Skift Take

California's bold move is forcing all U.S. based hotels to put all their cards on the table, setting a new standard for price comparison that will likely go national. Whether this leads to more competitive pricing or simply shifts consumer costs elsewhere remains to be seen.

Sean O'Neill

Come July 1, U.S. hotels will need to comply with a California state law that requires upfront disclosure of the total cost — including all mandatory fees — of hotel rooms, among other travel services like short-term rentals and cruises.

California Senate Bill 478 was designed to expose hidden "junk fees," and marks a shift toward transparency about non-optional charges, including resort, destination, and parking or facility charges. A similar law, AB 537, creates the same restriction to let consumers do quick and accurate cost comparisons upfront.

The laws pose a compliance challenge for hotel operators selling directly and through third parties like Google and online travel agencies.

"We're hearing from, hotels, large and small, varying levels of comfort with the implementation deadline looming," said A.J. Rossitto, the advocacy director of the California Hotel and Lodging Association. "Definitely some implementation pains as folks are getting it sorted out, and it's kind of a race to the finish at this point."

California Hotel Operators Get on Board

Maulik Pandya, whose management company runs hotels in California, said his properties are now compliant after a week-and-a-half of work.

For example, Pandya runs an independent property on Route 66 in Victorville called GT Hotels Inn & Suites Extended Stay.

"I had to make sure all the OTAs [online travel agencies] and our own website list all the mandatory fees, mainly a resort fee," Pandya said. "I updated all the rates and codes in the property management system, the revenue management system, the channel manager, and all the OTA extranets."

Updating rates on countless smaller online travel agencies has been the biggest hurdle for some owners.

"It was straightforward to update the rates in the owner portals for main brands like Expedia and Booking.com," Pandya said. "But I don't have portal access for all the subsidiary brands of Expedia Group, like Hotwire, and of Booking Holdings, like Agoda. Smaller OTAs keep displaying the wrong rates, and I've had to call to try to get