No Hidden FEES Act of 2023

Mr. Speaker, I thank Ranking Member Pallone for yielding the time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of the No Hidden FEES Act, H.R. 6543, and I thank my partner, the gentlewoman of California (Mrs. Kim), for leading the effort here.

Mr. Speaker, the No Hidden FEES Act would outlaw junk fees in hotel lodging. It would outlaw that unfair and misleading price advertising, whether it is motels or short-term rentals, or privately owned vacation rentals. It will require an accurate price listing that has to include all fees.

Mr. Speaker, I think all too often a family goes online when they are planning their vacation to the Gulf beaches of The Sunshine State for a lovely vacation, or anywhere across the country, too often, as they search online and try to do comparison shopping, not all of the fees are displayed. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Bilirakis would probably agree.

That is not fair because oftentimes, at the end their vacation, consumers will go to check out of their hotel or wherever they are staying, and they will tack on these extra fees. It is not fair. It is not right.

That is why we want to tackle this industrywide to make sure that there is a level playing field for all families ready to take their vacation and use their hard-earned dollars to do it.

These hidden fees also stifle competition because one thing consumers want when they are comparison shopping is that level playing field. They want all the information at their fingertips. This would provide those ground rules across everywhere. In many cases, the platforms are hiding these fees. That is why this legislation is so important.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record the support letters from the American Hotel and Lodging Association, the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, and a statement from Airbnb.

American Hotel &

Lodging Association,

December 4, 2023.

Hon. Cathy McMorris Rodgers,

Chair, Committee on Energy and Commerce,

House of Representatives, Washington, DC.

Hon. Frank Pallone Jr.,

Ranking Member, Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of

Representatives, Washington, DC.

Dear Chair McMorris Rodgers and Ranking Member Pallone: On

behalf of the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA),

and the undersigned organizations, we are writing to express

our support for the passage of Congresswoman Young Kim's (CA-

40) and Congresswoman Kathy Castor's (FL-14) legislation, the

No Hidden Fees on Extra Expenses for Stays Act (H.R. 6543).

AHLA is the singular voice representing every segment of

the hotel industry including major chains, independent

hotels, management companies, REITs, bed and breakfasts,

industry partners, and more. The industry is made up of more

than 62,000 hotels, 33,000 of which are small businesses,

comprising 5.6 million rooms across the United States. These

hotels generate more than $300 billion in sales every year

and support more than 8.3 million jobs. Hotels are integral

contributors to communities across the country and annually

generate nearly $75 billion in tax revenue at the federal,

state, and local levels.

We, along with the undersigned organizations, are extremely

grateful to Representatives Kim and Castor for recognizing

the need for consistent and broadly applicable mandatory fee

disclosure and display requirements across the entire lodging

booking and advertising ecosystem. This bill would create a

national standard for display of lodging prices and require

that any mandatory fees be included in prices wherever they

are advertised, distributed, and sold. As written, this bill

would also ensure compliance throughout the complex lodging

distribution ecosystem.

While hotels disclose mandatory additional fees to

consumers in accordance with existing FTC guidance now, it is

critical that any updated display requirements apply across

the competitive lodging advertising and booking landscape.

Recently, many of the largest hotel chains that AHLA

represents have implemented, or announced plans to imminently

implement, changes to ensure that mandatory fees are

displayed upfront in the pricing consumers are offered

through their owned channels.

Critically, as consumers shop for and book lodging through

a wide variety of channels and providers, this proposed

legislation would apply to third-party distributors, such as

online travel agencies (e.g., Expedia), metasearch sites and

search engines (e.g., Google), as well as short-term rental

platforms (e.g., Airbnb). Any regulation mandating fee

display and disclosure must be consistently applied to all

accommodation providers, advertisers, and broader industry

participants to ensure consumers see the same information, in

a consistent manner, anywhere they shop. A level competitive

playing field for industry participants paired with clear and

consistent display for consumers is of paramount importance

and we believe this legislation achieves those goals.

We thank Representatives Kim and Castor for introducing

this legislation and working together in a bipartisan fashion

to craft a strong bill that will ensure compliance across the

industry. We ask that the committee report it favorably and

as written.

We look forward to working with you and your colleagues to

support America's hotel and lodging industry, employees,

guests, and local communities.

Sincerely,

American Hotel and Lodging Association, California Hotel

and Lodging Association, Florida Restaurant and Lodging

Association, The Broadmoor, BWH Hotels, Choice Hotels

International, Hilton, Host Hotels & Resorts, Hyatt, IHG

Hotels & Resorts, Loews Hotels & Co., Marriott International,

MGM Resorts, Omni Hotels & Resorts, Park Hotels & Resorts,

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, Sea Island Resort, Wyndham Hotels &

Resorts, Inc.

Mr. Speaker, let me read what they say.

American Hotel and Lodging Association says: ``While hotels disclose mandatory additional fees to consumers in accordance with existing FTC guidance now, it is critical that any updated display requirements apply across the competitive lodging advertising and booking landscape. Recently, many of the largest hotel chains . . . have implemented, or announced plans to imminently implement, changes to ensure that mandatory fees are displayed upfront in the pricing consumers are offered through their owned channels.

