How to choose a hotel: area, total price and the small print

Since May 12, 2025, a Federal Trade Commission rule has required hotels and booking sites to show the total price, mandatory fees included, more prominently than any other price on the page. A daily resort fee now belongs in that total. Taxes can still be left out of it. The order of a results page isn't a quality ranking either, and the cheapest room can sit in the wrong part of town.

Choose the area before the hotel

Mark the places you'll actually go: the station or airport you arrive at, the sights you'll visit more than once, somewhere to eat at night. Then search only inside that patch.

A cheap room across town has a daily cost that never shows on the booking screen. Take New York, where JFK's public transport page listed the subway fare at $3.00 a ride in November 2026. Say two of you stay one subway ride from the sights and go in and back once a day. That's four rides: $12 a day, or $48 over four days, before you count the time. Add it to the rate before you call the room a bargain.

Families should check the room's stated maximum occupancy rather than the bed count in the photos. If anyone has a mobility need, ask the hotel directly about lifts, steps and the bathroom layout, and keep the written reply. A general "accessible" tag doesn't tell you which of those you'll get.

What the first price has to include now

The FTC's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees covers anyone advertising short-term lodging: hotels, motels, vacation rentals, and the third-party sites and travel agents that sell them. They must show the total price with every mandatory fee in it, and that total has to be more prominent than any other price on the page. The FTC's own example is a resort fee charged per day, which goes in the total. For a vacation rental, its example is the cleaning fee.

Taxes and other government charges can still sit outside that total, and so can extras you choose to add. They only have to appear before you pay. Taxes are where the gap shows. In New York City, the hotel room occupancy tax on a room of $40 or more a night is $2.00 per room per day plus a percentage rate, according to the city's Department of Finance page in November 2026. State and city sales tax come on top, along with a $1.50-a-day state hotel unit fee. None of that has to be in the headline total.

How Booking.com orders hotels and scores reviews

Booking.com's own explanation of how it works, in the version dated May 31, 2025, says its default sort, Our top picks, is driven by click-through rates and bookings. It also says the commission a property pays, and how quickly it pays it, can affect where the property appears. Anything marked Ad paid for its place. If you want the closest or the cheapest room, sort by that.

That page also explains the review scores. Reviews come from people who booked through Booking.com, and the company says it may only accept them within three months of checkout. Recent reviews weigh more in the overall score. Guests also give subscores, such as location and cleanliness, separately from their overall mark. Read those first: a high overall score with a weak location score tells you exactly what the complaint is.

Fake reviews are now a federal matter too. The FTC's rule announced on August 14, 2024, bans businesses from buying or creating fake reviews, AI-generated ones included, and from paying for reviews that must come out positive or negative.

Booking direct or through a site

Loyalty points are the clearest reason to book on the hotel's own site. Marriott Bonvoy's program rules, in the version updated October 2026, class rooms booked through an online travel channel as non-qualifying, and they name expedia.com, booking.com and priceline.com among others. Rooms booked at a package rate fall in the same group, though Marriott's own package site says its packages do earn points. A non-qualifying stay earns no points and no Elite Night Credit, and your elite benefits don't apply. For a member chasing status, that can cost more than a booking site saves.

Without points at stake, book wherever the final screen is better. Put the two side by side and compare the cancellation line along with the price.

The cancellation line

Read three things on any rate: the deadline, the time zone it's written in, and when your card is charged. If the hotel is six hours ahead of you, a 6 p.m. deadline there falls at noon at home.

A non-refundable rate makes sense when the rest of the trip is locked as well. If your flights could still move, pay for the flexible hotel rate too. Otherwise you hold one refundable half of a trip and one that isn't.

Hotels near the airport

An airport hotel earns its price before a 6 a.m. departure, after a midnight arrival, or on a long layover. Three big US airports have one you can reach without stepping outside:

• New York JFK: the TWA Hotel stands next to Terminal 5. From T5 you walk through the original TWA Flight Center tubes. From any other terminal, ride the AirTrain to T5. It's free between terminals.
• Orlando (MCO): the Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport is inside Terminal A/B, above the security checkpoint for Gates 70 to 129. The airport's page lists 445 rooms before security, plus a Day Stay for people who aren't staying the night.
• Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW): the Grand Hyatt DFW is inside Terminal D, with direct access to the other terminals.

At JFK, every other hotel on the airport's list means a shuttle, so check its hours before the room. JFK sends hotel shuttles to Federal Circle, which you reach by AirTrain, and the hours listed on the airport's hotel page in November 2026 varied widely. The Hilton Garden Inn's shuttle runs from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. The Hyatt Regency JFK collects guests at the Aqueduct/North Conduit train station instead, from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m. Land at 11:30 p.m. and the first of those has already stopped for the night.

Driving to the airport? Price a night at an airport hotel against parking alone. Our guide to airport parking covers the options. Booking the flight as well? Our guide to flight and hotel packages shows how to price the two together and apart.

Frequently asked questions

Do US hotels have to include resort fees in the price?

Yes. Under the FTC's fee rule, in force since May 12, 2025, a mandatory resort fee has to be in the total price, and the total has to be the most prominent price on the page. Taxes can still be listed separately, as long as they're shown before you pay.

Why is a hotel listed first on Booking.com?

The default sort, Our top picks, is driven by click-through and booking numbers. Booking.com also says the commission a property pays, and how fast it pays it, can move it up. Listings marked Ad paid for the spot.

Do I earn hotel points if I book through Expedia or Booking.com?

Not at Marriott. Its Bonvoy rules treat rooms booked through online travel sites such as expedia.com and booking.com as non-qualifying: no points, no Elite Night Credit and no elite benefits on that stay.

Is there a hotel inside the airport at JFK, Orlando or Dallas?

Yes. The TWA Hotel is next to JFK's Terminal 5 and connected to it. The Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport sits in Terminal A/B, before security. The Grand Hyatt DFW is inside Terminal D.

Is New York hotel tax included in the advertised total?

Not necessarily. The FTC rule lets government charges stay out of the headline total as long as they're shown before you pay. In New York City that includes the city hotel tax, which on a room of $40 or more a night is $2.00 per room per day plus a percentage rate, as well as state and city sales tax and a $1.50-a-day state hotel unit fee.