How to Avoid Hotel Resort Fees (and Which Brands Are the Worst)

You know how you book a room that’s initially advertised at under $100 per night and then it has suddenly ballooned to more than $150? That’s partially because of taxes, but another huge chunk is likely from resort fees.

Some hotels have more offensive resort fees than others, and — while resort fees tend to run between $20 and $50 among hotels that charge them — they can vary dramatically in price (especially as a percentage of overall trip cost).

Here’s a breakdown of how resort fees work, what they cost and insider tips for how to avoid paying these fees. Plus, here's a ranking of the brands with the highest resort fees.

Sometimes referred to as amenity fees, destination fees, facility fees or resort charges, these semi-hidden fees are one of the most brutal aspects of travel.

The first known resort fees sprung up as early as 1997, according to the Federal Trade Commission. It didn’t take long for customers to begin complaining, and in 2012, the FTC sent warnings to 22 hotels that resort fees were not adequately disclosed on their hotel reservation websites. Though resorts have since modified how they disclose resort fees, many complaints still exist.

Much of that is due to what fees actually cover. Back in the day, resort fees were charged to justify luxury amenities associated with the room. More frequently now, though, hotels tack them on to rooms that aren’t resort-like in any way.

Resort fees are a significant portion of your vacation budget

NerdWallet analyzed more than 400 hotels around the world with summer and winter 2024 check-in dates. Among the hotels that charge resort fees, the average resort fee was $35, which is lower than last year’s average nightly resort fee of $38.82. Relative to the room rate, resort fees at those hotels averaged 8.1% of the overall cost to stay at the hotel each night.

But sometimes resort fees can represent a bigger chunk of your lodging expenses than that. That's often the case at many low-cost resorts that tout low sticker prices but come with high resort fees. In some of these cases, overall prices paid can more than double after resort fees and taxes.

Take, for example, the Luxor Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, which is a seemingly budget-friendly hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. Rooms on some nights in December 2024 are advertised at less than $25. But then there’s a $45 daily resort fee, which amounts to more than the base nightly rate. After taxes and fees, your $25 room now costs nearly $80 in this example.

Resort fees cover bizarre expenses

Sure, some hotels charge resort fees that are arguably worth it. The $50 resort fee at Hyatt’s Andaz Maui in Hawaii gets you a lei greeting, free snorkel equipment and GoPro rentals, and free lessons in ukulele, hula, stand-up paddleboarding and coconut husking. There are also free outrigger canoe rides, among other benefits.

At The Ritz-Carlton Bacara in Santa Barbara, California, the $55 resort fee includes fitness classes, tennis racket and electric bike rentals and guided hiking tours.

But at many other hotels, resort fees cover extras that are hardly extras at all. At the Excalibur in Las Vegas, the $45 daily fee includes gym access and Wi-Fi (even though most hotels offer free Wi-Fi and gym usage anyway), plus unlimited calls from the room. Additionally, it covers free boarding pass printing.

Resort fees are mandatory

In most scenarios, you can’t just refuse to pay a resort fee, even if you never set foot in the hotel gym. 

Unlike baggage fees on an airline, which are avoidable by not checking luggage, there is no (easy) way to avoid resort fees. Instead, these fees are simply tacked on at the final step of checkout.

Hotels charge fees for a few reasons. A lower base rate might pique a customer's interest in a hotel they might not otherwise have considered. Hotels then make up the difference in revenue by charging a resort fee rather than one higher, singular base rate.

But it’s not just about getting customers in the door. Some hotels say resort fees allow them to reduce the commissions paid to online travel agents. If a hotel promises to pay, say, 5% of base rates to travel agents, then it would owe $5 on a $100 nightly room. If the room is $50 plus a $50 resort fee, the hotel gets the same amount of money, but it would have to give only $2.50 to the agent.

Even the U.S. government agrees resort fees are no good.

“Studies of drip pricing and partitioned pricing suggest that separating mandatory resort fees from posted room rates without first disclosing the total price is likely to harm consumers,” according to a 2017 report from the FTC.

The report cited “forcing consumers to click through additional webpages to see a hotel’s resort fee” as being a complicated extra step that either makes the consumer do more work or worse forces them “to make an incomplete, less informed decision that may result in a more costly room.”

Calls to crack down resort fees

The federal government has taken steps to address all sorts of "junk fees," which includes resort fees that surprise consumers at the checkout stage. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has even created a rule requiring hotels and vacation rental platforms to disclose all mandatory fees upfront, which will take effect in 2025.

In Congress, bipartisan efforts have focused on tackling resort fees specifically. For example, the "Hotel Fees Transparency Act" introduced in 2023 seeks to ensure consumers are informed of the total price, including resort fees, at the time of booking.

The push for transparency is not limited to the federal level. California already enacted laws that went into effect in July 2024, requiring all extra costs to be incorporated into advertised prices in certain industries, including hotel resort fees.

