• Hotels must include all mandatory fees other than taxes in advertised room rates
• Casino hotels often charge resort fees
• The FTC rules doesn’t force hotels to ditch resort fees but to include the charges in the upfront rate

As of Monday, May 12, 2025, casino resort hotels and other providers of short-term lodging must include all mandatory fees aside from occupancy taxes in their upfront advertised rate.

In December, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published its “Junk Fees Rule” to require hotels and other lodging operators to cease “bait-and-switch” pricing strategies where an initially offered rate increases at the end of the booking process because of obligatory add-on costs like resort fees, facility fees, and destination fees.

Officially the Trade Regulation Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, the regulation addresses deceptive practices involving fees or charges for live-event tickets and short-term lodging, bait-and-switch pricing that hides the total price by omitting mandatory fees and charges from advertised prices, and misrepresentations of the nature, purpose, amount, and refundability of fees or charges. The rule became effective today at 12:01 am EST.

“The Rule prohibits bait-and-switch pricing and other tactics used to hide total prices and mislead people about fees in the live-event ticketing and short-term lodging industries. These unfair and deceptive pricing practices can harm consumers and undercut businesses trying to compete fairly on price,” a statement from the FTC read.

Casinos Compliant

Since the FTC announced its Unfair or Deceptive Fees Rule, most online ticketing services and hotels have updated their booking and reservation systems to include mandatory fees. MGM Resorts and Caesars Entertainment, which dominate the Las Vegas Strip, both now include resort fees in their upfront advertised room rates.

For a stay at Caesars Palace on June 13, the initially promoted nightly rate is $243 before taxes. Before the FTC rule implementation, the upfront advertised rate would have been $188. With the compulsory $55 daily resort fee, Caesars can no longer tease a rate of $188 before informing the consumer at the latter billing stage of the booking process that an additional $55 a night charge is required.

Along with taxes and other charges imposed by a state or local government, there are exceptions to the FTC fee rule. Hotel charges for optional amenities and services like parking, laundry, and airport transfers need not be included. However, if a consumer requests such add-ons, the charges must be tallied into the total price before payment.

A business may exclude from the total price fees or charges for optional ancillary goods or services that people may choose to add to the same transaction. But if a consumer adds them, the business must clearly and conspicuously disclose such fees, and include them in the final amount of payment, before asking the person to pay,” the FTC said on its FAQs page regarding the rule.

A pillar of the FTC’s mission is to protect the public from deceptive or unfair business practices. The federal agency also protects consumers “from unfair methods of competition through law enforcement, advocacy, research, and education.”

Consumer Group Rejoices

Lauren Wolfe, the founder of the Kill Resort Fees X account and legal counsel with Travelers United, a Washington, DC-based nonprofit that works to improve and enhance travel for consumers across all modes of transportation and accommodations, says the FTC mandate will allow consumers to make more informed decisions when booking their hotel rooms.

Wolfe’s Kill Resort Fees page has since been renamed Kill(ed) Resort Fees.

Hotels that violate the FTC regulation face fines upwards of $50K.