Will hotel ‘junk fees’ become a thing of the past?

Increased scrutiny of mandatory fees is impacting how hotels advertise prices. But despite widespread support, regulating them could be complicated

Resort fees, amenity fees, destination fees — the additional mandatory costs tacked on to room rates at hotels have different names depending on who’s charging them. Critics, however, only call them one thing: “junk fees.” In recent months, the fees have become so unpopular that a wave of legislation is threatening to make them a thing of the past entirely.

Key takeaways

• In recent years, the growing number of regulations — and potential regulations — around junk fees have made it confusing for hoteliers to understand exactly how they can comply. “We’re at a place where we want everybody to be playing with the same set of rules,” Bryan Mohler, partner in New York City-based law firm Pryor Cashman’s Real Estate says;
• That’s likely a reason behind the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s support of the Hotel Fees Transparency Act and the No Hidden FEES Act - they just want it to be fair, and for everybody to be able to compete with each other in the free market;
• Effectively regulating junk fees, though, could prove complicated. And if hotels find ways to charge other added fees that are not targeted by anti-junk fees regulation, legislation efforts become a game of Whac-A-Mole.

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