The Federal Trade Commission released its final rule that prohibits junk fees and other ways that ticketing and lodging companies hide the total cost of a service or event.
The Junk Fees Rule announced on Tuesday will “prohibit bait-and-switch pricing and other tactics used to hide total prices and bury junk fees in the live-event ticketing and short-term lodging industries,” the FTC said.
The agency called the fees “unfair and deceptive” adding that they “harm consumers and undercut honest businesses.”
The FTC said that consumers should know the total upfront without worrying about future fees that they can’t plan for.
The fees can be called resort, convenience or service fees which the new rule will require to be listed at the start to allow for comparison shopping.
The FTC believes that the new rule will save 53 million hours a year for consumers looking for a total price of tickets or lodging, or about $11 billion for the next decade.
The rule does not prohibit the fees, just requires that it has to be presented initially and clearly.
The final rule goes into effect 120 days after it is published in the Federal Register.
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