Over the last two years, there has been a concerted effort to crack down on the hidden resort and other "junk" fees in the hotel industry.
While such fees were once seen only in large resorts and associated mostly with Las Vegas, it has become increasingly common for anyone booking a stay to see one price when searching online and then get everything from a "check-in fee" to an extra charge for the facilities tacked onto the final bill.
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In October, President Joseph Biden called upon hotels and booking sites to "reduce or eliminate hidden fees, charges, and add-ons" and committed to cracking down on those who didn't. Marriott (MAR) -) became the first major chain to enforce this and display all add-on rates upfront starting from May 2023.
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Hotel prices 'now include both the room rate and any resort or destination fees'
After advocacy group Travelers United filed a class action lawsuit against Hyatt Group (H) -) on similar accusations of misleading customers with initially low prices, the fifth-largest hotel chain in the U.S. also moved to scrap added fees.
"After careful consideration, we made the decision to move to what we call an all-in rate display for hotels in the Americas," a company spokesperson told travel website the Points Guy. "As of July, the most prominent rate shown throughout the booking process on Hyatt channels for properties in the Americas now includes both the room rate and any resort or destination fees."
While Hyatt also said this was an "effort to further enhance disclosures to our guests" and stay "in line with Hyatt's purpose of care," the recent wave of bad publicity around destination fees and competitor Marriott's move in that direction was also likely to play a large role in the decision.
In the lawsuit, Travelers Group alleged that the practice of tacking on additional fees earned the hotel industry more than $2 billion a year in profit.
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In May 2023, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton also filed a lawsuit over the practice against Hyatt.
"Hyatt's lack of transparency regarding hotel room prices has misled consumers and violated Texas law," Paxton said in a statement before the lawsuit stalled. "These deceptive practices enabled Hyatt to advertise lodging at artificially low rates, and it must end immediately. I will not stand by while Texas consumers are taken advantage of by Hyatt, or by any hotel chain that tries to get away with charging illegal hidden fees."
In line with how other goods and services are sold in the U.S., the new prices presented on the Hyatt website will not include any sales taxes that will be displayed when the customer goes to book as in the past.
As the calls to end the practice grow stronger and hotels slowly start to follow suit, Hearst Television's Chief Consumer Correspondent Jeff Rossen advises continuing to carefully read the fine print underneath one's booking and typing a hotel where one is thinking of staying on ResortFeeChecker.com.
"When booking, look at the little sentence underneath the rate," Rossen writes. "It could say something like 'Excludes 30 USD Amenity Fee per night.' It will be small, but that's a red flag that more fees are getting tacked on at checkout."
