FTC to Require Lodging and Ticketing Companies to Disclose Extra Fees

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is considering new regulations for hotels, vacation rental platforms and live event promoters. Set to affect casino hotels too, the new rules will require properties and organizers to disclose any fees up front, the Associated Press reported.

FTC Will Require Companies to Be Honest about the Prices

According to the FTC, consumers are often unpleasantly surprised by the so-called junk fees, which are additional payments that are not included in the advertised prices for hotel rooms, short-term rentals and events. As a result, many customers end up feeling tricked by the extra fees, which usually include resort fees, cleaning fees and processing fees, among others.

According to FTC chair Lina Khan, Americans deserve to know what they will have to pay, instead of having to deal with “mysterious fees” they haven’t considered.

As a result, the new rule will require all lodging and ticketing companies to clearly disclose the true cost of services when displaying prices. In addition to that, businesses that exclude taxes or shipping fees from their pricings should also disclose them before customers enter any payment information and not after that.

The new rule has been approved and is set to be enacted 120 days after the announcement. It was approved by four out of the five FTC commissioners, with the exception of Andrew Ferguson, Trump’s choice to replace Khan as chair.

FTC: The Change Will Save Americans Millions of Hours

The new rule has been in the making since 2022 when the FTC asked the public to weigh in on the matter and say whether it believes that a fee-disclosure rule might help to stop unfair and deceptive pricing. Over 12,000 people shared their thoughts on the matter, approving this measure.

According to the FTC, forcing lodging and ticketing businesses to display the full prices of services will save Americans some 53 million hours a year spent searching for this information. It will also prevent customers from feeling tricked by hotels and ticket vendors.

Earlier this year, the Department of Justice initiated a lawsuit against Live Nation Entertainment, the parent company of ticketing giant Ticketmaster. The DOJ alleged that the ticketing company had violated antitrust laws by monopolizing the ticketing market and artificially inflating ticket prices.