``Critically, as consumers shop for and book lodging through a wide variety of channels and providers, this proposed legislation would apply to third-party distributors, such as online travel agencies . . . metasearch sites and search engines . . . as well as short-term rental platforms. . . . Any regulation mandating fee display and disclosure must be consistently applied to all

accommodation providers, advertisers, and broader industry participants to ensure consumers see the same information, in a consistent manner, anywhere they shop.''

Airbnb weighs in and says that they agree: ``We believe giving guests the ability to see a fee-inclusive price when they search makes for a better experience, and that's why we are proud to support the No Hidden FEES Act to create a national industrywide standard for price transparency at a time when affordability is top of mind for consumers.''

I also thank my Energy and Commerce colleagues for passing this bipartisan bill out of the committee in a unanimous fashion and urge the House to also pass this unanimously. Let's get this relief to consumers so that, when they shop for their vacation, they understand exactly what they are getting.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 6543) to prohibit unfair and deceptive advertising of prices for hotel rooms and other places of short-term lodging, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, today I rise in strong support of H.R. 6543, the No Hidden FEES Act, and urge my colleagues to join me in voting ``yes'' on this piece of legislation.

After spending their hard-earned money on a vacation for their family, Americans don't need to be hit with unexpected fees added to their hotel room bookings, which happens all the time. These resort fees often confuse and deceive consumers, which is why the House needs to pass this bill sponsored by my good friend and colleague, Representative Young Kim.

H.R. 6543 will protect consumers from unfair and deceptive advertising of prices for hotel rooms and other places for short-term lodging. Last month, we passed similar legislation for live event ticketing when we overwhelmingly passed the TICKET Act, which was my bill, bringing price transparency to the market.

Representative Kim's bill will take this commonsense approach in the lodging space. Such price transparency is needed for consumers so they know how much they will be paying for lodging upfront, and this is exactly what H.R. 6543 does.

I thank the stakeholders for working with us on this initiative to ensure that consumers know exactly the price they are going to pay upfront. I applaud Representative Kim, as well as my fellow Floridian, Representative Castor, for introducing this important piece of legislation, and I strongly urge my colleagues to support it.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Mrs. Kim), a great Member of Congress.

Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I thank the chairman of the full committee and the ranking member of the full committee and, of course, the ranking member of the subcommittee, which I chair. This is a great commonsense bill. It is all about transparency. I encourage final passage, and let's get it to the Senate as soon as possible.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise to speak in support of H.R. 6543, the No Hidden FEES Act.

Far too often, when consumers go to check out of their hotel rooms, they are hit with surprise fees. Hotels and online travel agencies have many names for these types of fees, such as resort fees, amenities fees, facilities fees, to name just a few. Regardless of what they are called, surprise fees that consumers do not expect make it impossible to comparison shop and impose undue burdens on household finances.

That is why I am proud that President Biden and House Democrats are working to prevent junk fees like these. H.R. 6543, the No Hidden FEES Act, is a bipartisan bill that will ensure that companies make available all mandatory fee information when they advertise a hotel room or other place of short-term lodging.

The bill would also require hotels and other providers of short-term lodging to provide the total cost of a room to any internet website or other third party that the provider has allowed to advertise, market, display, or otherwise offer the short-term lodging for sale.

By ensuring everyone in the short-term lodging ecosystem displays the full price of a stay, we will protect consumers from being caught paying extra when they go to check out. I commend my colleagues on the Energy and Commerce Committee, Representative Castor and Representative Kim, for their leadership on this issue.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield such time as she may consume to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Castor), who is the ranking member of our Oversight and investigations Subcommittee and the Democratic sponsor of the bill.

Mr. Speaker, in closing, I urge all my colleagues to support this bipartisan bill. It is important that we get at junk fees, and this is one of those bills that comes out of our committee that will accomplish that goal.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank Representative Bilirakis for yielding.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of my legislation, H.R. 6543, the No Hidden Fees on Extra Expenses for Stays Act, or No Hidden FEES Act.

Hidden fees on short-term lodging stays, such as hotels, inns, and resorts, make budgeting for a trip much harder for families who are already struggling from persistent inflation and rising living costs.

Customers often find themselves paying more for their overnight stay than what was advertised online. These unexpected, deceptive fees hurt families' bottom lines.

According to a 2023 Consumer Reports survey, 37 percent of Americans found themselves paying an extra hidden fee, with more than half expressing that this additional cost took them over budget. The No Hidden FEES Act requires hotels, motels, and travel and lodging sites to disclose upfront the full cost of a short-term stay, including all mandatory and resort fees.

Currently, the way prices are advertised across the lodging industry is fragmented and not uniform. My bill would require all stakeholders in the lodging and booking industries and third-party distributors to clearly display the final price. This provides clarity for consumers and improves the quality of the American hospitality and tourism industries.

I thank Chairwoman Rodgers from the Energy and Commerce Committee for her leadership and the rest of the House Energy and Commerce staff for their tireless work on this bipartisan and commonsense legislation.

I thank Representative Castor for making this a bipartisan bill.

I also thank all the outside stakeholders and consumer advocacy groups who worked with us on this pro-consumer initiative.

Mr. Speaker, I am proud to lead this commonsense bill and urge my colleagues to vote in support of it.

Mr. Speaker, I was absent from the floor and the roll call votes for the Motions to Suspend the Rules and Pass H.R. 6543 and H.R. 2964. Had I been present, I would have voted YEA on Roll Call No. 248, H.R. 6543, and YEA on Roll Call No. 249, H.R. 2964.