These 7 U.S. Cities Now Have The Most Outrageous Hotel ‘Resort Fees’

It’s one of the vital irritating moments in fashionable journey. You’re on the ultimate reserving display screen on your lodge, and there it’s: a compulsory, non-negotiable “$40 per evening vacation spot charge” that all of a sudden inflates the overall value. You’re a savvy traveler, you already know it’s coming, however the feeling of being performed is all the time recent.

For years, this was a irritating trick you principally needed to fear about in locations like Las Vegas. However the resort charge plague has unfold. Primarily based on a deep dive into what actual vacationers are saying on the bottom in 2025, the resort charge plague has formally escaped Las Vegas and is now invading main U.S. cities, turning a ‘resort’ drawback right into a nationwide traveler headache.

Why Motels Invented The “Vacation spot Price”

Let’s be crystal clear: this charge will not be a tax. Each traveler is aware of to count on legit authorities fees on their invoice. A “resort charge,” nonetheless, is a compulsory charge invented by the lodge itself, and 100% of it goes immediately into their pocket.

So why are you now seeing it in locations like Chicago or New York? As a result of a lodge in the course of a metropolis cannot logically cost a “resort charge,” they’ve merely rebranded it as a “vacation spot charge” or “city amenity charge.” It is a intelligent identify change for the very same goal: to indicate you a gorgeous, cheaper price in search outcomes, solely to hit you with the actual, greater value on the final potential second. It is a apply that vacationers on boards like Reddit are universally calling a “bait-and-switch.”

So, Do You Truly Have To Pay It?

That is the million-dollar query, and right here is the brutally trustworthy, on-the-ground reply for 2025: Sure, 99% of the time, you might be caught paying it.

Traveler boards are crammed with tales of individuals attempting to battle the charge on the entrance desk, and the overwhelming consensus is that it is a shedding battle. Entrance desk employees are educated with scripted responses, telling you it is “necessary” and was disclosed within the high-quality print of your reserving. The laborious fact is that by clicking “ebook,” you could have technically agreed to their phrases, nonetheless misleading they could be.

The Fantasy of the Las Vegas Rollback

You may need heard rumors that Las Vegas was beginning to roll again its notorious resort charges. Primarily based on real-world stories, that is a fable. Whereas a single lodge like Resorts World might run a limited-time promotion to get heads in beds, it is a advertising and marketing tactic, not an business pattern. The main gamers—MGM, Caesars, Wynn—are nonetheless charging huge charges, typically over $50 per evening, and they don’t seem to be backing down.

The New Battlegrounds: 7 Cities The place The Charges Are Spreading

Primarily based on latest traveler stories, these are the cities the place the “vacation spot charge” plague is now most rampant.

1. New York Metropolis: The Large Apple is a serious offender. Vacationers persistently report being shocked by necessary “city charges” of $30-$50 per evening at accommodations all throughout Manhattan.

2. Chicago: The Windy Metropolis will blow a gap in your pockets. Motels all through the downtown Loop and River North neighborhoods have embraced the vacation spot charge, with vacationers reporting charges of $25 or extra per evening.

3. Nashville: Music Metropolis is singing a tragic tune for vacationers. As one of many hottest new vacationer locations, its accommodations have been fast so as to add “amenity charges” that may inflate your invoice by 15-20%, a standard grievance in journey boards.

4. Austin: The capital of “cool” has adopted a really uncool pattern. Lots of the fashionable new accommodations in downtown Austin now have necessary day by day charges which can be typically poorly disclosed on the time of reserving, a frequent supply of frustration for guests.