California’s SB 478, widely known as the “Hidden Fees” or “Junk Fee” law, bans the deceptive practice of “drip pricing” across all consumer industries, heavily impacting hotels, tour operators, and event ticketing.
The law makes it strictly illegal to advertise an artificially low base price for a room or service, only to tack on mandatory resort fees, service charges, or processing fees at the end of the digital checkout process.
To comply, your tourism website must display the total, full price a consumer is obligated to pay upfront in the initial advertised price.
The only financial exceptions that can be legally excluded from this initial display are government-imposed taxes and reasonable shipping costs for physical goods.
