Since May 12, 2025, the FTC's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees requires every short-term lodging seller — Airbnb, Vrbo, hotels, and vacation rentals — to display the all-in total price, including mandatory cleaning and service fees, before you pay. The rule bans hidden drip pricing but does not ban any specific fee or cap what hosts charge.
You've clicked "book" on a $140-a-night vacation rental before, only to watch the total balloon at the last screen. As of May 12, 2025, that surprise is illegal under the FTC junk fee rule for vacation rentals — the mandatory fees now have to be baked into the price you see up front. What that rule does and doesn't fix is the whole story, especially for anyone booking an Oklahoma City stay.
Here's the short version and the catch: the rule forces honesty about the total, but it doesn't lower any fee. A platform can still charge a service fee — it just has to show it earlier. That's exactly where the remaining price gap between a platform booking and a direct booking lives.
The rule is already active and already enforced — days after it took effect, the FTC sent its first warning letter to StubHub. Violations carry civil penalties of up to $53,088 per violation plus mandatory consumer refunds.
What Actually Changed on May 12, 2025
The FTC's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees took effect May 12, 2025, and it applies to short-term lodging of every kind — hotels, motels, vacation rentals, short-term rentals, and home shares — plus live-event ticketing. It requires businesses to display the total price "clearly, conspicuously and prominently," including all mandatory fees, before you buy.
Before this rule, the common pattern was drip pricing: a low nightly rate on the search page, then a cleaning fee, a service fee, and sometimes a "resort" or "destination" fee stacked on at checkout. The FTC estimates the change will save consumers roughly 53 million hours a year spent hunting for real totals — worth over $11 billion across the next decade.
One thing the rule does not do: it doesn't outlaw any specific fee, and it doesn't cap pricing. Cleaning fees, service fees, and resort fees can all still exist. They just can't hide until the final screen anymore. The rule also applies to business-to-business transactions, not only consumer bookings.
Timeline of the FTC Junk Fee Rule
The rule didn't arrive out of nowhere, and it isn't the end of the story — a companion bill is still moving through Congress. Here's how the change has unfolded.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| May 12, 2025 | FTC Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees takes effect for short-term lodging and live-event tickets |
| Days after effective date | FTC sends its first warning letter — to StubHub — for advertising tickets without all mandatory fees in the total |
| 2025 (ongoing) | Hotel Fees Transparency Act of 2025 passes the U.S. House; pending in the Senate |
What Fees Can Still Legally Appear
The rule regulates disclosure, not the existence of fees, so plenty of line items are still legal — they just have to be in the up-front total. Understanding which is which tells you what you're really comparing when you shop.
| Fee or practice | Before May 12, 2025 | Under the FTC rule |
|---|---|---|
| Mandatory cleaning fee | Often added at checkout | Must be in the total price shown up front |
| Platform service fee | Frequently revealed late | Still allowed, but must be in the up-front total |
| Resort / destination fee | Common surprise on the final screen | Still allowed, but must be disclosed in the total |
| Government taxes | Added at the end | Can be shown separately from the base total, but mandatory fees cannot |
| Truly optional add-ons | Varied | Not required in the base total because they're optional |
So the