The era of hidden ticketing and reservation fees is about to end.

Magic Kingdom

If you’re reading this, it’s likely that you’ve encountered “junk fees” at some point in recent years. Whether purchasing tickets to an event or booking plane tickets or a hotel room for a vacation — even at Disney World — you’ve probably come across the concept: there’s one ticket or booking price listed, only for a ton of previously unannounced fees upping the price considerably at checkout. Thankfully, this frustrating experience is soon to be a thing of the past.

In mid-December 2024, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced a new Junk Fees Rule that will go into effect in 120 days after being approved by the commission via a 4-1 vote. The new regulation will “prohibit bait-and-switch pricing and other tactics used to hide total prices and bury junk fees in the live-event ticketing and short-term lodging industries.”

In a press release, the FTC stressed that this new rule does not eliminate any of these fees; it simply sets parameters that require them to be divulged from the start of the purchasing process. The requirements of the new rule include:

• Businesses must “clearly and conspicuously disclose the true total price inclusive of all mandatory fees whenever they offer, display, or advertise any price of live-event tickets or short-term lodging. Businesses cannot misrepresent any fee or charge in any offer, display, or ad for live-event tickets or short-term lodging.”
• Businesses must “display the total price more prominently than most other pricing information. This means that the most prominent price in an ad needs to be the all-in total price—truthful itemization and breakdowns are fine but should not overshadow what consumers want to know: the real total.”
• Finally, the rule requires businesses that exclude allowable fees up front to “clearly and conspicuously disclose the nature, purpose, identity, and amount of those fees before consumers consent to pay. For instance, businesses that exclude shipping or taxes from the advertised price must clearly and conspicuously disclose those fees before the consumer enters their payment information.”

According to the agency, these new rules should save American consumers up to 53 million hours per year of “wasted time spent searching for the total price for live-event tickets and short-term lodging” which the FTC claims is equivalent to saving $11 billion over the next decade.

The airline industry will also need to disclose all fees beforehand. ©Southwest

FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said of the new rules, “People deserve to know up-front what they’re being asked to pay—without worrying that they’ll later be saddled with mysterious fees that they haven’t budgeted for and can’t avoid. The FTC’s rule will put an end to junk fees around live event tickets, hotels, and vacation rentals, saving Americans billions of dollars and millions of hours in wasted time. I urge enforcers to continue cracking down on these unlawful fees and encourage state and federal policymakers to build on this success with legislation that bans unfair and deceptive junk fees across the economy.”

Hotels like those in Las Vegas will have to reveal resort fees much earlier in the purchasing process. ©Wynn

The FTC’s new ban on hidden junk fees will change the way prices for everything from concert tickets to hotel reservations — including at Walt Disney World — are displayed to the American public. Stay tuned to DFB for more own his this change will affect these industries going forward.

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Are you happy to see hidden junk fees eliminated? Let us know in the comments below.