Resort fees are one of the most persistent sources of frustration in the travel industry, adding tens of dollars per night to hotel bills that originally appeared far more affordable. This guide covers everything travelers need to know about resort fees: what they are, why hotels charge them, how the pricing landscape has evolved under new federal regulations, and how informed travelers can reduce or avoid them. Travel Hospitality Review has compiled this resource to provide independent, factual analysis for anyone planning a hotel stay in the United States or beyond.
What Is a Resort Fee?
A resort fee is a mandatory daily charge that hotels add on top of the advertised room rate. Hotels claim these fees cover access to amenities such as Wi-Fi, pool use, fitness center access, local phone calls, and sometimes parking or a daily newspaper. Critically, the fee is not optional and is charged regardless of whether guests actually use any of those amenities.
A resort fee, also called a "destination fee" or "amenity fee," is a mandatory daily charge that hotels add on top of the advertised room rate. It is not optional and cannot be declined. Resort fees are almost always charged per room, per night, meaning that regardless of how many people are sharing a room, guests pay one resort fee for each night of the stay.
Resort fees, also called destination fees, facility fees, and amenity fees, are charges in addition to a hotel's room rate that cover the use of various hotel amenities. The terminology varies by property type and location, but the financial impact on travelers is structurally the same across all labels.
Why Resort Fees Matter in 2025 and 2026
What began as a niche practice among traditional beach and desert resorts has expanded into a mainstream pricing tactic adopted by urban hotels, suburban properties, and even roadside lodging. The scale of this trend has reached a point where it now warrants formal federal intervention, making the topic more relevant than ever for any traveler booking accommodations in 2025 or 2026.
The hotel industry collected more than $2.9 billion in resort fees and other fees and surcharges in a single year, according to Consumer Reports. Hotel and resort fees were estimated to grow to $2.7 billion in 2017, a 35% increase from 2012, according to a study by NYU School of Hospitality and Tourism Professor Bjorn Hanson. This trajectory illustrates how resort fees evolved from a limited revenue strategy into a central component of hotel financial planning.
Resort fees are a deliberate pricing strategy that keeps advertised rates low while inflating the final bill, and this practice has spread from luxury beach resorts to standard hotels in major cities. The trend started in traditional vacation hotspots, but there is now massive "destination fee creep" into non-resort cities, with places like Chicago, Washington DC, and Phoenix aggressively normalizing urban destination fees throughout 2025 and 2026.
The Federal Trade Commission's new rule against "junk fees" officially took effect on May 12, 2025. Despite the regulatory development, resort fees themselves were not banned. Understanding what changed and what did not is essential for any traveler comparing hotel prices today.
Common Challenges Travelers Face With Resort Fees
Resort fees create a set of predictable problems that affect budget planning, booking transparency, and the overall guest experience. Recognizing these challenges before booking is the first step toward making genuinely informed decisions.
Key Problems Encountered With Hotel Resort Fees
Advertised Rate vs. True Cost: Many hotels want to advertise lower room rates but add fees later, which makes prices seem more attractive upfront. Some guests may not notice the extra charges until they check out. This gap between the visible rate and the actual cost is the most fundamental issue travelers encounter.
Mandatory Payment for Unused Amenities: Even if a guest never steps foot in the gym, uses personal smartphone data instead of hotel Wi-Fi, and never touches the in-room phone, they still have to pay the fee. It is a non-negotiable part of the room cost that is simply separated out on the bill.
Fees on Award Stays: Paying with points feels like it should cover everything, but at some chains the nightly resort or destination fee still lands on the bill even when the room itself is free. This catches many loyalty program members off guard, since the assumption is that a points redemption covers all room-related charges.
Fee Stacking and Taxes: Local taxes are often applied on top of the mandatory nightly charge, so a $50 per night resort fee can actually show up as $56.63 on the final checkout screen because taxes are added to the fee itself. This compounding effect makes resort fees more expensive than their face value suggests.
