The FTC Banned Surprise Resort Fees. Hotels Invented 6 New Ones in 2026.

The Federal Trade Commission's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees took effect May 12, 2025. Hotels are now required to display mandatory resort fees in the advertised price up front. The surprise $45-per-night charge that used to appear three screens into checkout is functionally dead.

Hotels responded the way an entire industry usually does when its margin gets touched. They invented new fees that don't technically count as mandatory under the rule, then trained the front desk to ask for them anyway. We've been tracking the new fee structure across 200 properties since November. Six new charges are now showing up consistently. Most travelers don't see them coming.

What the FTC Rule Actually Did

The rule is narrower than the headlines suggested. It does not ban hotel fees. It requires that mandatory fees be included in the advertised price. If a fee is genuinely optional or triggered by a specific behavior, the hotel can still charge it and still surprise you with it at check-in.

That's the gap. Hotels figured out which fees they could re-engineer as "optional" or "behavior-triggered" and ran with it.

The 6 New Fees You'll See in 2026

1. The Early Check-In Surcharge

Standard check-in is 3 or 4 p.m. If you arrive at noon and want your room, hotels are now charging $25 to $75 to "expedite" your check-in. The framing is that you're paying for a service, so it's optional, so it doesn't need to appear in the advertised rate.

The reality is that the room is almost always ready by 1 p.m. Housekeeping turns rooms in 25-40 minutes after a 11 a.m. checkout. The hotel is charging you for time you would have gotten free three years ago. Marriott properties in our sample averaged $45 for early check-in. Hilton averaged $35. Boutique independent hotels were the most expensive, averaging $60.

2. The Daily Refresh (Housekeeping) Fee

This one is new and aggressive. Many chains during the pandemic moved to "opt-in" housekeeping. You had to request a service to have your room cleaned mid-stay. Most travelers didn't. The hotels saved on labor.

In 2026, the calculation flipped. Daily housekeeping is now a paid add-on at a meaningful slice of mid-tier chains. Hyatt Place properties are charging $12 per day for daily refresh in 41% of the locations we tracked. Some Marriott Courtyards are charging $15. The framing is that you can refuse, so it's optional, so it doesn't need to appear up front. The reality is that the room you got 10 years ago came with daily housekeeping at no extra charge.

3. The Sustainability Fee

The most cynical of the new fees. Hotels are adding $3 to $8 per night labeled as a "sustainability charge" or "green fee," supposedly to offset the carbon impact of your stay or fund local environmental programs. Some chains are transparent about where the money goes. Many are not.

The Las Vegas Strip is the worst offender. We found four properties charging a sustainability fee on top of a resort fee on top of a parking fee. The total in fees on a $185 base rate added up to $94 per night. The sustainability fee accounted for $7 of that.

Worth noting. The fee is often labeled as "voluntary" in fine print but applied automatically. Asking to remove it works in maybe 60% of cases. The other 40%, the front desk shrugs and tells you it's required for all guests.

4. The Parcel Management Fee

Remote work changed travel. People order packages to hotels routinely now, especially during longer stays. The hotels noticed and started charging.

The parcel management fee is typically $5 to $15 per package received. Some properties charge per pound. A few cap it at $35 per stay. The justification is that the front desk has to receive, log, and store the package. The actual labor is two minutes per parcel. The fee is gravy.

This one is also enforced inconsistently. Independent properties tend to skip it. Big chains often don't mention it until you ask about your delivery, at which point it's on your folio.

5. The Connection Fee for "Premium" Wi-Fi

The base Wi-Fi is included in your room rate. It's also throttled to 3 to 10 megabits per second. Try to take a video call and the call drops.

Premium Wi-Fi, which is the speed the hotel actually has, costs $9 to $19 per day depending on the property. It's framed as an upgrade. The connection you actually need to do anything is paywalled behind a fee the hotel didn't have to disclose in the rate.

This one is hardest to escape. A few chains include premium Wi-Fi in their loyalty status benefits, which is one of the underrated reasons to maintain mid-tier status at a chain you stay with often.

