Any cleaning fees, concert service fees or other mandatory fees also known as “junk fees” will now need to be disclosed to consumers in initial search results when booking, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The new federal rule, made final Tuesday, doesn’t ban these fees. Instead, it requires that businesses display all fees in the total price people see when they are first searching for tickets or for lodging.
The new pricing standard also applies to companies that sell tickets for live sports and concerts, as well as online travel agencies, travel agents and hotels that sell short-term stays.
The new rule goes into effect in April, according to the Federal Trade Commission.
Efforts to establish the rule are a few years in the making—President Joe Biden vowed in his State of the Union address last year that he would “ban surprise resort fees that hotels charge on your bill.”
More than 12,000 comments to the FTC about how hidden fees affected consumer spending and competition after it solicited feedback about the process in 2022.
