New FTC rule requires hotels to disclose all fees upfront

The birth certificate may read New Jersey, but the origin story of Karl-Anthony Towns, the seven-foot star for the New York Knicks, extends to New York City.

For as long as I can remember, I've always had two cities in mind when I thought about the most bustling business hubs in the world: New York City and London.

Early every holiday season, I make a cup of hot cocoa and watch one of the "Home Alone" movies.

American Airlines will use a special rule exception to fly longer-than-normal routes out of New York's LaGuardia Airport next year.

The budget for acquisitions at Hyatt appears to have no limit.

In the children’s section of Albertine, copies of “Le Petit Prince,” stories of Tintin and Babar and other much-loved French classics are for sale beneath a sapphire-colored ceiling gilded with hand-painted constellations. What’s arguably New York’s most enchanting bookstore opened a decade ago inside the palatial Payne Whitney House, an early 1900s landmark built by the architect Stanford White on the southeast corner of East 79th Street and Fifth Avenue that’s served as the headquarters of the French Embassy’s cultural and educational activities in the United States for the past 72 years.

Dec 18, 2024 • 6 min read

It’s finally happening: the end of resort fees as we know them.  In a landmark announcement on Tuesday, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will now prohibit “junk fees,” an overarching term for hidden and misrepresented prices in the hotel, and short-term rental, and live-event ticketing, industries. For travelers, that includes all hotel booking websites and vacation rental platforms like Airbnb or Vrbo.  The rule will require companies to disclose total prices upfront. Search results on an online travel agency, for instance, must include the maximum total of all mandatory fees or charges people will have to pay. With this move, consumers searching for hotels or vacation rentals should no longer be surprised by “resort,” “city,” or “service” fees inflating the advertised price.  By requiring up-front disclosure of total price including fees, the FTC says comparison shopping will be easier, “resulting in savings for consumers and leveling the competitive playing field.”  “People deserve to know up-front what they’re being asked to pay—without worrying that they’ll later be saddled with mysterious fees that they haven’t budgeted for and can’t avoid,” FTC Chair Lina M. Khan said in a statement. “The FTC’s rule will put an end to junk fees around live event tickets, hotels, and vacation rentals, saving Americans billions of dollars and millions of hours in wasted time. The “junk fee” FTC investigation was first launched in 2022 with two rounds of public input and over 70,000 comments. This feedback was then taken into consideration before the final ruling announced today. Expect this to take effect in 120 days. However, it’s not yet clear exactly how the FTC will enforce these mandates. 

Here at TPG, our team of travel experts and global contributors begins the year by examining the most exciting hotels scheduled to open. Then, we make it our mission to visit as many of those hotels as possible — whether they're just down the street from TPG's HQ in New York City or on the opposite side of the globe — to determine if they're worthy of your hard-earned points and dollars.

Turkish Airlines has confirmed that it will commence operations at John F. Kennedy International Airport’s (JFK) highly anticipated New Terminal One when it debuts in 2026. As part of the move, Turkish Airlines will introduce an expansive, cutting-edge lounge for its premium customers, further cementing its reputation for world-class service.

It’s the end of the year, and many of us inevitably start to wonder around this time what there is to look forward to in the New Year. Here at TravelPulse, looking forward means we’re excited about new hotels and resorts opening next year! 

New York is one of the most iconic cities in the world, and even though I travel 100 days out of the year, I'd never been until recently.