You can refuse to pay resort fees when the hotel or booking site failed to include them in the total price you saw before you clicked “book.” A mandatory fee you never agreed to isn’t part of your contract, and since May 12, 2025, an FTC rule requires hotels and booking platforms to show the all-in price, resort fees included, as the most prominent number in any offer. If the fee was clearly baked into the price you agreed to, though, refusing to pay it is breaking your end of the deal.
When You Can Refuse
The test is disclosure, not value. It doesn’t matter whether you used the pool, the gym, or the “amenity package” the fee supposedly covers. What matters is whether the fee was part of the total price displayed when you committed to the booking.
The FTC’s Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, effective May 12, 2025, requires any business advertising short-term lodging to show a total price that includes every charge it can calculate upfront, and to make that total more prominent than any other pricing information. The FTC’s own guidance uses a direct example: a hotel charging $199 per night plus a $39 mandatory resort fee has to display the total as one price, not advertise $199 and add the $39 later.1Federal Trade Commission. The Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees: Frequently Asked Questions
The rule doesn’t ban resort fees and doesn’t cap them. It bans the bait-and-switch. A hotel can charge $50 a night in mandatory fees as long as you see the full number before you decide to book. Advertising a low rate and layering the fee on at check-in is what’s now unlawful.2Federal Trade Commission. FTC Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees to Take Effect on May 12, 2025
The rule reaches booking platforms too. Expedia, Hotels.com, Booking.com, resellers, travel agents, mobile apps, and in-person offers all fall under it. Both the hotel and the platform have to show the real total upfront, and either one can be violating the rule if they don’t.1Federal Trade Commission. The Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees: Frequently Asked Questions Hotels that violate it can be ordered to change practices, refund consumers, and pay civil penalties.
Signs Your Fee Wasn’t Properly Disclosed
A properly disclosed fee sits inside the total price you see before confirming payment, usually with a breakdown showing the room rate, the mandatory fee, and taxes rolling into one number. Everything included in that total becomes part of your contract the moment you click “confirm.”
You likely have a case if any of these happened:
- The front desk mentioned a mandatory fee for the first time when you arrived.
- The fee appeared only in fine-print terms and conditions, not in the price summary you actually reviewed.
- The charge was folded into a generic “Taxes and Fees” line that didn’t identify it as a hotel-imposed fee separate from government taxes.
- The fee first showed up in a confirmation email sent after your payment had already been processed.
If you wouldn’t have known about the charge from the total price displayed when you booked, it wasn’t part of what you agreed to.
How to Dispute the Charge
Start at the Front Desk
Raise the issue with the hotel before you check out. Ask for a manager and explain that the mandatory fee wasn’t in the price you agreed to when you booked. Bring your confirmation email or a screenshot of the price you saw. Argue disclosure, not amenities.
Managers can waive or credit these charges even when front-desk staff say they can’t. Many hotels would rather absorb the fee than argue about it. If the manager refuses, ask for their name and have them note the refusal on your account.
File a Credit Card Chargeback
If the hotel won’t move, dispute the charge with your card issuer. Under the Fair Credit Billing Act, you have 60 days from the date the statement containing the charge was sent to submit a written dispute.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1666 – Correction of Billing Errors Most issuers also take disputes by phone or through their app, but a written notice to the billing-error address on your statement gives you the strongest legal protection. Miss the 60-day window and you lose the formal statutory dispute right, though some issuers extend their own deadlines.4Federal Trade Commission. Using Credit Cards and Disputing Charges
Gather your evidence before you file:
- The original booking confirmation showing the price you agreed to.
- The final itemized bill showing the resort fee added on top.
- Any screenshots you captured of the booking page.
- Notes from your conversation with the hotel, including the manager’s name and date.
The issuer investigates and can reverse the charge if your evidence shows the final amount exceeded what was disclosed at booking.
Where to Report the Hotel
Two complaints are worth filing even after your own charge is resolved:
- The FTC, at reportfraud.ftc.gov. Individual reports rarely trigger immediate action, but they feed the pattern data the FTC uses to bring enforcement cases.
- Your state attorney general’s consumer protection office, which typically accepts online submissions. Several state AGs have already secured settlements with major hotel chains over hidden resort fees.
Filing both takes about ten minutes and creates a record at both the federal and state level.
What Happens If You Refuse a Fee That Was Properly Disclosed
None of the above protects you if the fee was clearly part of the total price when you booked and you agreed to it. In that case, refusing to pay puts you on the wrong side of the contract, and the hotel has several ways to collect.
It will charge the credit card on file from check-in. If you then dispute the charge, the hotel can send the card issuer evidence that the fee was disclosed at booking, and the chargeback will likely be reversed in the hotel’s favor. If the balance stays unpaid, the hotel can send it to collections. A collections account can drag down your credit score and stay on your report for years. The hotel can also block you from future stays at that property or across the brand, and it can pursue the balance in small claims court, though a single $30-to-$50 fee often isn’t worth the hotel’s time to litigate.
Disputing a hidden fee is exercising your rights. Refusing a fee you agreed to is breaking a contract.
How to Avoid the Fight Next Time
Only about 6% of U.S. hotels charge resort fees, and they cluster in a handful of destinations like Las Vegas, Miami, and Honolulu. When comparing prices, look at the total per night including the resort fee, not the headline rate. A hotel at $180 with no resort fee often beats one advertising $150 with a $40 fee stacked on top.
A few workarounds help when you’re stuck at a property that does charge them:
- Book with points. Some loyalty programs waive resort fees on award stays. Hyatt’s World of Hyatt waives them on free night awards for all members regardless of status.
- Hold top-tier elite status. Hyatt Globalist members get resort fees waived on paid stays at eligible properties. Other major chains are less generous.
- Use a premium travel credit card whose statement credits are broad enough to absorb hotel charges, including resort fees.
- Ask at check-in. It works more often than expected, especially for short stays or late arrivals after the amenities have closed.