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

It’s some of the 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 night destination fee” that abruptly inflates the whole worth. You’re a savvy traveler, you recognize it’s coming, however the feeling of being performed is all the time contemporary.

For years, this was a irritating trick you largely needed to fear about in locations like Las Vegas. But the resort charge plague has unfold. 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 Hotels Invented The “Destination Fee”

Let’s be crystal clear: this charge is just not a tax. Every traveler is aware of to anticipate legit authorities expenses on their invoice. A “resort fee,” nevertheless, is a compulsory charge invented by the lodge itself, and 100% of it goes straight into their pocket.

So why are you now seeing it in locations like Chicago or New York? Because a lodge in the midst of a metropolis cannot logically cost a “resort fee,” they’ve merely rebranded it as a “destination fee” or “urban amenity fee.” It’s a intelligent title change for the very same goal: to point out you a sexy, cheaper price in search outcomes, solely to hit you with the true, larger worth on the final doable second. It’s a apply that vacationers on boards like Reddit are universally calling a “bait-and-switch.”

So, Do You Actually Have To Pay It?

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

Traveler boards are crammed with tales of individuals attempting to combat the charge on the entrance desk, and the overwhelming consensus is that it is a shedding battle. Front desk workers are educated with scripted responses, telling you it is “mandatory” and was disclosed within the advantageous print of your reserving. The onerous fact is that by clicking “book,” you may have technically agreed to their phrases, nevertheless misleading they might be.

The Myth of the Las Vegas Rollback

You might need heard rumors that Las Vegas was beginning to roll again its notorious resort charges. Based on real-world experiences, that is a fantasy. While a single lodge like Resorts World could run a limited-time promotion to get heads in beds, this can be a advertising and marketing tactic, not an trade development. The main gamers—MGM, Caesars, Wynn—are nonetheless charging huge charges, usually over $50 per night time, and they don’t seem to be backing down.

The New Battlegrounds: 7 Cities Where The Fees Are Spreading

Based on latest traveler experiences, these are the cities the place the “destination fee” plague is now most rampant.

1. New York City: The Big Apple is a serious offender. Travelers constantly report being shocked by obligatory “urban fees” of $30-$50 per night time at lodges all throughout Manhattan.

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

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

4. Austin: The capital of “cool” has adopted a really uncool development. Many of the stylish new lodges in downtown Austin now have obligatory every day charges which might be usually poorly disclosed on the time of reserving, a frequent supply of frustration for guests.