New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani made headlines a couple of weeks ago by “banning” resort fees and junk fees. Look past the headline, and it is really no more than a PR event than a meaningful policy shift. To be clear, the new rule does not ban these fees. It simply requires that the total cost be disclosed upfront.
That requirement already exists. The FTC rule now in effect requires hotels to display total prices clearly, and most operators have been complying since earlier this year. In that sense, New York is largely reinforcing a federal standard rather than breaking new ground.
The real story here is time. Resort fees are not banned, but their days may be numbered. Once fees are fully baked into the advertised price everywhere, the economic advantage fades fast. No hidden margin. No OTA arbitrage. No “looks cheaper until checkout” trick.
So no, resort fees didn’t die this week. But the clock is clearly running. And like many bad industry habits, they probably won’t disappear in a dramatic headline moment. They’ll quietly wither away once they stop working, or morph into something else. Attribution-based selling, anyone?
I’ve written before about booking fees and why they’re a problem. You can read that here.
