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

It’s some of the irritating moments in trendy journey. You’re on the ultimate reserving display screen on your resort, and there it’s: a compulsory, non-negotiable “$40 per night destination fee” that instantly inflates the entire worth. You’re a savvy traveler, you already know it’s coming, however the feeling of being performed is all the time contemporary.

For years, this was a irritating trick you principally needed to fear about in locations like Las Vegas. But the resort payment plague has unfold. Based on a deep dive into what actual vacationers are saying on the bottom in 2025, the resort payment 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 payment is just not a tax. Every traveler is aware of to count on reliable authorities prices on their invoice. A “resort fee,” nonetheless, is a compulsory payment invented by the resort itself, and 100% of it goes instantly into their pocket.

So why are you now seeing it in locations like Chicago or New York? Because a resort in the course 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 beautiful, lower cost in search outcomes, solely to hit you with the true, increased worth on the final attainable 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 sincere, on-the-ground reply for 2025: Yes, 99% of the time, you’re caught paying it.

Traveler boards are stuffed with tales of individuals attempting to struggle the payment on the entrance desk, and the overwhelming consensus is that it is a dropping battle. Front desk employees are skilled with scripted responses, telling you it is “mandatory” and was disclosed within the effective print of your reserving. The onerous fact is that by clicking “book,” you have got technically agreed to their phrases, nonetheless 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 stories, that is a fable. While a single resort like Resorts World might run a limited-time promotion to get heads in beds, it is a advertising tactic, not an trade pattern. The main gamers—MGM, Caesars, Wynn—are nonetheless charging huge charges, typically over $50 per evening, and they aren’t backing down.

The New Battlegrounds: 7 Cities Where The Fees Are Spreading

Based on current traveler stories, 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 evening at inns 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 payment, with vacationers reporting charges of $25 or extra per evening.

3. Nashville: Music City is singing a tragic music for vacationers. As one of many hottest new vacationer locations, its inns 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 pattern. Many of the stylish new inns in downtown Austin now have obligatory day by day charges which might be typically poorly disclosed on the time of reserving, a frequent supply of frustration for guests.