All 11 hotel booking views that returned a price in Everything-PR's November 10, 2026 audit stated that mandatory resort or destination fees were included. Across eight completed checkout flows, the final total was a median 16.0% above the public nightly price multiplied by two nights, primarily because of disclosed taxes and assessments. That premium is not evidence that hotels concealed mandatory resort fees.
Last updated: November 10, 2026. Data collected November 10, 2026.
What is in this audit?
What did the 12-hotel audit find?
All 11 priced views in this sample stated that mandatory property fees were included. Nightly framing, member-rate anchoring, taxes and one extra service charge still separated the first number from the final total. Everything-PR inspected 12 fee-charging hotel booking pages in New York, Miami, Las Vegas, Orlando, Los Angeles and Chicago. The same stay was used throughout: one room, two adults, January 13 to January 15, 2027.
The sample was deliberately limited to properties whose own pages disclosed a mandatory resort, destination or comparable property fee. The table lists each finding with its denominator.
| Question | Result | Denominator |
|---|
| First price included the mandatory fee | All | 11 of 11 priced views |
| Exact fee amount next to the price | 2 | 11 priced views |
| Nightly or average-nightly price shown first | All | 11 of 11 priced views |
| Lower member rate shown before public rate | All, median gap 4.2% | 9 of 9 priced Hyatt pages |
| Median final total above nightly price times two | 16.0% (range 13.5% to 18.4%) | 8 completed checkouts |
| Separate non-tax charge beyond the rate card | 1 ($12.28) | 8 completed checkouts |
| Mandatory fee as share of lowest public nightly price | Median 14.9% (range 7.3% to 28.9%) | 11 priced views |
This is a purposive audit, not a representative sample, so none of these figures estimate how often hotels across the industry behave this way.
Were mandatory fees included in the first price?
Yes, in every priced booking view the audit could reach. Eleven of the 12 hotels returned an initial price for the common stay, and all 11 said the displayed figure included mandatory property fees before taxes. The twelfth, Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort, disclosed a $50 daily resort fee but returned no matching rooms for the dates.
That result fits the rules now in force. The Federal Trade Commission's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees took effect on May 12, 2025 and covers short-term lodging. It requires a business that displays a price to disclose the total price, including mandatory fees, clearly and prominently. Government taxes may be left out of that first price but must be disclosed before payment.
New York City added its own hotel rule, effective February 21, 2026. According to the city announcement, it requires hotels to disclose the total price of a stay, including all mandatory fees, and also covers credit card holds.
The fee itself was large. Across the 11 priced views, the disclosed resort or destination fee equaled a median 14.9% of the lowest public nightly price, from 7.3% to 28.9%. The sample intentionally included fee-charging hotels, so those shares say nothing about a typical hotel stay.
Did pages show the fee amount next to the rate?
Usually not: only 2 of 11 priced views put the exact fee amount next to the price. Those were the two Las Vegas rate calendars for Bellagio and The Cosmopolitan, which stated that the displayed rate included a $55 nightly resort fee.
The nine priced Hyatt pages used a short inclusion label on the room card, and showed the exact fee elsewhere on the same page, above the room list. That is disclosure. It does not tell a customer comparing rooms how much of the rate is the room and how much is the bundled fee.
The gap matters most where the fee is large. At the two Las Vegas properties the $55 nightly fee was 29% and 27% of the lowest public rate.
Why does a nightly price still shape the first impression?
A nightly price still shapes the first impression because it is the smaller number, and all 11 priced views led with an average nightly or nightly calendar price rather than the two-night total. A $40 fee reads as $40 on the page, and it is $80 over two nights. A $55 fee becomes $110.
Taxes and assessments are then added to the stay total later in the flow. Meeting the all-in mandatory fee standard does not remove the advantage of showing the smaller unit first. A hotel that wants to build trust can show the stay total beside the nightly average so the customer does not have to do the multiplication.
This audit does not draw a legal conclusion about nightly display. It records what each page showed first.
Did member rates anchor the first number?
On Hyatt pages they did: all 9 priced Hyatt pages showed a lower member rate before the lowest public nonmember rate, with a median gap of 4.2%. Hyatt Centric Times Square, for example, led with a $258 member rate against a $269 public rate.
A loyalty discount is not improper. Hotels use member rates to win direct bookings and collect first-party data. The communication question is sequence: the customer sees the most attractive number first and learns later that the comparable public rate is higher unless the customer signs in.
