U.S. President Joe Biden speaks on protecting consumers from hidden trash fees during an event at the South Courthouse Auditorium of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, on June 15, 2023.
Alex Wong | Getty Images
The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday adopted a rule requiring ticket sellers, hotels and vacation rental sites to disclose the total price, including upfront fees, prohibiting them from hiding add-on fees until the last minute.
The rule is one of the last measures in President Joe Biden’s massive crackdown on trash fees that drive up costs for consumers without delivering clear benefits.
“We all know the experience of encountering hidden fees at the end of checkout – these junk fees that sneak onto your bill and the company ends up making you pay more because they can. These fees add up, from you Americans are taking real money out of their pockets,” Biden said in a statement.
President-elect Donald Trump may seek to rescind the rule for further review, and Republicans who control Congress may seek to pass legislation to undo it.
The rule requires that service charges, resort fees and other charges normally added to a reservation be included in the advertised price. The rules are narrower than those proposed by the FTC in 2023, which broadly prohibited hidden and deceptive fees in any industry.
“I urge law enforcers to continue cracking down on these illegal charges and encourage state and federal policymakers to build on this success with legislation banning unfair and deceptive waste throughout the economy,” FTC Chairwoman Lena Khan said in a statement. TOLL.
The FTC estimates that the rule will save U.S. consumers 53 million hours a year from having to spend time researching the total cost before making a purchase.
Biden’s regulators have targeted inflated and hidden fees, though their efforts have been met with lawsuits from businesses and corporate interest groups.
A Texas judge blocked a rule limiting late fees on credit cards, and an appeals court in New Orleans blocked a requirement for airlines to disclose baggage and other charges upfront. The case is ongoing.