Rapid Rate Escalation: The publisher of ResortFeeChecker.com estimates that hotel resort fees increase by almost 11% each year. The number of hotels charging resort fees is up by 26% since 2016, and average resort fees have risen by 12%.
These challenges are not isolated anomalies. They reflect a structural tension between the hotel industry's pricing incentives and travelers' expectations of transparent billing. Tools such as all-in price filters on hotel search platforms, loyalty program fee waivers, and direct-booking negotiation strategies each address different dimensions of this problem. Travel Hospitality Review covers these strategies in detail in the sections below.
What Travelers Should Understand Before Booking a Hotel With a Resort Fee
Before committing to any hotel reservation, travelers benefit from understanding exactly how resort fees work, what they typically cover, and which geographic markets tend to charge the highest amounts. This knowledge enables genuine cost comparisons rather than base-rate comparisons that exclude mandatory charges.
What Resort Fees Actually Cover
Hotels claim that resort fees cover things like WiFi, pool access, fitness center use, local phone calls, and sometimes parking or a daily newspaper. In reality, these are basic amenities that most travelers expect to be included in the room rate. The list of covered amenities varies substantially from one property to the next, and the value a guest derives from those amenities depends entirely on how they travel.
Some of the amenities bundled into the fee, like Wi-Fi or an in-room safe, are things many hotels provide free of charge, making the fee feel like a markup rather than added value. This perception is one reason resort fees consistently generate negative guest sentiment and regulatory scrutiny.
How Much Resort Fees Typically Cost
According to a 2025 study by NerdWallet that looked at over 400 hotels, the national average for these fees is around $33 to $35 per night. Depending on where a traveler is going, they can range anywhere from a modest $15 to well over $100 per night for high-end properties.
On average, resort fees make up about 11% of the total nightly cost of a hotel stay. If a hotel charges a $40 resort fee and a guest stays for five nights, they are paying an extra $200 on top of the room taxes and base rate.
The average cost of a resort fee, when present, was $50 at Marriott, $33.80 at Hyatt, $33 at Hilton, $32.57 at IHG, and $25 at Wyndham. These chain-level averages are useful reference points, though fees vary by individual property.
Which Cities Charge the Most
In Las Vegas, resort fees are almost ubiquitous, averaging $35 to $50 per night. Most major Strip hotels charge between $45 and $55 per night before tax, with premium properties like Bellagio, Wynn, Venetian, and Caesars Palace at the $55 end.
In New York City, destination fees are common in mid-range and upscale hotels, typically $20 to $40 per night. Miami and Orlando have high resort fees as well, with costs attached to pools, gyms, and beach services. Hotels in Hawaii are particularly fond of charging resort and parking fees, which dramatically pushes up nightly rates.
The Business Logic Behind Resort Fees
To fully understand the resort fee landscape, it helps to examine why hotels adopted this pricing structure in the first place. The motivations are straightforward, and they explain why the practice has proven so durable despite consistent consumer backlash.
Keeping Advertised Rates Competitive: The logic for hotels is simple: they can advertise a cheaper room rate, then collect the additional revenue later. In an environment where travelers sort search results by price, a lower base rate improves a property's visibility and perceived value.
Revenue Growth That Outpaces Rooms Revenue: From 2015 through 2018, resort fee revenue for the CBRE research sample increased at a compound annual growth rate of 10.9%, which exceeded the concurrent growth rates for rooms revenue at 2.8% and total hotel revenue at 4.3%.
High Margin Revenue: Resort fees have been "a significant source of top-line revenue," according to one industry perspective. "What's great about resort fees is that they don't have a lot of operating costs associated with them. Usually, the infrastructure to provide that service already exists at the hotel. So, the flow-through margin contribution from that additional revenue is pretty significant to the bottom line. Owners and asset managers love them."
