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With the FIFA World Cup set to descend on the region this summer, city officials announced this week that hidden hotel fees and surprise credit card holds will soon be illegal under a new rule finalized by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. The measure aims to rein in last-minute add-ons like “resort,” “destination” or “service” fees that quietly inflate room rates long after travelers think they’ve locked in a price.
“Whether you’re visiting the five boroughs for the World Cup or leaving our city for a well-deserved vacation, you deserve to know how much a hotel costs up front,” said Mayor Zohran Mamdani in an official statement, calling the fees “slippery” and “elusive” costs that only show up when travelers check their credit card statements.
Under the new rule, hotels and booking platforms must advertise an all-in price that includes every mandatory fee. That means no more drip pricing, no more checkout-page surprises and, for the first time in the country, hotels will also be required to clearly disclose credit card holds and advance deposits, which is a long-standing issue that has left some travelers suddenly short on available credit mid-trip.
“Under this rule, if you check out and suddenly there’s a fee you didn’t see before, that’s illegal,” said DCWP commissioner Sam Levine at the announcement.
The rule applies not just to hotels physically located in New York City, but to any hotel or booking site that advertises prices to New York City consumers—even if the hotel is in California or overseas. Enforcement begins one month from now, with penalties for hotels and platforms that fail to comply.
The move comes as the city braces for a significant tourism surge tied to the FIFA World Cup, which is expected to bring more than a million visitors to the New York-New Jersey region. Hotel prices are already skyrocketing and officials framed the rule as a way to prevent the world’s game from becoming accessible only to those who can stomach the mystery fees and the excessive holds.
Last year alone, the DCWP received more than 300 complaints about hidden hotel charges. Economists estimate the fees cost travelers tens of millions of dollars annually in wasted time and frustration. Labor leaders also backed the rule, arguing that opaque pricing often leaves frontline hotel workers absorbing guest anger over policies they didn’t set.
Most hotels, city officials stressed, have nothing to worry about. “Those who treat their customers fairly will not be affected,” Mamdani said. For everyone else, the message was blunt: clean up your pricing—or City Hall will do it for you.