Resort Fees in 2026: What That $42 a Night Actually Buys You
The average US resort fee is $42 a night in 2026. What it really covers, why hotels love it, and how the new fee transparency rules changed the game.
You find a room for 149 dollars a night. You get to checkout and it is 191. The extra 42 dollars has a name that sounds like a perk. The resort fee. It is not a perk. It is the single most disliked line item in American hotel pricing, and in 2026 the average one sits at about 42 dollars a night, up roughly 6 percent from last year.
We build a hotel booking product, so we spend more time than any normal person staring at these charges. Here is what a resort fee actually pays for, why hotels love them so much, and how the rules changed this year to make them harder to hide.
What a resort fee actually covers
In theory, a resort fee bundles amenities you would otherwise pay for or expect for free. The usual list includes wifi, access to the pool and gym, local phone calls, a newspaper almost nobody reads, bottled water, and sometimes a shuttle. On paper it looks like value. In practice, most of it is either free at comparable hotels or something you will never use.
The average resort fee in the United States is about 42 dollars a night, which works out to roughly 11 percent of the total nightly cost at properties that charge one. The number climbs fast at the top end. On the Las Vegas Strip, most major hotels charge between 45 and 55 dollars before tax, and at luxury properties like the Bellagio and Wynn the fee hits 55 before tax, closer to 62 once tax is added. Some luxury resorts in Miami, New York, and Vegas run past 100 dollars a night in fees alone.
Why hotels love them, in plain numbers
Resort fees exist for one reason. They let a hotel advertise a lower headline rate while collecting the same total. A 149 dollar room with a 42 dollar fee shows up in search results as 149. A 191 dollar room with no fee shows up as 191. Guess which one gets the click.
There is a second reason, and it is about margins. When you pay 191 for a room, the hotel usually owes commission on the full amount and pays tax on it as lodging revenue. When you pay 149 plus a 42 dollar resort fee, the fee has historically been treated differently. It can carry a lower commission and, in some places, a different tax treatment. The hotel keeps more of it. That is the quiet part. The fee is not really about the pool. It is about what the hotel takes home.
This is the same margin logic that sits behind a lot of travel pricing, and it is exactly why we built Best to hand savings back to travelers instead of squeezing more out of them.
The rules changed in 2026
The good news is that hiding these fees got harder. New federal rules on unfair and deceptive fees now require hotels and booking sites to show the full price, including mandatory fees like resort charges, up front rather than revealing them at the final step. The all in number has to appear early, so the 149 that becomes 191 is supposed to show as 191 from the start.
This does not ban resort fees. A hotel can still charge one. What changed is that it can no longer bury the fee until you have already fallen for the lower number. For travelers, that means the price you compare across sites is finally closer to the price you actually pay, which makes it far easier to spot which hotels are quietly 40 dollars a night more expensive than they first appeared.
How to handle resort fees as a traveler
Start by reading the all in total, not the headline rate. With the new pricing rules, the honest number is easier to find. Compare that total across your options rather than the advertised nightly rate, because two rooms at the same headline price can be 40 dollars a night apart once the fee lands.
Next, know that award stays sometimes dodge the fee. When you redeem hotel loyalty points, certain brands waive the resort fee entirely, which can quietly make points more valuable at fee heavy properties. It is worth checking your program's policy before you assume a fee applies.
Finally, factor cashback into the comparison. A resort fee raises your real nightly cost, and cashback lowers it. If you are paying 191 all in for a room, booking through Best returns 10 percent on the eligible amount, which softens the sting of that 42 dollar add on across a multi night stay. It does not make the fee disappear, but it does change the math when you are choosing between two similar hotels.
Are resort fees ever worth it?
Occasionally, yes. At a genuine resort where you will actually use the pool, the gym, the kayaks, and the shuttle every day, the bundled fee can cost less than paying for each piece. The problem is that the fee shows up at city business hotels with a lap pool nobody swims in and wifi that should be free anyway. That is where it is pure margin dressed up as value.
The honest test is simple. Look at what the fee claims to include and ask whether you would pay for those things separately. If the answer is no, you are not buying amenities. You are paying a surcharge with a friendly name. For more on reading the real cost of a stay, our breakdown of what hotel star ratings actually mean is a useful companion.
Common questions about resort fees
How much is the average resort fee in 2026? The average resort fee in the United States is about 42 dollars a night, roughly 11 percent of the total nightly cost at hotels that charge one. Las Vegas and luxury properties in major cities run higher, from 45 to over 100 dollars a night.
Are resort fees mandatory? Yes. A resort fee is a required daily charge added to your room rate, not an optional extra. You cannot decline it if the hotel charges one, though some award stays and loyalty tiers waive it.
Do the new 2026 rules ban resort fees? No. The new federal fee transparency rules require hotels and booking sites to show the full price including mandatory fees up front. Hotels can still charge resort fees, but they can no longer hide them until checkout.
Can you get a resort fee waived? Sometimes. Redeeming hotel points can waive the fee at certain brands, and loyalty members occasionally get it removed. It is not guaranteed, so read the all in price before you book.
Images: Hero and aerial resort by photographers via Pexels, used under the Pexels license. Bellagio and the Las Vegas Strip by King of Hearts via Wikimedia Commons, used under license.