Non-Resort Hotels Following the Model: In urban hotels, resort fees were virtually unheard of until about 2015, when a few properties began experimenting across major markets and found quick success. Urban fee property participation growth was steady after that, equating to about 13% from 2015 to 2019, which was a higher growth rate than at resort properties.
Tax Structuring: In some jurisdictions, room rates are taxed at a different, often higher, percentage than standard services or amenities. By separating out a facility fee, hotels can sometimes navigate local tax codes to their advantage. This creates an additional financial incentive for operators beyond simple revenue generation.
The FTC Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees: What Changed in 2025
The regulatory landscape around resort fees shifted substantially in 2025 with the implementation of a major federal rule. Understanding the scope and limits of this rule is critical for setting realistic expectations about hotel pricing transparency going forward.
On May 12, 2025, the FTC's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees officially took effect. It was the federal government's most significant move against hidden hotel fees to date.
The rule requires that any hotel advertising a room price must now show the total price, including all mandatory fees, upfront. Burying the resort fee late in the checkout process is no longer compliant.
However, the scope of the rule is important to understand precisely. The rule does not ban resort fees. It does not cap them. It does not tell hotels what they can or cannot charge. It is a transparency rule, not a price regulation.
Hotels can still charge whatever they want in resort fees; they just cannot hide them anymore. Small hotels and independent properties received a grace period and had until January 2026 to comply.
The FTC's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees covers hotels, motels, inns, vacation rentals, and other short-term lodging, including offers shown by third-party booking platforms and travel agents. This means the obligation for all-in pricing transparency applies across the full booking ecosystem, not just a hotel's own website.
Resort fees are not going away despite the new FTC rule, and travelers continue to pay them even if they are now more transparent. The regulatory change improves the information environment without altering the underlying pricing structure.
Best Practices and Expert Tips for Managing Resort Fees
With resort fees now disclosed upfront in U.S. markets, the focus for savvy travelers has shifted to proactive planning: understanding which programs waive fees, which properties avoid them entirely, and how to negotiate when warranted.
Leverage Hotel Loyalty Programs and Elite Status: Elite members at major hotel chains often receive automatic resort fee waivers. Booking through elite accounts can save significant amounts, and most chains make this a policy-level benefit, so there is no individual negotiation needed.
Book Award Stays With Programs That Waive Fees: Hilton Honors waives resort and destination fees on reward stays booked entirely with points, regardless of elite tier, and World of Hyatt does the same on award nights. The practical effect is that a free room really is free, with no surprise line item at checkout. Marriott is the only major chain that charges resort fees even when booking with points, which is a genuine pain point for loyal Marriott travelers and a reason many points enthusiasts have shifted their loyalty to Hyatt or Hilton for resort stays.
Book Directly and Ask Before Check-In: Third-party booking sites have no leverage to waive fees. Booking direct and calling the hotel front desk before arrival creates an opportunity to ask if fees can be waived, particularly for loyalty members or guests who can demonstrate they will not use the covered amenities.
Consider Properties That Do Not Charge Resort Fees: Some hospitality organizations see mandatory fees as a disservice to customers and choose to market their "no resort fee" strategy to gain a larger market share. In competitive markets, the absence of a resort fee can be a genuine differentiator worth factoring into a total-cost comparison.
Use All-In Price Filters When Searching: When searching for hotels, using filters for "total price" on Google Hotels or comparable platforms ensures that all mandatory fees are reflected in the comparison. This prevents base-rate comparisons from obscuring the true cost difference between properties.
Read Rate Details Carefully, Even After 2025: Many travelers still feel misled when a fee that was not obvious during search appears at checkout, though this has improved somewhat since the 2025 disclosure changes. Reviewing the rate details page before completing any booking remains a necessary step.
Request Fee Waivers Based on Non-Usage: Some hotels will waive the resort fee if a guest can demonstrate they will not use any of the included amenities. This requires making the case professionally, but it works: if a guest has their own mobile data and will not use the pool, that argument can be effective.
