How to show prices with fees: the FTC rule for hotels and the restaurant service charge.

The short answer

Every rule in this guide comes back to one idea: the first price a customer sees is the price they pay, apart from a few stated exceptions such as government taxes in the US. A fee that appears only at checkout is the problem they all target.

• US hotels, motels, inns, short-term and vacation rentals, and anyone selling live-event tickets: the FTC's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, in force since 12 May 2025.
• Most consumer sales in California: the state's honest pricing law, in force since 1 July 2024, with a separate rule for restaurant and bar fees.
• Consumers in the EU: prices include VAT and all other taxes, and the total, with delivery and other charges, must be clear before the contract.
• Consumers in the UK: drip pricing has been banned since 6 April 2025, and the total price includes mandatory fees, taxes and charges.

Whether to publish prices at all is a separate decision, covered in when to put prices on your website. This guide is about what the prices you do publish must include.

The FTC rule for lodging and tickets

The rule covers any business that offers, displays or advertises short-term lodging or live-event tickets, including third-party platforms, resellers and travel agents. Lodging means temporary sleeping accommodation at a hotel, motel, inn, short-term rental, vacation rental or similar place. Long-term rentals with an ongoing landlord and tenant relationship are outside it. From the FTC's guidance for businesses:

• The total price includes every charge or fee the business knows about and can calculate upfront.
• Government taxes and charges can be left out of the total, and so can shipping, but they must be disclosed before the customer is asked to pay.
• The total price must be shown more prominently than any other pricing information, apart from the final amount of payment.
• Ads and other offers that include a price must give the total upfront.
• The final amount must be shown prominently before the customer is asked to pay.
• Optional extras do not have to be in the total, but once a customer chooses one, it goes into the final amount, and a hotel must update the total when someone picks a feature that raises the rate.
• Fees must be described truthfully. The FTC advises against vague labels such as convenience fees, service fees or processing fees, and gives the example of an environmental fee that is not used for the environment.
• A fee added automatically and removed only if a customer notices and challenges it cannot be treated as optional.

A guesthouse booking flow, step by step

Take a guesthouse that charges a nightly rate plus a cleaning fee and a resort fee, with a local tourist tax on top. Here is its booking flow on a phone, set up the way the rule expects:

• Rate calendar and search results: the main number is the total for the stay, with the cleaning and resort fees in it. A nightly figure can sit below it in smaller type.
• Room page: the same total, with a line saying what it includes and that the tourist tax is added before payment.
• Extras such as breakfast or a late checkout: optional, so priced separately, and the total updates as soon as one is chosen.
• Checkout: the final amount, tax included, shown prominently before the guest is asked to pay.
• Confirmation email: the same final amount, broken down line by line.

The same total has to appear everywhere else a price does: a social post about a winter offer, a newsletter, a listing on a booking platform you manage. A hotel or guesthouse whose own site shows a lower first price than its checkout is the case the rule was written for. A clear total also helps it win guests from the booking sites, as getting more direct bookings explains.

Event venues that sell tickets

A venue that sells tickets to its own concerts, comedy nights or tastings is selling live-event tickets. The price on the event page includes every mandatory per-ticket fee, such as a booking fee or a facility fee, and the total for the tickets chosen stays the most prominent figure through checkout. Optional extras, such as parking or a drinks package, can be priced separately and added when chosen.

An event or wedding venue that hires out its rooms for private events is not selling tickets, so the FTC rule does not cover that side of the business. State law can, as the California section below shows, and the FTC Act's general ban on deceptive practices applies to every price you show.

Restaurants and service charges

The FTC rule does not cover restaurants. State law does. California's honest pricing law makes it unlawful to advertise, display or offer a price that leaves out mandatory fees or charges, apart from government taxes and fees and reasonable shipping costs. An amendment in 2024 made an exception for restaurants, bars and some other food sellers: a mandatory fee on food or drink sold directly to customers is allowed if it is clearly and conspicuously displayed, with an explanation of its purpose, on any advertisement, menu or other display that shows the item's price. The exception does not extend to third-party delivery platforms.

So a restaurant in California that adds a charge to every bill has two lawful routes: build it into the menu prices, or keep it separate and print it, with what it pays for, on every menu, the menu on its website and any ad that shows a dish's price. A line in small print at the bottom of the bill does neither.

Tips are different. California's Attorney General says the law does not affect tips or gratuities, because customers choose them. Other states have their own pricing rules, so check the law where you trade.

