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The FTC junk fees rule for hotels, motels and vacation rentals: what “total price” means for your website

Sergej Sitki · founder of ReceptionGO and host
Published October 21, 2026 · 5 min read

General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change often and vary by state, county and city — confirm your situation with the local agency or a CPA.

Since May 12, 2025, the FTC’s Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees requires hotels, motels, vacation rentals and booking platforms to show the total price — including cleaning, resort and service fees — whenever they show a price. Taxes and optional extras may be shown separately, but must be disclosed before the guest pays. It applies to your own website, not just to OTAs.

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For years the vacation rental price on the first screen was a fiction: $150 a night, then a $120 cleaning fee, a 14% service fee and a “resort fee” at checkout. The FTC’s fee rule ended that for lodging. Platforms adapted quickly — Airbnb now defaults to showing the total. The businesses most likely to be out of line today are hotels, motels and owners with their own booking websites.

What the rule says

The Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees (16 CFR Part 464) took effect on May 12, 2025. For short-term lodging — hotels, motels, inns, vacation rentals and similar — and live-event tickets, it does two things:

1. Total price up front. Whenever you show a price in an ad or offer, you must show the total price — every mandatory charge you know about and can calculate — and show it more prominently than other pricing information.
2. No misrepresentation. You must not misrepresent the nature, purpose, amount or refundability of any fee — for example by calling a fee a “tax” or a mandatory charge “optional”.

The rule does not cap or ban any fee. It is about when and how you show them.

What goes into the total — and what can wait

Fixing your booking page

1. Inventory your charges: every line that can appear on a booking.
2. Fold mandatory fees into the price — or show the stay total as the main number with the breakdown underneath.
3. Show taxes before payment with their amount and what they are.
4. Check every place a price appears: your homepage, Google Business Profile, Instagram, email offers, chat replies with a quote.
5. Align your OTA listings so guests see consistent totals across channels.

Hotels and motels: resort fees

Hotels were the original target: mandatory “resort”, “destination” or “urban” fees displayed only at the end of booking. Under the rule, a mandatory resort fee must be in the room price shown in search, on the property page and in ads. Motels that add a mandatory “service fee” or charge for parking that is not optional face the same requirement.

State laws go further

California’s SB 478 (Honest Pricing Law) has required all mandatory fees in advertised prices since July 1, 2024, across every industry. Other states have passed or proposed similar laws. Where a state law is stricter, follow it — the FTC rule is a floor, not a ceiling. See our California rules guide.

Comparing what platforms charge you and your guests is the other half of pricing — see Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com fees for hosts. And for the lodging taxes you disclose before payment, see the occupancy tax guide.