October 31, 2023
How irritated are you when you go to buy concert tickets or book hotel rooms and when you get to the checkout page, there are all these fees that jack up the price by a ton.
I know me too. Those fees – the President calls “junk fees” according to the government have cost Americans tens of billions of dollars every year.
But soon – that may all stop. The Biden Administration directed the federal trade commission to propose a new rule to ban companies from hiding those junk fees on the checkout page. Now – let me be clear, the proposed rule doesn’t ban them from charging you the fees– it just stops them from surprising you with them on the checkout page. The rule – if it’s made permanent, will require all companies to include all the fees up front and include them in the price you see on the home page. And yes – this includes resort fees.
The proposed rule would also make these companies disclose exactly what the fee is. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I get to the checkout page and I’m like – yeah I see this random fee, but what is it for? This new proposed rule would require the company to explain those fees so you can decide if you still want to buy from that company or find another company to work with.
So what industries would have to comply with this proposed rule.
All of them – companies that sell concert or sporting tickets, hotels and other lodging, apartment rentals, car rentals and more. Oh and if they don’t comply, the company would face fines and would have to refund you.
Now – this isn’t a rule yet – it will have to go through a public comment period and go through the approval process.
Read more about the junk fee rule proposed here.
