A final rule was issued from the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection of the city of New York to ban hidden mandatory junk fees from being charged to consumers and guest on stays at hotel properties within the city and beyond effective as of Saturday, February 21, 2026.
Final Rule to Ban Junk Fees on Hotel Stays in New York — But…
The Department of Consumer and Worker Protection reportedly received hundreds of complaints from consumers related to hidden fees or unexpected holds for stays at hotel properties within the city.
To address this problem, a rule was proposed by the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection that was modeled on a rule by the Federal Trade Commission of the United States that became effective as of Monday, May 12, 2025. This means that as of next month, to offer, display, or advertise a price for lodging without clearly and conspicuously disclosing the total price of the stay — including all mandatory fees — officially becomes a deceptive trade practice under the Consumer Protection Law of the city of New York. The new rule supposedly goes one step further than that of the rule of the Federal Trade Commission in that it requires transparency on mandatory credit card holds or deposits taken as well.
Additionally, a Citywide Junk Fee Task Force will be created to target predatory companies.
“This rule will protect both consumers coming to New York City, and New Yorkers traveling elsewhere around the country”, according to this official press release dated yesterday, Wednesday, January 21, 2026. “Some economists estimate that banning hotel junk fees will save consumers more than $46 million in 2026.”
Final Boarding Call
Although I vehemently support that ensuring that all mandatory fees are presented as transparently as possible — or, better yet, eliminated altogether — from the cost of lodging stays:
- Zohran Mamdani — who is the current mayor of New York — did not propose this initiative, as the rule was under consideration from the morning of Monday, September 22, 2025, which was greater than three months before he became mayor.
- The Trade Regulation Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees as imposed by the Federal Trade Commission has been in effect for almost a year and seems to be working throughout the United States — so exactly what purpose does this new rule for the city of New York serve?
All of this seems to be a lot of noise about nothing…
Photograph ©2011, ©2022, and ©2023 by Brian Cohen.
