How to Avoid Hotel Resort Fees in 2026 (and What the New Rule Means)

A "resort fee" is the charge a hotel adds for things you assumed were already included. The pool. The gym you will not use. The Wi-Fi. For years these fees showed up at checkout, after the price that got you to book, often adding 30 to 50 dollars a night to a rate that looked like a deal.

In 2026 the rules are different, and most travelers have not caught up. A federal rule that took effect in May 2025 changed how these fees have to be shown. Knowing how it works is the difference between a clean bill and a nasty surprise at the front desk.

What the new rule actually requires

The Federal Trade Commission's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees took effect in May 2025. It targets exactly this trick in hotels, short-term rentals, and live-event tickets. The core requirement is simple. The first price you see has to be the all-in price, including every mandatory fee.

So a hotel can still charge a resort fee. What it cannot do is hide that fee until checkout. If a room costs 180 dollars a night once the 35 dollar resort fee is baked in, the rule says 215 dollars is the number that has to be shown most prominently, not the 180.

Optional charges are different. Valet parking, a spa treatment, or breakfast you choose to add can still appear later, because they are not required to book the room. They just cannot be pre-checked or buried.

Why resort fees existed in the first place

This is the part most coverage skips. Resort fees were never really about the pool. They were a pricing tactic. By splitting the real price into a "room rate" plus a "fee," a hotel could advertise a lower headline number, rank higher on price-sorted search results, and still collect the full amount.

The fee also dodged commissions and some taxes in certain markets, which is why it spread far beyond actual resorts. Plenty of business hotels in city centers with no pool and no beach still charged a "destination fee." We have watched this play out across thousands of rates, and the pattern was always the same. The fee was margin dressed up as a service.

The new rule does not ban the fee. It bans the hiding. That still helps you, because a fee you can see before you book is a fee you can shop around.

How to keep resort fees off your bill in 2026

Start by comparing the all-in totals, not the headline rates. Now that the total has to be displayed up front, two hotels that looked 40 dollars apart might actually be even once fees are included. Sort by the real number.

Read the line items before you confirm. The all-in price should already include mandatory fees, but the breakdown tells you what you are paying for. If a "destination fee" covers a shuttle and bottled water you do not need, that is a reason to pick the place down the street that charges nothing extra.

Ask at check-in whether the fee can be dropped. This works more often than people expect, especially if you will not use the amenities it covers. A polite "I am not planning to use the pool or gym, is there any way to waive the resort fee" costs nothing and sometimes lands.

Dispute fees that were never disclosed. If a mandatory fee did not appear in the price when you booked, that is now a violation of the FTC rule. Document the booking screen, raise it at the desk, and escalate to the brand if needed. Hotels know the rule is being enforced and many will remove the charge rather than argue.

Where cashback fits in

Cutting fees is one half of the math. The other half is getting value back on the part of the bill you do pay. When you book a hotel through Best, you get 10 percent of the room rate back as cashback. On a 200 dollar night, that is 20 dollars returned to you, which more than offsets a typical resort fee even when one applies.

The smart play in 2026 is to stack the two. Compare all-in prices to find the genuinely cheaper stay, push back on any fee you will not use, and book through a channel that returns part of what you spend. If you want the deeper version of how room pricing works behind the scenes, our breakdown of how hotels set their prices in 2026 covers it, and how hotel cashback works explains the returns side.

Frequently asked questions

Are resort fees illegal now? No. Hotels can still charge them. The FTC rule that took effect in May 2025 only requires that mandatory fees be included in the upfront price you see, so they can no longer be hidden until checkout.

How much are resort fees in 2026? They typically run 25 to 50 dollars a night at properties that charge them, though some city "destination fees" are lower. The key change is that this amount now has to appear in the total price before you book.

Can I get a resort fee waived? Sometimes. Ask politely at check-in, especially if you will not use the amenities it covers. If a fee was never disclosed when you booked, you have strong grounds to have it removed under the new rule.

Do resort fees apply if I book with points? Often yes. Many programs still charge the resort fee on award stays, which is one more reason to confirm the all-in cost before you lock in any booking.

What actually counts as a resort fee

The label changes from place to place, which is part of how the charge stayed confusing for so long. You will see it called a resort fee, a destination fee, an amenity fee, a facility fee, or an urban fee. They all describe the same thing, a mandatory daily charge layered on top of the room rate.

What it supposedly covers is a grab bag. Pool and gym access. In-room Wi-Fi. Local phone calls almost nobody makes. Bottled water. A newspaper. Sometimes a shuttle or a fitness class. The common thread is that most of it is either free at competing hotels or something you would never use. A 2026 city-center destination fee might bundle two bottles of water and a 5 dollar drink credit into a 35 dollar daily charge, which is not a deal in any direction.

The useful test is to look at the all-in nightly total and ignore how it is split. If two hotels land at the same final number, the one calling part of it a resort fee is not cheaper. It just looks that way at a glance, which was always the point.

When a resort fee is worth paying

Occasionally it is. At a true resort where you will spend the day on the property, using the pool, the loungers, the watersports, and the gym, a bundled fee can be fair value. The math only works when you actually use what it covers. If the property is a stopover near an airport and you arrive at 11 p.m. to sleep and leave at 6 a.m., that same fee is pure waste, and it is worth choosing a hotel that does not charge one.

Images: Hero (resort exterior) via Pexels. Pool via Pixabay. Front desk via Pexels. All used under license.