Plain-English guide
Resort fees, explained.
The price you saw isn't the price you pay.
A resort fee is a mandatory daily charge — often $20 to $50 a night — that many hotels leave out of the headline price and add at checkout. Because it's not optional, it's really part of the cost of the room. Here's what it covers, why hotels split it out, how the new all-in pricing rules work, and how to see the real total before you book.
No affiliate spin here — this is just how resort fees actually work, and how to compare around them.
What a resort fee actually is
Different names, same thing: a charge you can't opt out of that lives outside the room rate.
What it usually covers
- Wi-Fi, local calls, sometimes bottled water
- Pool, gym, or fitness-center access
- "Amenities" you'd often expect to be free anyway
- Charged per night, whether or not you use any of it
What makes it a "fee," not a rate
- Mandatory — you can't decline it and skip the amenities
- Often shown separately or added at checkout
- Also called destination, facility, or amenity fee
- Frequently missing from the number you sorted by
Why hotels charge them instead of raising the rate
The honest answer is that a lower headline number wins the click. When you sort a booking site by price, a room shown at $180 a night with a $45 resort fee bolted on later looks cheaper than a $225 all-in room next to it — even though the total you pay is exactly the same. Splitting the price out lets a hotel rank higher and look more competitive on the exact screen where people decide. Economists and regulators call this "drip pricing": reveal the real total in drips, after the shopper is already committed.
There are secondary reasons too — in some markets a resort fee can be taxed differently than the room rate, and on some booking channels the commission a hotel pays is calculated on the room rate rather than the fee. But the core driver is search psychology: the number that shows up first is the number people compare, and a resort fee lets a hotel keep that number artificially low.
The trap, in one example
Two hotels, same night. Hotel A shows $180. Hotel B shows $210. You pick A. At checkout, A adds a $45/night resort fee — real total $225 — while B was all-in at $210. The cheaper-looking room was the more expensive stay. This is exactly the comparison that resort fees are designed to scramble.
How the all-in pricing rules changed
For years, resort fees sat in a grey zone: legal as long as they were disclosed somewhere before you paid — even if "somewhere" meant a checkout screen after you'd already chosen the hotel. That's changing. A US Federal Trade Commission rule that took effect in 2025 requires hotels and short-term lodging to show the total price, including mandatory fees like resort fees, up front — in the first price you see, not the last. The fee itself is still allowed; it just can't hide from the headline anymore.
In practice, enforcement and compliance are uneven, and the all-in total still varies by where you book — one site folds the resort fee into the displayed price while another still shows the pre-fee rate. So the rule helps, but it doesn't remove the need to compare. If you were genuinely never shown a mandatory fee before booking, that's worth raising with the front desk or the booking site — a truly undisclosed mandatory fee is exactly what the new rule targets.
Before you book, check three things
- 1. The all-in total. Find the price after taxes and fees for your exact dates — not the nightly headline.
- 2. The resort-fee line. Look for a "resort fee," "destination fee," or "amenity fee" line and multiply it by your number of nights.
- 3. The same total, everywhere. Compare that all-in number across the hotel's site and one or two booking sites — they often differ.
Measured, September 25 to October 1, 2026
Before tax or all-in: how the booking sites showed it
In our 14 price snapshots of September 25 to October 1, 2026 (5,830 hotel prices in 348 cities), the booking sites reported taxes and fees to Google Hotels at 4,062 of 5,830 hotels (70%); for the rest only a listed rate was available. Where they did, the all-in going rate was a median 13.7% above the before-tax one, and 10% or more above it at 3,371 hotels.
Of those 3,371 hotels, at 2,542 (75%) the list mixed the two: some prices sat near the before-tax going rate and others near the all-in one, and the lowest number on the list was one of the before-tax ones. How often each site's price looked like a before-tax one there: KAYAK 38%, Agoda 19%, Trip.com 13%, Priceline 9%, Booking.com 8%, Hotels.com 6%, Expedia.com 2%.
When we opened booking sites' pages on October 3, 2026, a trivago DEALS page showed $68 a night where Google listed $92 all-in. The tax in Google's own link for that offer puts its before-tax price at $68.36; the page did not say its price was before tax.
So a low number on a comparison list can be low because tax is not in it yet. Compare totals with taxes and fees in, on every site.
A price's basis is inferred: one nearer the before-tax going rate counts as before tax, one nearer the all-in going rate as all-in, only at hotels where the two differ by 10% or more. What we can see is taxes and the fees the sites report, together; a resort fee cannot be split out of it, and a fee charged at the property may be in neither figure. Each snapshot: US market, USD, prices from one moment. Method and CSVs: the hotel price study.
