Miami Resort Fees Explained
Last reviewed: October 26, 2026. Sources for this page are listed in its fact sheet.
Short answer first. A Miami resort fee is a mandatory daily charge added on top of the room rate, and you cannot opt out of it by skipping the amenities it claims to cover. The good news: since May 12, 2025, the FTC's Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees has required advertised prices for short term lodging to show the total price, including mandatory fees like this one, more prominently than any other pricing information. The fee still exists; it is just much harder to hide.
The pool deck the fee pays for, whether or not you ever sit beside it. Photo: Quang Nguyen Vinh, Pexels.
What exactly is a resort fee?
It is a per room, per night charge that many Miami and Miami Beach hotels add to every stay, under names that vary by property: resort fee, destination fee, or simply hotel fee. It is not a tax, and it is not optional. It exists because splitting it out of the headline rate made rooms look cheaper in search results for years, which is precisely the bait and switch pattern the FTC rule now targets. The fee is charged whether you use a single one of the amenities bundled into it, and it is usually taxed on top, so the number on your final bill is the fee plus tax, per night, times every night of the stay.
What does the fee usually cover?
Whatever the property says it covers: typically some bundle of wifi, gym access, pool and beach services, and small perks. One verified example, from the Fontainebleau Miami Beach's own terms, checked October 26, 2026: a daily resort fee of $59 per room, covering gym access, unlimited wifi in rooms and at the pools, two hours of complimentary bicycle use per day per guest, beach chairs for each registered guest, and access to the hotel's Refresh Lounge. That is one large beachfront resort's list, not a Miami standard; smaller properties bundle less and charge less, and every list is the property's own invention.
How much are Miami resort fees?
There is no published, checkable Miami wide rate card, and this page will not invent one. Each property sets its own fee, fees change without notice, and any guide quoting you a neat range is guessing. What you can rely on: the fee at the hotel you are actually booking is stated in that booking's price details, and since the FTC rule took effect, the total price shown upfront must already include it. The practical skill is not memorizing numbers; it is knowing where the fee hides on the page in front of you, which the next section covers.
What does the FTC rule change for you?
The Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees (16 CFR Part 464), effective May 12, 2025, makes it an unfair or deceptive practice to advertise a price for short term lodging, which includes hotels and vacation rentals, without clearly and prominently disclosing the total price including all mandatory fees. Two limits matter. First, the rule does not ban or cap resort fees; hotels may charge them, they just may not hide them. Second, government taxes and genuinely optional extras may still be excluded from that first total, as long as they are disclosed before you pay, so the final payment screen can still be higher than the headline total. Read the final total, not the first number, and you are comparing honestly.
How do you compare Miami hotels fairly?
Compare the all in total for the same dates: rate, plus the mandatory fee per night, plus taxes. If a listing shows a strikingly low rate for a beachfront address, assume a fee is doing the magic and find the total before you get attached. Ask what the fee includes and use the items you would genuinely use; beach chairs for every registered guest can be real value at a beach hotel, while the same fee buys a downtown guest very little. And remember some properties, more often smaller hotels and mainland addresses, charge no resort fee at all, which is a legitimate reason to shortlist them.
The facts that matter
FTC Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees, 16 CFR Part 464, effective May 12, 2025 (Federal Trade Commission): advertised prices for short term lodging must disclose the total price, including mandatory fees, more prominently than other pricing information; the rule does not ban or cap fees; government charges and optional services may be excluded from the first total but must be disclosed before payment. Verified fee example: Fontainebleau Miami Beach lists a daily resort fee of $59 per room in its official terms, checked October 26, 2026, with the inclusions listed above. No Miami wide fee range is published by any checkable source, so none is quoted here.
Compare Miami hotels by total price on Expedia
Frequently asked questions
Can I refuse the resort fee at checkout?
If the fee is mandatory for the stay, treat it as part of the room price, because the hotel will. Your protection is upstream: the advertised total had to include it under the FTC rule, so compare totals when you book, not at the front desk when you leave.
Do vacation rentals charge resort fees too?
Rentals more often show cleaning and service fees than resort fees, but the same FTC rule covers short term lodging including vacation rentals: mandatory charges belong in the advertised total. Compare the final total on every platform.
Is the resort fee taxed?
Expect yes in practice: the Fontainebleau's current offer wording, for example, states its fee as $59 plus tax per day. Always read the fee line in your own booking's price breakdown.
Keep planning
Put this to work in the Miami on a Budget guide and the Miami hotels hub, and if a fee example on a hotel's own page contradicts this guide, trust the property page and tell us; this guide is refreshed as properties update their terms.