Especially since California's law kicked in, resort fees have become more transparent. It's easier to see these in larger lettering closer to the initial booking stage — rather than it appearing in small print when you're about to click checkout. But while it's generally good that resort fees are more transparent, they still haven't been banned for good.

Because resort fees are required on rooms that charge them, avoiding them requires effort.

Book resort stays with hotel points (at some brands)

When you book rooms on points, some resorts still tack on resort fees, which you must pay in cash on top of the points rate. But some brands, like Hilton Honors and World of Hyatt, waive resort fees on award bookings.

Hilton-branded credit cards can help you quickly earn Hilton points. Likewise, the World of Hyatt Credit Card earns Hyatt points. Hyatt is also one of the best Chase transfer partners, which can be appealing for owners of Chase travel credit cards that earn Chase Ultimate Rewards® points.

Hold elite status (at some brands)

The best hotel elite status programs don’t charge resort fees to their most loyal members. Hyatt doesn’t charge such fees to Globalist members, which is the program's highest elite status level. Because Hyatt charges some of the industry's highest fees, this is an especially valuable perk (though realistically, it’s not one that many travelers can reasonably consider).

Use travel statement credits

Some travel credit cards offer statement credits that cover a broad definition of travel. Charge a covered expense to the card (which can often include ferries, buses, campgrounds and extra fees like luggage), and you can get a reimbursement. Typically, resort fees are also reimbursed under the travel statement credits.

Make your case in person

Sometimes asking an employee to waive your fee may do the trick. You cannot simply refuse to pay resort fees, but — just as some hotel employees are occasionally empowered to compensate you — the employee might have authority to remove your resort fee.

Just understand that this is the exception, not the norm. And while it doesn’t hurt to ask, it helps to ask nicely.

To better understand the best and worst hotels for resort fees, NerdWallet performed a comprehensive analysis of hundreds of individual hotels within seven of the biggest hotel brands to determine which charged the highest resort fees.

The data honed in on hotels in destinations where resort fees are common — such as Las Vegas and Orlando, Florida — as well as major cities. The data, which is part of a broader effort to find the best airline and hotel rewards loyalty programs of 2025, was collected as part of NerdWallet’s Best-Of Awards 2025.

Winners were ranked according to the resort fees as a percentage of the overall room rate. After all, a $35 resort fee on a $1,000-per-night hotel room is likely small potatoes. A $35 resort fee on a $30 nightly rate is a hot potato.

Hilton properties had the highest average resort fees relative to room rates, with IHG coming in second for worst resort fees.

Choice Hotels and Best Western look like winners by not charging resort fees at any of the hotels we analyzed. But keep in mind, those hotels generally lack resort amenities.

Besides those two, Wyndham had the lowest resort fees as a percentage of room price. You might consider it the true winner because its properties are generally fancier than most Choice or Best Western hotels, thus they're more likely to offer resort-style amenities.

The hotel brand with the highest resort fees: Hilton

Hilton’s resort fees average 4.6% of overall room rates, making it the hotel brand with the highest resort fees of all those analyzed by NerdWallet. Across properties that charge them, Hilton resort fees average $40 per night.

For what it's worth, some Hilton resort fees truly cover top-tier amenities. At the Hilton Phoenix Resort at the Peak in Arizona, a nightly $35 fee covers access for up to four people at its River Ranch, which is a small water park with a waterslide, lazy river, water features and cabanas. There's also a mini golf course and tennis courts, all covered under the same fee. Mini golf alone at many places can cost more than $35 for four, so in this case, the resort fee might seem reasonable.

Others can make you feel like you got a deal — as long as you go with some wallet gymnastics. For example, the Millennium Hilton New York One UN Plaza charges a mandatory $35 nightly fee. In exchange, you get a Citibike day pass and a daily $35 food & beverage credit for use at the hotel restaurant and cafe. At the main hotel restaurant, a full American breakfast costs $33 before tax and tip.

Another big resort fee offender: IHG

At IHG, resort fees average 3% of the overall room rate — an average rate that includes properties that don’t typically charge resort fees at all, such as the budget-minded Holiday Inn Express.

IHG got dinged especially hard by one outlier brand in particular: Intercontinental. Though exact prices vary, most Intercontinental properties charge what it calls "facility fees" that run about $40.

Like Hilton, many do cover nice amenities, like daily beverage credits and statement credits toward laundry or dry cleaning. But if you were going to dine elsewhere or you have no clothes to clean, you won't get any value out of the fee.

Perhaps the best way to get out of paying hotel resort fees is to not stay at hotels that charge them, period. According to the American Hotel and Lodging Association, about 6% of hotels charge resort fees — and these are the properties that have far more available amenities than other lodging facilities.

Among the hotel chains with top-tier amenities and no resort fees are Drury Hotels, Ovolo and Disney. And while most hotels in popular tourist destinations like Las Vegas and Hawaii will charge them, you can find some gems.

If resort fees are your big hang-up, you might also find that vacation rentals like Airbnb are more cost-effective than hotels — especially for longer stays or trips with large groups.

Targeting hotel brands that charge fewer and less-frequent resort fees is a good start.