Check Independently Managed Properties: Some hotels waive resort fees for elite loyalty members or for guests who ask directly and explain they will not use the amenities. This approach works better at independently managed hotels than at large chain properties with standardized policies.
Advantages of Understanding Resort Fees Before You Book
Approaching hotel reservations with a complete understanding of resort fees changes the outcome of the booking process in measurable ways. The travelers and travel managers who account for fees upfront consistently make more cost-effective decisions than those who focus exclusively on the advertised rate.
Accurate Budget Planning: Hotel resort fees average $43 per night in 2026. On a five-night stay, that is $215 added to a bill before taxes. Accounting for this cost at the planning stage prevents a significant budget overrun at checkout.
More Meaningful Property Comparisons: When total cost, including all mandatory fees, is the basis for comparing two properties, travelers often discover that the hotel with the higher advertised rate is actually the more affordable option after fees are factored in. A single resort fee can cost $20 to $100 or more per night, which materially affects a travel budget if not planned for in advance.
Improved Negotiating Position: Travelers who understand resort fee policies by chain and by property type enter negotiations with relevant information. Knowing that a specific brand waives fees for elite members, or that a particular property has waived fees for guests who ask, creates leverage that uninformed travelers cannot access.
Loyalty Program Optimization: Understanding which programs waive fees on award stays influences where it makes sense to concentrate hotel spending. The gap in fee policies between programs can top $40 a night, and it is one of the easiest hotel costs to plan around once a traveler knows the rules.
Reduced Checkout Disputes: A Consumer Reports nationally representative survey of more than 2,000 adults found that 34% had been charged a hidden hotel fee in the past two years. Travelers who research fees in advance are less likely to encounter unexpected charges and better positioned to dispute fees that were not properly disclosed under current regulations.
Informed Destination and Property Selection: In markets like Las Vegas, the resort fee is a near-universal cost of staying on the Strip, but properties just off the Strip often charge significantly less or nothing at all. A few off-Strip and downtown hotels charge $30 to $40 in resort fees, and a handful charge no resort fee at all. This geographic awareness can meaningfully reduce the total cost of a multi-night stay.
How Travel Hospitality Review Approaches Resort Fee Analysis
Travel Hospitality Review provides independent editorial coverage of the hospitality industry, with a particular focus on pricing transparency, consumer rights, and the evolving regulatory environment around hotel fees. Our approach to resort fee coverage is grounded in primary data sources, regulatory documentation, and chain-level policy analysis rather than hotel-supplied marketing materials.
In our analysis of the resort fee landscape, we consistently find that the gap between the advertised rate and the true total cost of a hotel stay reflects a structural feature of hotel revenue management rather than an oversight. Hotels have long used resort fees to keep advertised room rates lower in search results while still collecting additional revenue through mandatory charges. Recognizing this dynamic is foundational to interpreting any hotel rate comparison with accuracy.
We also track how the regulatory environment is reshaping disclosure norms. The 2025 FTC rule has improved upfront price transparency across U.S. hotel bookings and third-party platforms, but hotels are now required to show the all-in price upfront in the U.S., though the same transparency standard may not apply when traveling abroad. Travelers booking international properties should continue to review fee disclosures carefully, as the FTC rule does not govern foreign hotel operators.
We note that the academic and consumer research landscape around resort fees is not uniformly negative. A netnographic analysis of the FlyerTalk online travel community identifies both customer-related factors such as prior experience and loyalty program membership, and firm-related factors such as transparency of fee disclosure and geographic location, as moderators of how resort fees are perceived. The findings challenge prevailing perceptions of resort fees as solely negative, suggesting that transparency and context significantly shape the guest experience. This nuance matters: a clearly disclosed resort fee at a property where the amenities are genuinely valued can be received differently than an opaque charge discovered at checkout.
