Hotels Race to Comply with California’s Junk Fee Laws
Photo Credit: The lobby of the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, California. Flickr/Creative Commons / laredawg
Skift Take
California's bold move is forcing all U.S. based hotels to put all their cards on the table, setting a new standard for price comparison that will likely go national. Whether this leads to more competitive pricing or simply shifts consumer costs elsewhere remains to be seen.
Come July 1, U.S. hotels will need to comply with a California state law that requires upfront disclosure of the total cost — including all mandatory fees — of hotel rooms, among other travel services like short-term rentals and cruises.
California Senate Bill 478 was designed to expose hidden "junk fees," and marks a shift toward transparency about non-optional charges, including resort, destination, and parking or facility charges. A similar law, AB 537, creates the same restriction to let consumers do quick and accurate cost comparisons upfront.
The laws pose a compliance challenge for hotel operators selling directly and through third parties like Google and online travel agencies.
"We're hearing from, hotels, large and small, varying levels of comfort with the implementation deadline looming," said A.J. Rossitto, the advocacy director of the California Hotel and Lodging Association. "Definitely some implementation pains as folks are getting it
