A Las Vegas hotel offers rooms for just $1 a night. But it’s little relief from what travelers are calling ‘the biggest scam’

That means the “$1 room” actually costs about $52. It's still cheap by Las Vegas standards, but a far cry from the headline price.

Consumer advocates and travel influencers say the practice highlights a growing frustration for travelers who feel misled by advertised hotel rates that don’t reflect what they’ll actually pay at checkout.

According to a breakdown of the promotion on View from the Wing, the resort fee is required at check-in and applies regardless of how low the base room rate appears on the booking page (2).

Resort fees are climbing quickly

Las Vegas is ground zero for resort fees, but the problem extends far beyond Nevada. Hotels in other vacation hotspots routinely tack on resort or destination fees that are excessive for many travelers.

For example, according to a Hawaii vacation planning resource, many Hawaiian properties charge between $40 and $57 in daily resort fees, adding hundreds to the cost of a trip (3).

In New York City, some hotels add nightly fees exceeding $50, even though guests may have little opportunity to use amenities during short stays (12).

A site that tracks Las Vegas resort fees reports they rose 11% in 2025, pushing the average nightly charge to more than $40, with some strip hotels charging $50 or more (4). These fees are often justified as covering amenities such as Wi-Fi, gym access or pool use — features many travelers assume are already included.

The OYO promotion has drawn attention because it pushes the strategy to an extreme: advertising an ultra-low rate that's overshadowed by a fee of more than 50 times higher than the room price itself.

Travel influencers have been blunt in their criticism. On TikTok and Instagram, some have described resort fees as “the biggest scam in travel,” (5) arguing that they distort pricing and make it nearly impossible to comparison-shop across hotels.

One influencer explains that hotels often use resort fees to reduce their commissions paid to booking platforms (e.g. Expedia and Priceline), since those fees are typically calculated on the base room rate, not the total cost (6).

Why it matters now

Resort fees are becoming more painful at a time when many Americans are already rethinking travel due to cost pressures. A recent TravelPulse survey found that about 20% of Americans have canceled or postponed trips because travel has become too expensive (7).

Inflation remains elevated, with the U.S. consumer price index hovering around 3% (8), keeping pressure on household budgets even as wages struggle to keep up. Against that backdrop, unexpected hotel charges can push trips over budget, or simply convince travelers to stay home altogether.

In theory, consumers should be better protected now, as a new Federal Trade Commission rule that took effect in May requires hotels and travel providers to include mandatory fees in advertised prices, a move aimed at cracking down on so-called “junk fees” (9).