A hotel room advertised at $199 a night used to have a nasty habit of becoming a $249 room by the time you reached checkout.
The culprit was often a resort fee, destination fee, amenity fee or similarly named mandatory charge that was not included in the headline rate.
That became harder for hotels and booking sites to do after a federal pricing rule took effect in May 2025. But resort fees themselves did not disappear.
If your goal is to find the cheapest hotel in 2026, you still need to understand what is included in the displayed price, what can legally appear later and which optional expenses can make an apparently cheap room expensive.
The Short Answer
Hotels can still charge resort fees in 2026.
What changed is how mandatory fees must be displayed. Under the Federal Trade Commission’s Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, businesses offering short-term lodging generally must prominently display the total price including mandatory fees they know and can calculate in advance.
Government taxes and genuinely optional extras can still be added separately.
So the old “$199 room plus a surprise $45 mandatory resort fee” pricing model should generally appear to you as a $244 price before taxes rather than $199.
What Counts as a Resort Fee?
A resort fee is a mandatory charge added to a hotel stay, often supposedly covering a package of amenities.
Depending on the hotel, that package might include:
- Wi-Fi
- fitness-center access
- pool access
- local phone calls
- bottled water
- beach chairs or towels
- fitness classes
- shuttle service
- food or beverage credits
The problem for travelers has never just been whether those amenities have value. It is that guests often cannot decline the fee even if they do not use them.
If you must pay it to stay at the hotel, it is part of the cost of the room.
What Changed in 2025?
The FTC’s fee rule took effect May 12, 2025 and applies to short-term lodging as well as live-event tickets.
The rule requires businesses displaying a price to show the total price upfront, including mandatory charges they know and can calculate in advance.
The FTC gives an especially clear example: if a resort charges $199 per night plus a mandatory $39-per-day resort fee, the mandatory fee must be included in the total price displayed to the consumer.
This applies not only to hotels themselves but also to businesses selling short-term lodging.
What Can Still Be Added Later?
The rule does not mean the first number you see is necessarily the exact amount that will hit your credit card.
Some charges can still be excluded from the initial total, particularly:
- government taxes and fees;
- optional services you choose to purchase;
- charges that cannot reasonably be calculated until you make a choice.
For example, optional valet parking does not have to be built into the room price if you can simply choose not to park there.
A mandatory destination fee is different. If every guest has to pay it, changing the name from “resort fee” does not make it optional.
Resort Fees Have Not Been Banned
This is an important distinction.
The federal rule is primarily a price-transparency rule. It does not generally prohibit a hotel from charging a $40 resort fee.
It requires the mandatory fee to be reflected in the upfront total price rather than being used to make the room initially appear cheaper than it really is.
For travelers, that is an improvement because comparison shopping becomes easier.
But a hotel charging a large mandatory fee can still be expensive.
How to Compare Two Hotels Correctly
Suppose you are considering two hotels for a three-night stay.
| Hotel A | Hotel B | |
|---|---|---|
| Displayed nightly price | $225 | $245 |
| 3-night lodging price | $675 | $735 |
| Parking | $50/night | Free |
| Breakfast | Not included | Included |
Hotel A initially looks $60 cheaper.
But if you have a car, its parking adds $150. If you would otherwise spend $40 a day on breakfast for two people, Hotel B may easily become the cheaper stay.
The mandatory resort fee should now be reflected in the displayed lodging price. Other trip costs still require your own calculation.
Watch for Parking
Parking is one of the biggest remaining hotel-cost traps because it can be both expensive and legitimately optional.
A city hotel charging $55 a night for parking may still advertise a lodging price that excludes parking if guests can arrive without a car.
For a four-night stay, that is another $220.
Before booking, check:
- self-parking price;
- valet price;
- whether parking includes in-and-out privileges;
- nearby public garages;
- whether you actually need a rental car.
Also Check the Cancellation Policy
A hotel at $240 per night with free cancellation may be better value than one at $220 that is completely nonrefundable.
That $20 difference buys flexibility.
When comparing prices, make sure you are looking at the same:
- room type;
- number of guests;
- cancellation terms;
- payment timing;
- included meals;
- parking situation.
Otherwise the lower price may simply represent a worse product.
Direct Booking vs. Expedia or Booking.com
The new fee-display rules make OTA-versus-direct comparisons easier, but you should still check both.
An Expedia or Booking.com member price may be cheaper. A direct reservation may earn hotel points, elite-night credit or status benefits.
We break that calculation down in our guide to booking a hotel directly versus Expedia or Booking.com.
The important point here is to compare the same stay after mandatory fees rather than comparing two different headline prices.
Airbnb and Vacation Rentals Are Part of the Same Problem
Vacation rentals can have their own assortment of mandatory cleaning and service charges.
The FTC rule covers short-term lodging broadly, and its guidance specifically gives a mandatory vacation-rental cleaning fee as an example of a charge that belongs in the displayed total price.
That makes it easier to compare an Airbnb-style rental against a hotel, although taxes and optional charges can still complicate the final bill.
For a broader comparison, see our guide to whether Airbnb is actually cheaper than a hotel.
A 60-Second Hotel Price Check
Before booking, I would check five things:
- Total lodging price: Ignore the old habit of multiplying a tempting headline rate without checking the total.
- Taxes: These may still appear separately.
- Parking: Especially important in cities and resorts.
- Meals and credits: Free breakfast or a genuinely useful food credit can change the comparison.
- Cancellation: Make sure the cheaper rate has acceptable terms.
Then divide the realistic total cost by the number of nights.
That is the number worth comparing.
What If a Hotel Still Hides a Mandatory Fee?
If a U.S. hotel or booking business advertises a lodging price and then adds a mandatory fee that should have been included upfront, save screenshots showing what was displayed.
The FTC accepts consumer reports through ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
A pricing discrepancy may also be worth raising with the hotel or booking platform before completing the purchase.
Bottom Line
Resort fees still exist in 2026. What has changed is the ability to hide them behind a deceptively low advertised hotel rate.
Mandatory fees that can be calculated upfront generally belong in the prominently displayed total price. Taxes and genuinely optional extras can still increase what you ultimately spend.
That means hotel comparison shopping is easier than it used to be, but it is not automatic.
Compare the total lodging price, then add the costs that matter for your particular trip: parking, food, transportation and flexibility.
The cheapest hotel is the one with the lowest real cost—not the lowest number that first caught your eye.
Source: Federal Trade Commission, Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees FAQs. The rule took effect May 12, 2025. Pricing practices and legal requirements can change.