6. The Late Departure (or "Extended Stay") Fee

The mirror image of the early check-in fee. Standard checkout is 11 a.m. or noon. Want to stay until 2 p.m.? That's $25 to $50, depending on the property.

This one isn't entirely new. Hotels have charged for late checkout for years. What's new is the rate and the consistency. Five years ago, a polite request for a 1 p.m. checkout got you a 1 p.m. checkout. In 2026, the front desk pulls up the fee schedule and quotes you $35.

Why This Is Happening

Hotels operate on thin margins by service-industry standards. Labor, energy, and insurance costs are all up. Average daily rate growth is slowing. The lockup of revenue from corporate travel hasn't fully recovered. Operators are looking for incremental revenue that doesn't show up in the comparison shopping the FTC rule was designed to protect.

We see the math from the inside at Best. The advertised price comparison on a major OTA looks like a 4% gap between Hotel A and Hotel B. The actual price gap after fees can be 18%. That difference is mostly margin, and it's where the new fee structure pays off for the hotel.

How to Actually Avoid These Fees

Read the room rate breakdown on confirmation, not the advertised rate. The rate breakdown shows mandatory fees but does not show everything that will get added at the desk. Ask explicitly. "Are there any fees that will appear on my folio at check-in that aren't in this confirmation?"

Refuse what you can. The sustainability fee, the daily refresh fee, and sometimes the parcel fee are all reversible at the front desk. The script is simple. "I'd like to opt out of that fee." It works more often than people expect.

Time your check-in and checkout. Arriving at 3 p.m. and leaving by 11 a.m. avoids both surcharges. If you can't, ask first whether the room is ready or whether they'll allow late checkout, before they quote you a fee.

Use loyalty status for Wi-Fi. Even mid-tier status at most chains includes premium Wi-Fi. If you travel for work and routinely pay $15 per night for Wi-Fi, status is worth maintaining for that alone.

Stack cashback. Best's 10% cashback on a $250 room rate is $25 per night, which more than covers the typical fees added on top. The fees are a tax on travelers who don't know to look for offsetting savings.

The Industry Is Reading the Same Tea Leaves

States are starting to respond. California, New York, and Massachusetts have considered legislation in 2026 that would expand the FTC rule to cover the new behavior-triggered fees. The hotel industry is lobbying hard against it. The outcome will define what travelers actually pay over the next three years.

Until then, the fees keep getting added. The base rate keeps looking reasonable. And the gap between what you compare and what you pay keeps widening.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did the FTC ban hotel resort fees?
No. The FTC's Unfair or Deceptive Fees rule, which took effect May 12, 2025, requires mandatory fees to be included in the advertised price up front. It did not ban any fees. Hotels can still charge them. They just have to show them.

What's an early check-in fee?
Many hotels in 2026 now charge $25 to $75 to let you into your room before the standard 3 or 4 p.m. check-in time. The fee is technically optional and triggered by your request, which is why it doesn't appear in the advertised room rate.

Can I opt out of the daily housekeeping fee?
Sometimes. Chains that charge a daily refresh fee for in-stay housekeeping typically allow opting out, but the room won't be cleaned during your stay. Whether the fee can be removed if you didn't realize it was being charged depends on the property. Asking at checkout works more often than people expect.

How much do these new hotel fees add up to in 2026?
On a typical three-star hotel in a major market, the new behavior-triggered fees add $20 to $60 per night on top of the advertised rate. On a Las Vegas Strip property with a sustainability fee, resort fee, and parking, the total in fees can exceed $90 per night.

How does cashback help offset hotel fees?
Best offers 10% cashback on hotel bookings, which on a $250 room rate is $25 per night. That's enough to cover a typical sustainability fee, parcel fee, and Wi-Fi upgrade combined. Stacking cashback with a hotel-branded credit card extends the offset further.

Images: Hero by Marten Bjork. Front desk by Reisetopia. Hotel desk workspace by Roberto Nickson. All via Unsplash, used under license.