A clearer pattern puts both numbers together, such as “Public $269. Member $258 after free sign-in.”
How much higher were final checkout totals?
Final checkout totals were a median 16.0% above the public nightly price multiplied by two, primarily because of taxes and assessments. Eight booking flows reached a final payment page, and the premium ranged from 13.5% at Hyatt Regency Orlando to 18.4% at Hyatt Regency Chicago.
This was mainly a disclosed tax effect, not evidence that hotels concealed mandatory resort fees. The Orlando record also contained the separate service charge described below, and small rounding differences affected other records. In all eight flows the first card had said the rate included fees before taxes, and the checkout page then added government taxes and assessments. The FTC rule treats those charges differently from mandatory fees, and the pages disclosed that taxes were excluded.
Customers still experience the total, not the regulatory category. At Dream Downtown in New York the first display implied $618 for two nights, and the payment page showed $715.76. A line such as “Estimated two-night total with taxes: $715.76” would close the largest remaining gap in the flow.
What did the separate $12.28 service charge show?
It showed that “includes fees before taxes” did not cover every required charge in one of the eight completed checkouts. Hyatt Regency Orlando displayed a $662 average public nightly price, which implied $1,324 for two nights before taxes. At checkout the page itemized $1,228 in room charges, $96 in resort fees and a separate $12.28 service charge, before taxes and assessments.
The audit records the $12.28 as a potential non-tax price gap. It is not a legal finding about the charge or the page, because legal treatment can depend on facts a public booking-page inspection cannot see. If a charge is required and calculable, the cleaner practice is to include it in the first total or explain it beside that total.
What should hotel marketers change?
Hotel marketers can close most of the remaining gap with a short list of changes to the rate card and the checkout flow.
- Show the stay total beside the nightly average, because the total is what customers budget and remember.
- Name the fee amount next to the price, for example “Includes $50 nightly destination fee.”
- Explain what the fee covers where it appears, not on a separate policy page.
- Show an estimated total with taxes before checkout, even where the law allows later disclosure.
- Have marketing, revenue management, legal and product teams review the same screenshots, so that “resort fee,” “destination fee,” “service charge” and “tax” each mean one thing.
- Test any “no hidden fees” claim across the public rate, member rate, stay total, taxes, service charges and payment-page total before using it.
A rate card built this way might read: “Two-night stay: $618 before taxes. Average $309 per night. Includes $50 nightly destination fee. Estimated total with taxes: $715.76. Members save $13 per night after free sign-in.” Those figures come from the Dream Downtown record in the audit data. The line is longer than “$296 member rate,” and much harder to misread.
Hotels that market direct booking on rate guarantees and loyalty perks can add price clarity to that promise. For more on that, see the hotel marketing strategy guide, the hospitality PR hub and the travel section.
Everything-PR has audited other disclosure and pricing practices. The Shrinkflation Index tracks 15 U.S. packages that shrank in 2026. The sponsored content labels audit checks how 12 articles label paid partnerships. The PR agency client transparency index audits ten major firms, and best AI PR tools ranks seven platforms by price clarity.
How was the audit run, and what are its limits?
Everything-PR ran a purposive audit of 12 hotels on November 10, 2026, two in each of six markets: New York, Miami, Las Vegas, Orlando, Los Angeles and Chicago. Every property disclosed a mandatory resort, destination or comparable fee on a first-party page before rates were inspected.
Full methodology and access limits
Each search used one room, two adults, January 13 to January 15, 2027, in U.S. dollars. The audit recorded the first prominent rate, the lowest public nonmember rate, whether mandatory fees were included, whether the exact fee sat next to the rate, the default pricing unit and the checkout breakdown where accessible. No optional products were selected, and no personal or payment information was entered.
Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress Resort returned no matching rooms and stayed in the sample. Hyatt Centric Times Square showed rates, but its payment page returned a Forbidden error, so no checkout total was coded. Bellagio and The Cosmopolitan were inspected through official Marriott rate calendars and their checkouts were not completed. Eight booking flows reached a final payment page.
Differences of $2 or less between the displayed average-night estimate and the checkout pre-tax amount were treated as rounding. A larger required non-tax amount was recorded separately. Three records received a same-researcher second-pass check. No independent reviewer was used.
Ten of the 12 properties used Hyatt’s booking platform, which improves consistency within that platform but limits comparison across operators. Rates are dynamic, so the findings describe the pages observed on the research date. Related research is listed in the Everything-PR research index and the research section.
