Industry Pushes for National Standard on Hotel Fee Transparency

by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 7:05 PM ET, Wed February 5, 2025

A Senate committee has approved the Hotel Fees Transparency Act, a step forward that’s being applauded by an industry organization seeking to level the playing field for hotel pricing disclosures.

The junk fee legislation as it has been dubbed in the past, was approved this morning by the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and is now on its way to the full Senate for review. The proposed law would create a single standard for displays of hotel room fees across the lodging industry.

The Travel Technology Association (Travel Tech), a trade association representing such major travel platforms as Tripadvisor, Expedia. Skyscanner, and Airbnb is now calling on the full Senate to adopt the measure.

During an interview with TravelPulse this afternoon, Laura Chadwick, president & CEO of Travel Tech said the association’s members have long been advocates for transparency, which facilitates competition among travel service providers.

Chadwick added that the proposed measure would also standardize pricing information available to consumers during the booking process. “This bill is so important because it sets one national definition for total service price,” Chadwick told TravelPulse.

As it stands now, total hotel service price information provided to consumers during booking may vary on a state-by-state basis, based on local state laws surrounding pricing transparency.

This can be frustrating for both consumers (who are caught off guard by additional hotel fees when they show up to check-in to a hotel) and for the travel booking platforms where consumers make reservations.

“Our members work comply with all federal and state laws, but it becomes difficult to do so when one state says you must have total service price say one thing and another state says do it a different way,” continued Chadwick. “It’s difficult to render different prices to different people on a national level.”

Chadwick added that association members want to be able to serve their customers better and help customers fully understand hotel room prices during the booking process.

“It's in their DNA, they want to be transparent, they want to give people choices,” Chadwick said. “The last thing our member companies want is to have their consumers be surprised at check-in. It ruins the whole vacation.”

Some states have already been trying to tackle the pricing transparency issue on their own. California, for instance, adopted two new laws last year requiring upfront disclosure of junk fees. Those measures went into effect July 1 and included Senate Bill 478, which modified California's Consumer Legal Remedies Act.

SB478 made it unlawful to advertise, display, or offer “a price for a good or service that does not include all mandatory fees or charges other than taxes or fees imposed by a government on the transaction, as specified."

California Governor Gavin Newsom last year also signed Assembly Bill 537, which took aim at hidden resort cleaning and service fees. It requires hotels to disclose resort fees and any other costs, with room rates.

More than 20 pricing transparency bills have been proposed on the state level. Some of the bills are addressing pricing transparency economy-wide and would apply to all industries, while some are just hospitality-focused.

But because not all states have taken it upon themselves to remedy transparency issues, the national law remains critical.

Chadwick said it’s important to “make sure that consumers who don’t live in states that have a legislature that's going to pass a bill and a governor who’s going sign said bill, also receive the benefits.”

“We want to make sure that consumers, no matter where they live and no matter where they’re looking to book, have consistent total service price costs,” said Chadwick.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) has also expressed its support for the proposed measure in the past.

While the Hotel Fees Transparency Act must now be taken up by the full Senate, there is no clear timeline on when that may happen.