Book a room for $79 and end up paying $200 at checkout. That’s the resort fee trap, and it’s spreading faster than you think. Hotels have turned hidden costs into an art form, tacking on daily charges for amenities you never asked for and parking spaces you’ll never use.
Here’s a list of specific hotels notorious for piling on surprise fees that can double your bill.
Bellagio Las Vegas
The resort fee increased to $55 per day as of December 2024, marking the property’s second fee hike in a single year. The fee covers in-room Wi-Fi, fitness center access, digital newspaper downloads, domestic phone calls, and streaming services.
Add that to room rates already pushing $400 per night and the math gets painful fast.MGM raised these fees twice in 2024 alone. They claim it’s about staying competitive, but guests see it as pure profit padding.
ARIA Resort and Casino
ARIA now charges $55 per day in resort fees, placing it among the most expensive properties on the Strip. The luxury property justifies the cost with premium amenities, but Wi-Fi and gym access hardly qualify as extras worth that price.
Three nights at ARIA means $165 in fees before you’ve ordered a single drink. That’s money straight out of your vacation budget with nothing tangible to show for it.
MGM Grand Las Vegas
Resort fees jumped to $50 per day, an increase of $5 to $8 depending on booking timing. This marked MGM’s second backdoor fee increase in eleven months.
The property advertises rooms at seemingly reasonable rates, then hits guests with mandatory charges at the end. A three-night stay at MGM Grand means an extra one hundred fifty dollars just in resort fees.
Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
The daily resort fee reached $50 as of December 2024. The beachfront-themed property claims the fee covers pool access and fitness facilities, but those amenities were complimentary for decades before the fees appeared.
MGM increased these fees to pad their bottom line during a period when gambling revenue faced uncertainty. Guests are subsidizing corporate margin pressure.
Caesars Palace Las Vegas
The booking deception runs deep here. A room advertised at $299 per night becomes $353.95 after adding the resort fee, then jumps to over $400 per night with taxes.
Caesars Entertainment properties, including Caesars Palace, charge $45 plus tax per night. The fee disclosure comes late in the booking process, often after guests have mentally committed to the stay.
The Venetian and Palazzo
Both properties charge $50 plus tax per night in resort fees. The Italian-themed resorts on the Strip rank among the most expensive for hidden costs.
The Palazzo specifically charges $51.02 per night, covering fitness center access, internet, newspapers, and phone calls. Standard amenities repackaged as premium perks.
Luxor Hotel and Casino
Rooms advertised for less than $25 carry a $45 daily resort fee. The budget pyramid hotel exemplifies bait-and-switch pricing at its worst.
After taxes and fees, a $25 room costs nearly $80. The resort fee often exceeds the fake lowball price posted in search engines. Not subtle.
Excalibur Hotel and Casino
A $27 advertised room actually costs $76.42 once the $39.68 resort fee is included. Another MGM property where the advertised rate bears no resemblance to reality.
The resort fee jumped by $8 to reach $45 per night. Budget travelers get the worst deal, paying proportionally more in hidden fees than guests at luxury properties.
Circus Circus Las Vegas
Rooms listed at $21.55 per night balloon to $66.38 after fees—a 208% price increase. The family-friendly property uses hidden fees to make up for rock-bottom advertised rates.
The resort fee regularly exceeds the actual room rate. Guests booking what appears to be an affordable Strip option discover they’re paying mid-range prices for budget accommodations.
New York-New York Hotel and Casino
The daily resort fee increased to $45, up $3 from the previous rate. The Statue of Liberty replica out front is more transparent than the pricing structure.
The fee covers fitness center access, internet, and phone calls. Standard amenities every hotel should include without surcharges.
Resorts World Las Vegas
The property plays games with fees. After temporarily waiving resort fees during a summer promotion to combat low occupancy, they brought them back, along with $21 daily parking charges.
The resort has faced multiple controversies and struggles with guest relations. Reinstating steep fees the moment business picks up doesn’t help their reputation. And there’s something particularly irritating about the smell of fresh paint mixed with corporate greed.
Park MGM Las Vegas
Resort fees climbed to $50 per day, an $8 increase. The boutique-style property markets itself as different from typical Vegas mega-resorts but follows the same fee playbook.
The property charges $44.22 per night for basic amenities. Different branding, same hidden cost strategy.
Fairmont Scottsdale Princess
The resort charges a thirty-three dollar and four cent per diem resort fee on top of room rates exceeding $460. The AAA Five Diamond property justifies fees by pointing to its massive grounds and multiple pools.
During peak events like Christmas at the Princess, self-parking jumps to $45 per vehicle and valet reaches $130. Those fees apply even to guests already paying premium room rates.
InterContinental Barclay New York
The renovated Midtown hotel levies a daily destination fee of $34.43, including tax. The fee includes a $25 daily food and beverage credit, $15 toward laundry per day, internet, free calls, and shopping discounts.
Still, why not just include those perks and charge an honest room rate? Rooms start around $208 in mid-January before the fee.
1 Hotel Brooklyn Bridge
The modern hotel with views of the bridge and lower Manhattan charges a $19 destination fee on top of room rates around $434 per night. The same company’s 1 Hotel near Central Park follows the identical fee structure.
New York City saw resort fees explode from 15 hotels in 2016 to over 125 by 2020. Urban hotels adopted the resort fee model despite offering none of the amenities that supposedly justify the charges.
The final tally
Hidden fees generate billions in extra revenue annually while eroding trust. The FTC’s rule requiring upfront disclosure took effect in May 2025, but changing hotel behavior takes more than regulations.
Properties perfected these charges over decades and resist transparency at every turn. Smart travelers now add $50 to $100 per night to any quoted rate, assume parking costs extra, and read the fine print twice. The golden age of straightforward hotel pricing ended years ago—assuming it ever existed.
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