Direct booking strategy
Resort Fees and the FTC Total Price Rule: What Your Hotel Must Show
Since May 12, 2025, the FTC's fee rule requires every US hotel to show the total price up front, including resort fees and any other fee a guest must pay. You may leave out taxes and optional extras, but must show them before payment. It applies to your website, your ads and booking sites alike.
A low nightly rate with a resort fee added at checkout used to be common. It is now a federal violation. This guide sets out what the rule asks of a small hotel, using the FTC's own examples. It comes from the FTC's compliance guide for businesses, read on October 19, 2026. It is not legal advice.
What does the FTC total price rule require?
The Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, 16 CFR Part 464, took effect on May 12, 2025 and covers short-term lodging and live-event tickets (FTC). The FTC's compliance guide says it covers any business that offers, displays or advertises lodging, including hotels, motels, inns, vacation rentals, booking sites and travel agents, online, in apps and in person. When you show a price, you must:
- Show the total price up front. It includes every fee you know about and can calculate, such as resort, cleaning or facility fees.
- Make the total price the most prominent price, except for the final amount at checkout.
- Disclose anything you left out before asking for payment, with what it is, why and how much.
- Name fees honestly. The FTC warns against vague labels such as "convenience fee" or "service fee".
Which hotel fees must be in the price?
Any fee a guest cannot reasonably avoid. The FTC gives hotel examples:
| Charge | In the total price? | FTC example |
|---|---|---|
| Mandatory resort fee | Yes | A $199 room with a $39 daily resort fee must show the fee in the total |
| Fee waived only if the guest complains | Yes | Still mandatory, because it is charged by default |
| Charge for something needed for the stay | Yes | A towel fee |
| Card fee with no other way to pay | Yes | Unavoidable, so mandatory |
| Taxes and government charges | May be left out | Must be shown before payment |
| Optional extras the guest chooses | May be left out | Trip protection the guest ticks a box to add |
| Damage or late payment charges | No | Not part of the same purchase |
Source: FTC, The Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees: Frequently Asked Questions (May 2025).
The FTC also gives a hotel example of a misleading fee: an "environmental fee" that is not used for the environment.
Does the rule apply to hotel ads and direct-booking offers?
Yes. It covers any place you advertise a price, so check each one:
- Ads. An ad that shows a rate must show the total price. For ads that run across areas with different prices, the FTC says to show the highest total price for the area you target. A "20% off" ad with no price shown does not need a total.
- "From" prices. You may advertise the lowest total price if guests can actually book the room at that price.
- Member and promo rates. If a rate is only for some people, such as members, the FTC says the total price is the price offered to everyone. You may show both, but the price for everyone must be the most prominent. Rate parity also limits member rates; see rate parity for US hotels.
- Booking sites. The FTC says sellers must give marketplaces accurate fee information, so check your resort fee settings in each extranet.
The FTC says a disclosure must be made the same way as the ad. A video ad with a price needs the total shown on screen and said aloud at the same time, and online it must be unavoidable.
Do state laws add anything?
They can. The FTC says you must follow both, and where a state law protects guests more, the stronger rule applies. Booking.com's California and Minnesota rules page describes two examples it applies: California from July 1, 2024 and Minnesota from January 1, 2025 require mandatory fees in the upfront price, and California adds a 24-hour free cancellation window for bookings made more than 72 hours before check-in. We have not checked every state, so ask a lawyer about yours. Cancellation rules are covered in why OTA bookings cancel more often.
What should a hotel check this week?
- Search your own website for the lowest rate and confirm the first price shown includes every mandatory fee.
- Check that the final amount, with taxes, appears before the payment button.
- Rename any vague fee and make sure the money is used for what the name says.
- Review every live ad, email and social post that shows a price.
- Check the fee settings in each booking site's extranet.
Showing the full price everywhere also makes direct booking easier to compare. Your own website is then no more expensive than the booking sites, and a direct booking still costs you less; see direct booking vs OTA: what each booking really costs. To see what each direct booking is worth to you, try our savings calculator.
MarginStay helps independent hotels bring in direct bookings through ads, so we have a stake in this topic. We are not lawyers, and this is not legal advice. The rule and the examples come from the FTC's compliance guide and announcement, and the state examples from Booking.com's Partner Hub, all read on October 19, 2026. We did not read the state laws themselves.
Total price rule: quick answers
Do hotels have to include resort fees in the price?
Yes, in the US. Under the FTC's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, in force since May 12, 2025, a mandatory resort fee must be part of the total price shown up front. The FTC's own example is a $199 nightly rate with a $39 daily resort fee: the fee must be included in the total price.
Can a hotel show prices without taxes?
Yes. The FTC rule lets a business leave taxes and government charges out of the total price shown up front, along with optional extras the guest chooses. They must be disclosed, with their purpose and amount, and added to the final amount before the guest is asked to pay.
Does the FTC fee rule apply to small independent hotels?
Yes. The FTC says the rule covers any business that offers, displays or advertises short-term lodging, including hotels, motels, inns and vacation rentals, online, in apps and in person. The FTC's guide lists no exception by size, and the rule also applies to the booking sites that list your hotel.
What happens if a hotel breaks the fee rule?
The FTC says businesses that break any of its trade regulation rules, including this one, can be ordered to change their practices, refund money to consumers and pay civil penalties. States can also enforce their own fee laws. Ask a lawyer how the rule applies to your pricing.
Show the full price, and win the booking
Once your total price is clear everywhere, direct booking is easy to compare. Talk to us about bringing those guests to your own website.