![](\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/rockcms\/2023-07\/2307225-klobuchar-moran-1x1-mjf-1530-61ee42.jpg\"){kind=spacer}
<\/p>\n [ad_1]\n<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON \u2014\u00a0With the summer travel season in full swing, a bipartisan duo in the Senate is introducing a bill that would crack down on hidden resort fees for hotel stays.<\/p>\n
The bill, called the Hotel Fees Transparency Act, would establish federal guidelines for pricing transparency that have, up until now, been largely voluntary. The legislation would require anyone advertising a hotel room or a short-term rental to clearly show upfront the final price a customer would pay to book lodging.\u00a0It would make the Federal Trade Commission responsible for pursuing violations, and it says state attorneys general could also bring civil action for violations.<\/p>\n
\u201cToo often, Americans making reservations online are being met with hidden fees that make it difficult to compare prices and understand the true cost of an overnight stay,\u201d said Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., who is introducing the bill with Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan. \u201cThis bipartisan legislation would help improve transparency so that travelers can make informed decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n
President Joe Biden announced during his State of the Union address in February <\/strong>that his administration would target junk fees in a variety of industries, including at hotels.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll ban surprise \u2018resort fees\u2019 that hotels tack on to your bill,\u201d Biden said. \u201cThese fees can cost you up to $90 a night at hotels that aren\u2019t even resorts.\u201d<\/p>\n In fact, the fees can range from $20 to $120 a night, said Clint Henderson, the managing editor at The Points Guy, a website that tracks the travel industry.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair that they\u2019re charging for stuff that used to be included in the cost of hotel, like towels or beach chairs or Wi-Fi,\u201d Henderson said. \u201cIt\u2019s just another way that Americans are being nickel-and-dimed to death.\u201d<\/p>\n Consumer Reports estimated that the hotel industry brought in $2.9 billion in resort fees in 2018.<\/p>\n A 2019 lawsuit filed by the attorney general for Washington, D.C., <\/strong>alleged that Marriott International Inc. had collected hundreds of millions of dollars in \u201cdeceptive\u201d resort fees. Marriott announced this year that it is including resort fees in the total prices it displays in search results on its website.<\/p>\n Henderson said that the fees started to pop up on hotel bills about a decade ago at resorts with \u201creally extensive amenities, where the hotel could argue that they were providing some value for the resort fee,\u201d but that since then the charges have spread to the rest of the industry.<\/p>\n \u201cEssentially it\u2019s just a way for the hotel to pad their bottom line and to make their pricing seem lower than they actually are,\u201d he said. \u201cUnfortunately, like a virus, it\u2019s spread from true hotel resorts to almost anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n The bill would reach past hotels, also addressing online travel agencies, metasearch websites or any other site advertising hotels, motels, inns, short-term rentals or other places of lodging at nightly, hourly or weekly prices.<\/p>\n The American Hotel and Lodging Association says that a poll it commissioned found that hotel fees are rare and that 80% of visitors are willing to pay for hotels with resort fees if the amenities are worthwhile.<\/p>\n \u201cAHLA\u2019s most recent data shows only 6% of hotels nationwide charge a mandatory resort\/destination\/amenity fee, at an average of $26 per night,\u201d AHLA President and CEO Chip Rogers said in a statement. “These fees directly support hotel operations \u2014 including wages and benefits for hotel staff \u2014 and when they are applied, hotel websites clearly and prominently display them for guests during the booking process, in accordance with FTC guidance.\u201d<\/p>\n The American Gaming Association has also defended the practice, writing in a recent filing to the FTC: “Changing to all-inclusive pricing would result in removal of existing amenity disclosures and could lead to consumers making assumptions about what services and amenities would be\u00a0available.\u201d<\/p>\n The American Gaming Association says it fears that legislation targeting junk fees could be overly broad for a hospitality industry that includes a wide variety of properties with different services. And the group argues its members disclose the fees \u201cwell before you\u2019re within the checkout range.\u201d<\/p>\n\n \u201cWe continue to maintain that resort fees provide value,\u201d said Alex Costello, the vice president of government relations for the American Gaming Association. \u201cWe try and make them as easy for the consumer to understand as possible. We\u2019re following existing FTC guidance.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe that these should remain and that this is a problem that doesn\u2019t need to be solved,\u201d Costello added.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear when the Senate will consider the bill. A congressional aide suggested it could pass on its own or be included in one of several must-pass pieces of legislation Congress will take up later this year.<\/p>\n \u201cThis has been around a long time. It seems like there\u2019s an opportunity for us to get it done,\u201d Moran told NBC News. \u201cThe plan would be to find whatever avenue gets it accomplished.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n[ad_2]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [ad_1] WASHINGTON \u2014\u00a0With the summer travel season in full swing, a bipartisan duo in the Senate is introducing a bill that would crack down on hidden resort fees for hotel stays. The bill, called the Hotel Fees Transparency Act, would establish federal guidelines for pricing transparency that have, up until now, been largely voluntary. The …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5990"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/farratanews.online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}