No, Resort Fees Aren’t Banned (Psst, Some Hotels Don’t Know That Yet)
Recently, virtually every news outlet in American proclaimed the FTC has banned resort fees and other junk fees. They all got it wrong. Let us help.
Yes, the FTC has a new rule about nuisance fees (including resort fees) but it doesn’t really ban anything, it just ensures companies are transparent about their junk fees.
In a fun twist, some Las Vegas visitors are using the FTC rule to their advantage, convincing hotels to waive resort fees.

First things first. Why did all the news headlines say “FTC Bans Junk Fees” when that’s not the case? Well, the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) announced its new rule with this headline: “Federal Trade Commission Announces Bipartisan Rule Banning Junk Ticket and Hotel Fees.”
News outlets to what they due: Regurgitate. In this case, though, reading helps.
The same announcement has this clarification: “It does not prohibit any type or amount of fee, nor does it prohibit any specific pricing strategies. Rather, it simply requires that businesses that advertise their pricing tell consumers the whole truth up-front about prices and fees.”
Resort fees aren’t going anywhere.
This new FTC rule doesn’t change much of anything for Las Vegas hotels or ticket sellers. They all have fairly transparent ways of displaying fees along with room and ticket prices.
There’s no real hiding of fees or “bait-and-switch” going on anymore in our experience.
There are deceptive and hidden fees in Las Vegas, of course, but it’s unclear if the FTC rule covers those businesses (it’s focused on the hotel, short-term lodging and live event industries), and it’s even more unclear how FTC rules are implemented or enforced.
We personally boycott any venue with a “concession fee” or service charge, and we’ve been railing against them since at least 2016.
Some of the concession fee culprits on The Strip include: Cabo Wabo Cantina at Planet Hollywood, Hexx at Paris Las Vegas, Beer Park at Paris Las Vegas, Alexxa’s Bar at Paris Las Vegas, Chayo Mexican Kitchen and Tequila Bar at Linq Promenade, Flights at Miracle Mile Shops, Blondie’s at Miracle Mile Shops, Dick’s Last Resort, Kassi Beach House at Virgin and S Bar at Mandalay Bay.
Hexx and Beer Park literally hide their junk fee behind an elastic band used to hold the menu in place. Don’t get us started.

Our advice? Ask to have these fees removed. They’ll do it. Restaurants know these charges are shady. They take advantage of tourists too drunk or distracted to notice them, which is why they’re so predatory.
So, if junk fees aren’t banned, what does the new FTC rule actually accomplish? The announcement says, “The Junk Fees Rule will ensure that pricing information is presented in a timely, transparent, and truthful way to consumers of live-event tickets and short-term lodging, two industries whose pricing practices the Commission has studied in particular.”
A noble effort.
There’s also some numbers being pulled out of butts in the announcement, something watchers of Las Vegas are very familiar with, especially when it comes to crowd size for New Year’s Eve, revenue generated by F1 and the projected number of people who will be attending games at the ballpark that isn’t being built on the Tropicana site.
“The FTC estimates that the Junk Fees Rule will save consumers up to 53 million hours per year of wasted time spent searching for the total price for live-event tickets and short-term lodging. This time savings is equivalent to more than $11 billion over the next decade,” says the FTC. Or, as laypeople call it, “bullshit.”
The rule is more of a guideline at the moment, and a new administration could withdraw it for review or kill it altogether.
That’s all sort of boring compared what’s been happening at Las Vegas hotels.
We’re told by industry insiders that some Las Vegas visitors have been printing out (yes, people still print things) the White House statement about the “ban” and are presenting it to hotel staff. Hotel management has reportedly been waiving resort fees in many cases. We are not making this up.

Apparently, hotel management is opting to take the path of least resistance when confronted with customers claiming resort fees are “illegal” now. There’s no reason for hotels to waive resort fees, but the White House statement literally says, “Statement from President Joe Biden on the FTC Banning Hidden Junk Fees.” We trust newspaper clippings or screen caps of online media outlet headlines would work as well.
We trust this state of confusion won’t last long, but you miss every shot you don’t take, as the kids say.
Resort fees, as we’ve shared many times, serve several purposes for hotels. They really picked up momentum thanks to travel Web sites (also called OTAs, online travel agency). Hotels pay OTA commissions based upon room rates. Resort fees sidestep paying a fee on the entire amount a hotel makes, they recoup the money through fees. Resort fees also help hotels keep rates lower which helps in search results.
Could resort fees go away someday? Unlikely. There are powerful forces at work to ensure resort fees stay put.
The fact is if resort fees ever ended, the cost would just be reflected in higher room rates. It would not mean room rates would be lower. That’s not a thing.
Resort fees are a great value if you consider they include unlimited local calls. Hello!
Props to the government for acknowledging junk fees are an issue. Fixing the problem? Not so much.
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