A new rule from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) bans businesses from surprising customers with hidden “junk fees” on event tickets and short-term rentals. Announced on Tuesday, the “Junk Fees Rule” requires sellers to disclose the total, all-in cost of a concert ticket or rental in all advertisements, rather than springing it on consumers at the checkout.
Per a press release from the FTC, under the new rule ticketing platforms, hotel websites, and short-term rental services like AirBnB must “clearly and conspicuously” display a ticket or hotel room’s full price rather than just the base price. The rule does not prohibit or limit the implementation of “resort,” “convenience,” or “service” fees, but rather requires that the company prominently display the cost of those additional charges.
“People deserve to know up-front what they’re being asked to pay—without worrying that they’ll later be saddled with mysterious fees that they haven’t budgeted for and can’t avoid,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “The FTC’s rule will put an end to junk fees around live event tickets, hotels, and vacation rentals, saving Americans billions of dollars and millions of hours in wasted time. I urge enforcers to continue cracking down on these unlawful fees and encourage state and federal policymakers to build on this success with legislation that bans unfair and deceptive junk fees across the economy.”
The rule was first proposed in October 2023 after the FTC received more than 12,000 consumer comments about the negative effects of hidden fees in the previous year. After the consumer protection agency proposed the rule and asked for additional input, it received 60,000 more comments from buyers concerned about the lack of transparency in the ticket and rental industries. The FTC estimates that the “Junk Fees Rule” will save consumers up to 53 million hours per year of wasted time spent comparing prices, a time savings equivalent to over $11 billion in the next decade.
Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation Entertainment adopted all-in pricing last fall at the behest of President Joe Biden. The country’s largest live event company resisted all-in pricing for many years, arguing that—unless the mandate was industry-wide—Live Nation would be put at a disadvantage if it voluntarily adopted the transparent pricing model. In May, Live Nation Entertainment reported an 8% increase in sales in the six months since it voluntarily instilled all-in pricing.
“We all know the experience of encountering a hidden fee at the very last stage of check out—these junk fees sneak onto your bill and companies end up making you pay more because they can. Those fees add up, taking real money out of the pockets of Americans,” President Biden said in a statement on Tuesday. “Today’s announcement builds on work across my administration to ban junk fees and lower costs—saving many families hundreds of dollars each year.”
This news comes after the House of Representatives passed the Transparency in Charges for Key Events Ticketing (TICKET) Act in May. The Senate could approve the legislation—which passed 338-24 with sweeping bipartisan support—as early as this weekend as part of a continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown. The TICKET Act initially received widespread support from ticket platform Eventbrite, the president of The Recording Academy, the National Independent Venue Association (NIVA), and even Live Nation Entertainment. However, after the act was included in the 1,547-page continuing resolution, critics—including NIVA—are now arguing that the proposed legislation falls short of outlawing scalpers from re-selling tickets they don’t currently possess, a practice known as “speculative ticketing” used by platforms like StubHub and Vivid Seats.
As further regulations loom, Live Nation Entertainment faces an anti-trust suit from the Department of Justice. Filed a week following the TICKET Act’s passage, the Department of Justice and attorneys general from 29 states and the District of Columbia argued that the 2010 merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation gave the resulting Live Nation Entertainment unparalleled power in the live events industry, which the company has used to take advantage of consumers and cut out the competition. The fate of that case now rests in the hands of the incoming Donal Trump administration and his attorney general pick Pam Bondi. This week, Kid Rock met with Bondi to discuss plans to “open a can of whoop ass on the bots, scalpers, venues, ticketing companies.” So, we’re in good hands.