Hotel Hidden Fee Settlement Disclosure Register

PROBLEM: The Texas Attorney General has settled with six hotel companies since 2023 over hidden hotel fees, most recently Hyatt for $1.25 million and Booking.com / Booking Holdings for $9.5 million in August 2025. The settlements followed the pattern in which a hotel or booking platform advertised a room rate and only disclosed mandatory fees later in the purchase, a practice the FTC's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees (effective 12 May 2025) now addresses by requiring the total price to be shown up front for short-term lodging.

SOLUTION: An IBM Cloud Ideas compliance register that records, per hotel company and booking platform, each fee-disclosure settlement (amount, date, enforcing authority), the fees at issue, the corrective disclosure adopted, and the current advertised-versus-total price for a sample of listings, flagging any company with a prior settlement whose listings still show a base price without the total.

EVIDENCE BASIS: REPORTED — Texas Attorney General settlements with six hotel companies since 2023 over hidden fees, most recently Hyatt ($1.25 million) and Booking.com ($9.5 million, Aug 2025); FTC Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees effective 12 May 2025 requires total-price disclosure for short-term lodging.