Hotels must show you the real price upfront—no more surprise fees at checkout

What it does

This bill requires hotels and short-term rental platforms to display the total price—including all mandatory service fees—clearly and upfront in all advertisements and at the start of the booking process, rather than hiding fees until checkout. It bars 'unfair or deceptive' pricing practices and gives the FTC and state attorneys general power to enforce the rule, with a 450-day implementation window.

Why we flagged it

The bill's operative mechanism is a straightforward disclosure requirement: hotels and online travel platforms must show total prices upfront. It does not ban fees, cap prices, or restrict business models—only the manner of advertising and disclosure.

What the text implies

• Intermediaries (Booking.com, Expedia, Airbnb) may face operational friction if hotel suppliers provide inaccurate or stale fee data; the bill includes an affirmative defense for good-faith reliance, but compliance infrastructure will require real-time data feeds.
• State attorneys general gain concurrent enforcement authority alongside the FTC, creating potential for duplicative or conflicting state-level litigation; the bill coordinates this through notice requirements and FTC intervention rights.
• The 450-day implementation window is generous but may create a temporary competitive advantage for early adopters with robust disclosure systems versus slower-moving platforms.
• The preemption clause is narrow: it only preempts state laws that conflict with the federal total-price-disclosure standard, preserving state authority over fraud, contracts, and data security—a balanced federalism approach.

Section numbers refer to the bill text the analysis read — linked under Primary records below.

Who it affects

Ordinary consumers gain transparency and the ability to compare true total costs before committing to a purchase, reducing surprise fees at checkout. Hotels and platforms retain the ability to charge fees; the bill only mandates upfront disclosure. The enforcement mechanism is standard consumer-protection law.

Named in the bill

Federal Trade Commission (FTC), State Attorneys General, Hotels, Short-term rentals (Airbnb, VRBO, etc.), Online travel agencies (Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com), Metasearch platforms (Google Hotels, Kayak, etc.), Third-party online sellers

Where it stands

6 cosponsors: 4 Democrats, 2 Republicans.

• Feb 21, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Feb 21, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”
• Apr 8, 2025 — Markup held in committee · Congress.gov: “Committee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held”
• Apr 8, 2025 — Reported out of committee · Congress.gov: “Ordered to be Reported by Voice Vote”
• Apr 28, 2025 — Passed the House · Congress.gov: “On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H1647-1649)”
• Apr 28, 2025 — Floor vote scheduled · Congress.gov: “Mr. Bilirakis moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

16 lobbying clients named this bill on 28 disclosure filings across 3 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $9,810,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 4 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 95% of bills with at least one filing.

Young Kim, the sponsor, reported $1,636,312 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• AARP — $5,300,000 on 1 filing
• American Hotel & Lodging Association — $1,680,000 on 2 filings
• U.S. Travel Association — $800,000 on 1 filing
• Six Continents Hotels, Inc. — $560,000 on 2 filings
• Booking Holdings Inc. — $360,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.