Hotel ‘junk fees’ bill passes GOP-controlled House

The No Hidden FEES Act would create a single standard to transparently display fees across the entire long- and short-term lodging industry. It will require all added fees to reservations for hotels and short-term rentals—including “resort fees” that even hotels without resort amenities tack on—to be listed and disclosed up front so people have a realistic idea of lodging prices and can compare options as they see fit.

The House bill, passed on June 11 in a 384-25 vote, was introduced by Representatives Young Kim (R-Calif.) and Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) in December, a few months after Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) introduced the Hotel Fees Transparency Act in the Senate. 

The legislative efforts are in line with President Joe Biden’s crackdown on hidden fees, which first targeted the airline industry in the summer of 2021. 

The House bill also gives the Federal Trade Commission and individual states the authority to enforce violations and failures to disclose all hotel fees as unfair or deceptive business practices. It has also been praised by prominent industry trade groups, including The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and the Asian American Hotel Owners Association. 

“It makes sense for all lodging businesses—from short-term rentals to online travel agencies, metasearch sites, and hotels—to tell guests up front about mandatory fees,” AHLA’s interim president and CEO Kevin Carey wrote in a statement, adding the group has “the goal of establishing a uniform standard across the industry as law.”

The Asian American Hotel Owners Association called passage of the bill a “significant win,” according to a statement released on June 12. Chairman Miraj S. Patel wrote that the legislation can help people make better-informed decisions on where to stay, adding that the group looks forward to seeing the bill move through the Senate.

The move is one of several meant to reveal hidden fees that many industries, including the airline, housing, ticketing and events sectors, often bury throughout the checkout process. Last month, the House passed another bill meant to target junk fees in the concert industry called the TICKET Act. Last October, the FTC proposed a rule that would ban hidden junk fees and other “bogus” fees, which are fees that “dishonest businesses routinely misrepresent or fail to adequately disclose the nature or purpose of,” the regulator said in a statement. 

Meanwhile, the Senate’s Hotel Fees Transparency Act, which would require full transparency of all required hotel fees with the exception of government or quasi-government entity-imposed fees, has been introduced and still needs to pass the chamber. If it does pass, it would need to be reconciled with the House bill before Biden can sign it into law. 

Biden’s push to disclose hidden junk fees has been one of the most consistent priorities of his presidency. In his 2024 State of the Union speech in March, he said his administration had “proposed rules to make cable, travel, utilities and online ticket sellers tell you the total price up front so there are no surprises.”