The Future of Hotel Pricing Transparency
The implementation of the FTC's junk fee rule represents a meaningful shift in how the U.S. hotel industry must communicate pricing, but it does not mark the end of the resort fee era. The fee structure itself remains intact, and the incentives that drove its growth, including the ability to show lower base rates in search results while capturing additional margin through mandatory charges, are now replaced by a requirement for full upfront disclosure.
Resort fees are not going away despite the new FTC rule, and travelers continue to pay them, even if they are now more transparent. The practical question for travelers is not whether resort fees will disappear, but how to navigate a market in which all-in pricing is now the legal standard, even as fee amounts continue to climb.
With the rise of competition from Airbnb and other alternative accommodations, traditional hotels have struggled to compete with the appeal of affordable travel alternatives. Many hotels have implemented or increased resort fees as an effort to generate additional revenue. This competitive dynamic suggests that fee pressure will persist even as regulatory oversight increases.
For travelers, the most effective long-term strategy is to internalize total-cost thinking as a default: comparing all-in nightly rates, understanding which loyalty programs offer fee waivers, identifying fee-free properties in target destinations, and treating fee disclosure as a factor in brand trust decisions. Travel Hospitality Review will continue to monitor regulatory developments, chain-level policy changes, and market data to provide the independent analysis travelers need to make fully informed booking decisions.
FAQs About Resort Fees and Hotel Pricing Transparency
What is a resort fee?
A resort fee, also known as a destination fee or amenity fee, is a mandatory per-night surcharge added by a hotel on top of the advertised base room rate. This fee typically covers services like Wi-Fi, pool access, and fitness center use. It is not optional, cannot be declined, and is charged regardless of whether guests use any of the included amenities. Travel Hospitality Review treats resort fees as a core pricing variable in any hotel cost comparison.
Why do hotels charge resort fees?
Hotels charge resort fees to boost their revenue. These extra costs often come from resort and amenity fees that cover access to pools, gyms, or Wi-Fi. Guests may find these charges in the small print at booking time. Many hotels want to advertise lower room rates but add fees later, which makes prices seem more attractive upfront. The structure also provides high-margin incremental revenue because the infrastructure for covered amenities already exists at most properties.
Are resort fees illegal under the new FTC rule?
The FTC's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, effective May 12, 2025, requires hotels to show the total price including all mandatory fees upfront. It is a transparency rule: hotels can still charge resort fees, they just cannot hide them in the fine print anymore. The rule does not ban fees, cap their amounts, or restrict what hotels can charge. Travel Hospitality Review recommends that travelers continue to verify all-in pricing at the point of booking.
How much is the average resort fee in the United States?
Hotel resort fees average $43 per night in 2026, a mandatory charge added on top of the advertised room rate. A single resort fee can cost $20 to $100 or more per night depending on the property and location. Major Strip hotels in Las Vegas typically sit at the higher end of that range, while budget and suburban properties may charge less. Understanding where a specific hotel falls within this spectrum is essential for accurate trip budgeting.
Can resort fees be waived?
Hotels can waive resort fees after a booking is made. The best time to request fee waivers is before check-in, either by contacting the hotel or speaking with the front desk. Some hotels waive resort fees for elite loyalty members or for guests who ask directly and explain they will not use the covered amenities. This works better at independently managed hotels than at large chain properties with standardized policies.
Which hotel loyalty programs waive resort fees on award stays?
Hilton Honors waives resort and destination fees on reward stays booked entirely with points, regardless of elite tier, and World of Hyatt does the same on award nights. Marriott Bonvoy and IHG One Rewards take the opposite approach and continue to charge resort fees even on points redemptions. Travel Hospitality Review recommends verifying the current fee waiver policy of any program before booking a resort property with points.
Do resort fees apply when traveling internationally?
Because of new federal regulations that went into effect in 2025, hotels are required to show the all-in price upfront in the U.S. That is a significant transparency improvement, but it might not be the same if traveling abroad. International travelers should review fee disclosures independently, as foreign properties are not subject to FTC requirements and may continue to present base rates without mandatory surcharges included upfront.