FTC stops hidden tariffs for direct events and short -term, effective May 12

The Federal Commission of the American Federal Trade (FTC) issued the new documentation on Monday by detailing its new rule on unfair or fraudulent tariffs. ” The rule, determined to take effect on May 12, prohibits hidden tariffs for live events, hotels and short -term rental. It also stops practices such as the “Bairche and Circle Price” and any action that hides or abuses total prices and tariffs.

On a newly published site, FTC offers a guide to these types of businesses, providing detailed information about price transparency.

The rule will affect businesses, including direct event ticket vendors and short -term housing providers, such as hotels, motels, airbnb, or vBBO. Third -party travel platforms, sellers and agents are also covered by the new regulation. (Airbnb already updated its service before this new regulation to show users the total cost of their stay forward.)

According to FTC:

• Live events tickets include them for concerts, sports events, music, theater and other live shows that the audience watches while they happen, but not the pre-registered audio or visual shows.
• Overall pricing should include all known fees and fees.
• Pages should reveal the total pricing in advertising and other offers for direct event tickets or short -term housing.
• Overall pricing should also appear more significantly than any other price information.
• There should be no abuse of tariffs and fees.
• Sites should provide real information about tariffs, including refund policies.
• Sites should avoid unclear terms such as “convenience fees”, “service fees” or “processing fees”.
• Dynamic price strategies are still allowed as long as the price information is not fraudulent.

Also included in the new FTC FAI are the types of tariffs that can be excluded, such as taxes or government tariffs, transport fees and tariffs for goods or options that people can choose to buy as part of the same transaction. (Note that treatment fees are not on this list.)

However, FTC observes that businesses must find out that it has excluded tariffs from the total price before requiring payments. For example, if a business excludes transport fees from the advertised price, you are required to clearly state the amount and purpose of those tariffs.

The FTC first approved the rule in December 2024, a historical regulation that marked a considerable victory for consumers who have been frustrated for years for hidden tariffs.