How to see the real total yourself
The reliable way to beat a resort fee is to compare the all-in total for the exact same room and dates across a few sites, so the fee is inside the number you're comparing instead of hidden behind it. Doing that by hand means opening the hotel site plus three or four booking tabs, scrolling to each checkout to surface the fees, and doing the arithmetic — which is exactly why most people don't, and just trust the first headline they see. And the property's fee is only one layer: the booking channel can stack its own service fees and currency markups on top, the layer we cover in hotel booking fees explained.
Underbook is a free browser extension that does that comparison for you while you shop. When you're looking at a hotel, it checks other booking sites for the same hotel and dates and shows the prices side by side: all-in, with taxes and fees, when the booking sites report them (at about 7 in 10 hotels in our price data), otherwise the listed rate, labeled as such, so where the sites report fees, a low headline with a fat resort fee can't pass as the lowest price. When the cheaper listing doesn't name the same room, it says so plainly instead of pretending. You always book wherever you choose; Underbook just shows the prices side by side, all-in when the sites report taxes and fees.
Resort fees — common questions
Can I get a resort fee waived?
Sometimes. If you genuinely won't use any of the amenities it covers, or you booked an award/points stay, it's worth politely asking at the front desk; waivers do happen, especially for loyalty members or when a listed amenity (like the pool) is closed. It's not certain, and it's easier to argue when an amenity you were charged for wasn't actually available during your stay.
Do resort fees show up on award or points bookings?
Often, yes, and it surprises people. Redeeming points can cover the room rate while the resort fee is still charged to your card at checkout or checkout. Always read the fine print on an award booking so a "free night" doesn't quietly cost you $45 a night in fees.
Why is the all-in price different on each booking site?
Because sites handle the resort fee differently: one folds it into the displayed total, another shows the pre-fee rate and adds it at checkout, and taxes can be calculated on slightly different bases. That's why two sites can show the same nightly headline but a different final total. Comparing the all-in number, not the headline, is the only way to see which is genuinely cheaper.
Does Underbook charge anything or take a cut of my booking?
It charges nothing and needs no account. If you book through its link, Underbook may earn a commission from the booking site, at no cost to you, which never changes which rates it shows or their order. It compares the price for your hotel and dates, all-in where the sites report taxes and fees (a resort fee is in that number only when the site reports it), across the booking sites Google Hotels lists, and says whether the lowest names your room. You book wherever you choose, directly with that site or hotel.
Taxes and fees in our price data, by destination
In our price snapshots, the all-in going rate (taxes and fees included, as the booking sites reported them to Google Hotels) sat this much above the before-tax going rate at the median hotel: New York 17.0% (Sep 25, 2026); Las Vegas 13.4% (Sep 25, 2026); Orlando 12.6% (Sep 25, 2026); Chicago 18.9% (Sep 25, 2026); London 20.0% (Sep 25, 2026); Cancun 22.6% (Sep 28, 2026); Los Angeles 16.2% (Sep 25, 2026); Miami 13.0% (Sep 25, 2026); Fort Lauderdale 12.9% (Sep 29, 2026); Nashville 17.5% (Sep 25, 2026); New Orleans 18.0% (Sep 28, 2026); Paris 24.2% (Sep 25, 2026). Each guide says what that gap can and cannot show about resort fees.
Real prices, hotel by hotel
Every site's price at 5,970 hotels in 368 cities
From our price snapshots of September 25, 2026, September 28, 2026, September 29, 2026, September 30, 2026, October 1, 2026, October 3, 2026 and October 10, 2026: each hotel's page lists every booking site Google Hotels showed, the going rate, and whether the lowest-priced listing named a room, with a button to check today's price for your own dates.
By region: United States · Europe · Canada, Latin America, Caribbean · Asia-Pacific, Middle East, Africa
Start with a city: New York · Las Vegas · Orlando · Chicago · London · Cancun · Los Angeles · Miami · Fort Lauderdale · Nashville · New Orleans · Paris · Punta Cana · San Francisco · Honolulu · Charleston · Key West · Washington DC · Boston · Atlanta · Scottsdale · Myrtle Beach · Austin
Stop comparing the wrong number.
Underbook compares the price for your hotel and dates across booking sites, with taxes and fees as each site reports them. A resort or destination fee may still be extra, so check the total on the last booking screen. Free, and you always book where you choose.
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