What Hotel Resort Fees Actually Pay For

You find a room for 149 dollars. You get to checkout and it is 189. The extra 40 has a name. The resort fee.

Almost nobody likes them, most people do not understand them, and until recently they were designed to stay that way. We build a hotel booking product at Best, so we see how these fees work from the inside. Here is what a resort fee actually is, what it pays for, why hotels lean on them, and how a pair of new rules changed the game in 2025 and 2026.

What a resort fee actually is

A resort fee is a mandatory daily charge a hotel adds on top of the room rate. Other names for the same thing include destination fee, amenity fee, and facility fee. Different label, same charge.

Two things make it different from a normal add on. It is not optional, so you cannot decline it. And it is charged whether you use the amenities it supposedly covers or not. It is almost always billed per room, per night. Travel solo or cram three friends into the room, the fee is the same.

Hotels say the fee covers things like wifi, pool and gym access, local phone calls, bottled water, and sometimes parking or a newspaper. The list reads like a menu. The catch is you are paying for the whole menu even if you touch none of it.

What resort fees really pay for

Most of what a resort fee bundles is stuff that used to be free or built into the room rate. Wifi is the clearest example. It costs the hotel almost nothing per guest, and twenty years ago nobody charged for it separately. The pool and gym were always just part of staying there.

So if the amenities are cheap to provide, why the separate fee? The honest answer is that the fee lets a hotel advertise a lower room rate while collecting more money. A room listed at 149 dollars ranks better and gets more clicks than the same room listed at 189. The fee is the difference, moved to a line you see later.

There is a second reason that rarely gets mentioned. Hotels pay commission to booking platforms on the room rate, but historically not on resort fees. Shifting money from the room rate into a fee could mean the hotel keeps more of it. The fee was never really about the pool. It was about optics and margins.

The FTC rule that changed the display

In May 2025 the Federal Trade Commission rule on unfair and deceptive fees took effect. It requires all in pricing for hotels, short term rentals, and live event tickets. The total price you pay has to show up clearly from the moment you start shopping, resort fee included.

Understand what the rule does and does not do. It does not ban resort fees. It does not cap them. It does not tell hotels what they can charge. It is a transparency rule, not a price control. Hotels can still charge a 40 dollar resort fee. They just cannot hide it until checkout anymore.

That sounds small. It is not. The FTC estimated the rule saves Americans up to 53 million hours a year that people spent hunting for the true price of a room, worth more than 11 billion dollars over a decade. When the fee is visible upfront, hotels that pile it on stop looking cheap next to hotels that fold everything into one honest rate.

Cities are going further

Some places decided transparency was not enough. In early 2026 New York City moved to ban hidden hotel fees outright and to stop surprise credit card holds, pushing past the federal floor. The direction is consistent. Regulators are done with the shell game, and the pressure is only building.

For travelers this is good news that arrives slowly. The rules do not refund what you already paid, and enforcement takes time. But the era of the 149 dollar room that quietly costs 189 is ending, one rule at a time.

How to handle resort fees now

Read the total, not the headline rate. With all in pricing in effect, the number that matters is the one that includes the fee. Compare hotels on that total. A property with a lower base rate and a fat resort fee can easily cost more than one that looks pricier upfront.

Do the amenity math honestly. If a resort fee bundles parking and breakfast and you were going to pay for both anyway, it might be a wash. If it charges you for a gym you will never enter and wifi you barely use, treat it as pure markup and factor that into the comparison.

Watch for the fee on award stays. Points can cover the room and still leave the resort fee due at checkout. That surprise catches loyalty members constantly. Check before you assume a free night is actually free.

We built Best around the opposite instinct. Instead of hiding money in fees, we hand it back. Book a room and 10 percent comes back to you as cashback. A transparent total plus money returned beats a low headline rate that balloons at checkout every time.

Where resort fees hit hardest

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Resort fees are not spread evenly. A handful of markets treat them as a core part of the business model. Las Vegas is the extreme case, where nightly resort fees on the Strip routinely run 45 to 55 dollars and apply even to a cheap midweek room. Hawaii, Orlando, and many beach and destination resorts lean on them too, often bundling parking and self service amenities you did not ask for. City business hotels tend to charge less, and many charge nothing. The lesson is to expect the fee in resort destinations and to shop the all in total hardest exactly where the fees run highest. A Vegas room advertised at 79 dollars can land closer to 140 once the resort fee and taxes stack up, which is why the headline rate there tells you almost nothing.

Frequently asked questions

Can I get a resort fee waived?
Sometimes. Loyalty elite members at certain chains have fees waived on award stays, and if an advertised amenity is closed or broken you can ask for a credit. It is never guaranteed, and a polite request at checkout is your best shot.

Are resort fees illegal now?
No. The 2025 FTC rule made them show up in the total price upfront but did not ban them. Some cities like New York have gone further against hidden fees, but in most of the country a hotel can still charge a resort fee as long as it is disclosed clearly.

Do I pay a resort fee if I book with points?
Usually yes. Points typically cover the room rate, not the resort fee, so you may still owe the fee at checkout. A handful of programs waive it for top tier members. Always check the specific terms.

How much are resort fees on average?
They commonly run from 25 to 50 dollars per room per night, and can climb higher in places like Las Vegas. Because the fee is per room per night, a five night stay can add well over 200 dollars to a bill that looked cheaper at first glance.

Images: Hero and resort pool via Pexels. Coastal resort pool by the Turtle Bay Resort via Wikimedia Commons, used under license.