You did the responsible thing and built a travel budget. You entered the hotel’s nightly rate, multiplied by the nights, added flights and food, and got a number you were happy with. Then the booking total came in noticeably higher, and the culprit was a line you never entered: a mandatory resort fee, quietly charged every night on top of the rate you budgeted. It is one of the most common reasons a careful travel spreadsheet still comes up short.
Resort fees are not optional extras you can decline; they are compulsory charges many hotels add regardless of whether you use the amenities they supposedly cover. Here is exactly how they underestimate your budget, what a 2025 rule change means for spotting them, and how to make your spreadsheet tell the truth.
Short answer
Yes, a travel budget spreadsheet very often underestimates costs because of mandatory resort fees. They are charged per night, per room, typically 25 to 50 dollars, are frequently not part of the nightly rate you budgeted, and usually have tax added on top. City hotels do it too, under names like “destination fee.” A new US rule from 2025 requires hotels to show the total price including mandatory fees upfront, so they are harder to hide than before, but they still exist and still surprise people budgeting off an old rate, a foreign hotel, or a headline number. The fix is to add resort fee times nights, plus tax, as its own line, and to confirm the exact fee before you book.
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Why the fee is not in the number you budgeted
The core problem is that a resort fee has traditionally lived apart from the advertised nightly rate. You see a room at 150 dollars, enter 150 into your spreadsheet, and only at checkout does a 45-dollar-a-night resort fee appear. Multiply that across a week and you are 315 dollars over budget before tax. Because the fee is mandatory but shown late, a spreadsheet built on the headline rate is structurally too low. The number was never wrong for what you entered; you were just never shown the whole price to enter.
It is charged per night, then taxed
Two multipliers make resort fees worse than they first look. First, the fee is per night, so a fee that sounds small becomes significant over a multi-night stay, exactly the kind of thing a flat, single-line budget misses. Second, occupancy or lodging taxes often apply on top of the resort fee, so the real addition is the fee plus its tax. A 40-dollar fee across five nights with tax can easily add well over 200 dollars, none of which a rate-only spreadsheet accounts for.
You pay it whether or not you use the amenities
Resort fees are usually justified as covering wifi, pool access, the gym, or “resort activities,” but you pay them even if you never touch any of it. A business traveler who works in the room and eats out still pays for the pool and the beach chairs. That disconnect is why the fees feel like padding: they are not a menu of things you chose, but a flat surcharge attached to the room. For budgeting, treat the fee as an unavoidable cost of the booking, not an optional amenity you can skip.
City hotels do it too, as “destination fees”
It is not only beach resorts. Many urban hotels charge a “destination fee” or “urban fee” that works exactly like a resort fee, added per night for vague local perks. Travelers budgeting a city trip often do not expect it and leave it out entirely. Whether it is called a resort fee, a destination fee, or an amenity fee, the effect on your spreadsheet is identical, so check for a mandatory nightly surcharge no matter what kind of hotel or city you are booking.
What the 2025 rule changed, and what it did not
There is good news for spotting these fees. A US Federal Trade Commission rule that took effect in 2025 requires hotels and short-term lodging to show the total price, including all mandatory fees, upfront when they advertise a price, with smaller properties given until early 2026 to comply. So a resort fee should now be visible in the total rather than buried until checkout. But the rule does not ban or cap resort fees, so they still exist and still add to your cost, and it does not cover hotels outside the US or an old quote you saved earlier. You can read the specifics on the FTC’s rule guidance. The takeaway: look at the total, not the headline rate, and budget from that.
How to budget for resort fees accurately
Fixing your spreadsheet is simple once you know to look. Give resort fees their own line, calculated as the nightly fee times the number of nights, and add the tax that applies to it, rather than folding it into the room rate where it disappears. Find the exact fee before you book: it is on the hotel’s own website, in the total the new rule requires, or in a resort-fee database that tracks them by property. If an amenity the fee covers is closed or unavailable, it can be worth asking the hotel to waive or refund the fee. And you can sidestep it entirely by choosing hotels that do not charge one. For the wider set of spreadsheet slips that inflate a trip, see our guide to travel budget spreadsheet mistakes that cost you more.
This article is general information, not financial or legal advice. Fee amounts, taxes, and disclosure rules vary by hotel, location, and over time, so confirm the total price and any mandatory fees directly with the property before booking.
Frequently asked questions
Are resort fees mandatory?
Yes. Resort fees and their urban equivalent, destination fees, are compulsory charges the hotel adds per night, not optional extras you can decline. You pay them whether or not you use the amenities they claim to cover, which is why they should be budgeted as an unavoidable cost of the booking rather than a choice.
How much are hotel resort fees?
They typically run about 25 to 50 dollars per night at properties that charge them, with some city destination fees lower. Because the fee is per night and usually taxed on top, it adds up quickly over a multi-night stay, which is exactly why a rate-only budget underestimates the total.
Did the FTC ban resort fees?
No. The 2025 FTC rule requires hotels to show the total price including mandatory fees upfront when advertising, so the fee is harder to hide, but it does not ban or cap resort fees. Hotels can still charge them, and the rule does not cover hotels outside the US, so budget for the fee regardless.
How do I add resort fees to my travel budget?
Give them a separate line: multiply the nightly resort fee by the number of nights, then add the applicable tax, instead of burying it in the room rate. Find the exact fee on the hotel’s website or a resort-fee database before booking, so your spreadsheet reflects the real total rather than the headline rate.
Can I avoid paying a resort fee?
Sometimes. You can book hotels that do not charge one, and if an amenity the fee covers is closed or unavailable during your stay, it is worth asking the hotel to waive or refund it. Otherwise the fee is mandatory, so the practical move is to budget for it accurately from the start.
The bottom line
Resort fees break a travel budget because they sit outside the nightly rate you enter, multiply per night, and get taxed on top, all for amenities you may never use. The 2025 US rule means the total should now show them upfront, so budget from the total rather than the headline number, and give the fee its own line of fee times nights plus tax. Confirm it before you book, and choose fee-free hotels when you can. For more on planning trips that stay on budget, browse The Other Stream’s Travel section.