These 7 U.S. Cities Are Now Charging “Resort” Fees: Here’s How To Spot Them

It’s one of the vital irritating moments in trendy journey. You’re on the ultimate reserving display in your lodge, and there it’s: a compulsory, non-negotiable “$40 per night destination fee” that instantly inflates the full worth. You’re a savvy traveler, you realize it’s coming, however the feeling of being performed is at all times contemporary.

For years, this was a irritating trick you largely 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’ downside right into a nationwide traveler headache.

Why Hotels Invented The “Destination Fee”

Let’s be crystal clear: this payment shouldn’t be a tax. Every traveler is aware of to anticipate professional authorities costs on their invoice. A “resort fee,” nonetheless, is a compulsory payment 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 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 identify change for the very same goal: to indicate you a pretty, cheaper price in search outcomes, solely to hit you with the true, larger worth on the final potential second. It’s a observe 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 stuffed with tales of individuals making an attempt to battle the payment on the entrance desk, and the overwhelming consensus is that it is a shedding battle. Front desk workers are skilled with scripted responses, telling you it is “mandatory” and was disclosed within the nice print of your reserving. The arduous reality is that by clicking “book,” you’ve got technically agreed to their phrases, nonetheless misleading they could be.

The Myth of the Las Vegas Rollback

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

The New Battlegrounds: 7 Cities Where The Fees Are Spreading

Based on current traveler studies, 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 necessary “urban fees” of $30-$50 per night time 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 night time.

3. Nashville: Music City is singing a tragic tune 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 standard criticism in journey boards.

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