the federal government is now scrutinizing the practice more closely.
The Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Economics recently published a report examining how hotels that display room rates separate from mandatory resort fees create extra work and confusion for consumers. The report highlights how hiding fees until later in the booking process increases the time and effort required to compare total prices across hotels.
“This analysis finds that separating mandatory resort fees from posted room rates without first disclosing the total price is likely to harm consumers by increasing the search costs and cognitive costs of finding and choosing hotel accommodations,” wrote Mary Sullivan, the report’s author. She added that when fees are disclosed late, consumers face a choice: either spend more time and mental energy to find true total prices, or make less-informed decisions that can lead to paying more than expected. The report concludes that splitting out resort fees without showing the full price is unlikely to create benefits that outweigh the likely harms to travelers.
The report details the browsing paths travelers must take on many hotel websites before they can see the resort fee and the final room cost. Two common tactics are drip pricing and partitioned pricing. Drip pricing advertises a headline rate and only reveals additional mandatory charges as customers move through the booking steps. Partitioned pricing presents multiple separate charges—room rate, resort fee, taxes—without clearly stating the combined total up front.
These practices can mislead travelers about the true cost of a stay and generate frustration over what the resort fee actually covers. Guests often report that the advertised rate bears little resemblance to the final amount charged, and many are unclear whether resort fees pay for specific services, amenities, or are simply an extra mandatory surcharge.
Consumer groups have documented the financial impact. For example, Travelers United, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, estimated that U.S. travelers paid $2.04 billion in resort fees in 2015, a 35 percent increase over the previous year. While that figure is dated, it illustrates how resort fees can represent a significant and growing source of expense for travelers when they are not transparently disclosed.
The FTC’s findings support calls for clearer, more honest pricing so consumers can compare offers accurately and avoid unexpected charges. Greater transparency could reduce search and cognitive costs for travelers, making it easier to identify true value and make well-informed choices about where to stay.