In the UK, the CMA's guidance treats a restaurant menu as an invitation to purchase, so prices must be shown before people order and the total has to include mandatory charges. If your service charge is optional, say so where the prices are and remove it when asked. If in practice it is never removed, ask your adviser whether it is really optional.

California's honest pricing law beyond restaurants

The law reaches far beyond hotels and food. From the Attorney General's guidance:

• Since 1 July 2024 it has applied to the sale or lease of most goods and services for a consumer's personal use. Purchases for commercial use are outside it.
• The advertised price must include all mandatory fees and charges. Government taxes and fees, and reasonable shipping costs for physical goods, can be left out.
• A handling charge is a mandatory fee like any other, so it belongs in the price.
• Fees for optional services, and fees that depend on something the customer does later, such as a late return fee, do not have to be in the advertised price.
• If you only accept cards, the card fee is mandatory.

The Attorney General's own summary is that Californians should pay the price they see. That covers a salon's booking page, a cleaning company's price list and a wedding venue's hire rates as much as a hotel's.

The EU and the UK: prices include tax

In the EU, the price shown to consumers is the final price. The Price Indication Directive defines the selling price of a product as the final price including VAT and all other taxes. The Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, which covers services as well as goods, treats the price inclusive of taxes, with any delivery or other charges, as material information in an offer to buy. The Consumer Rights Directive asks for the total price including taxes before a distance contract binds the consumer.

Where a charge cannot reasonably be worked out in advance, the rule is to say how it will be calculated, or that it may be payable. A city tourist tax that depends on the number of adults can be explained that way on the room page, and then shown in full before payment.

These rules protect consumers. Prices shown only to business buyers are outside them, which is why a trade price list can show figures before VAT.

In the UK, the DMCC Act 2024 bans drip pricing from 6 April 2025: showing a headline price and adding mandatory charges later. The CMA's guidance counts the total price, with mandatory fees, taxes and charges, as material information, and in October 2026 the CMA said businesses must show the total price clearly throughout the purchase.

Where fees must appear on your site

• Every page that shows a price: rooms, packages, tickets, menus and gift vouchers.
• The menu in every format: the web page, the PDF, the printed copy and any menu on your Google Business Profile.
• Each step of the booking widget or checkout.
• Ads, social posts and emails that mention a price.
• Listings on platforms where you set the price.
• Confirmation emails and receipts, and the terms of sale the customer accepts.

On a phone, fee wording in a collapsed section or a footnote nobody opens does not make the total clear. Put the total where the price is. A booking chatbot or a member of staff answering "how much is a room on Friday" should give the same total as the page. If your website shows prices on several pages, keep them in one place in its editor where it allows that, so a change to a fee reaches every page at once and no page is left showing an old total.

Check your own booking flow

Do it on your phone, the way a customer would:

• Start a booking from a search result or one of your ads.
• Screenshot every screen that shows a price.
• Write down the first price you saw and the final amount you would pay.
• List every difference between them, and label each one: government tax, optional extra you chose, or mandatory fee.
• Move every mandatory fee into the first price. Give every government tax a clear line before payment.
• Check the fee names. One called a service fee or a processing fee needs a plain description, or a place inside the price.
• Repeat on a laptop, and for a one-night and a five-night stay, or for one ticket and a group.

Then fix the cheapest problem first, which is usually the wording. Changes to how a booking engine calculates totals depend on your provider, so ask them early. Getting more bookings from your website covers the rest of the booking flow.

Wording that works

• Guesthouse: "Total for 2 nights, including the cleaning fee and resort fee. City tax is charged per adult per night and shown before you pay."
• Ticketed venue: "Ticket prices include the booking fee. Parking is optional and can be added at checkout."
• California restaurant keeping a separate charge, printed on every menu next to the prices: "A kitchen and service charge is added to every bill. It goes to our kitchen and floor staff."
• UK restaurant with an optional charge: "An optional service charge is added to your bill. Tell us if you would like it removed."

Each one names the fee, says what it is for and puts it where the price is read.

Mistakes to avoid

• A from price that leaves out a fee every guest pays.
• Fees that appear only at the last step.
• The total in small grey type under a large nightly rate.
• Vague fee names.
• A website menu without the charge that the printed menu shows.
• A chatbot, a phone script or an email offer quoting rates without fees.
• Treating a fee as optional when it is only removed for guests who complain.

This is general information, not legal advice. Fee rules differ between US states, the UK and each EU country, and they change. Ask an adviser to look at your booking flow where your customers are.