How Much Is a Hotel Deposit? (2026 Data)

The price on a hotel booking page is rarely the amount that leaves your account. A hotel deposit is usually the room and tax for the whole stay plus an incidental hold: about $25 to $50¹ a night on a credit card at Hyatt hotels, while some Wyndham hotels hold $100 a night on debit cards.¹ Then come the fees: a resort fee of $55² a night at many Las Vegas Strip hotels, parking at $65.53³ a night in San Francisco, pet fees, and cancellation or no-show charges.

This page sets out what each of these costs in numbers: how holds are calculated and released, the card rules that limit them, resort fees at 102 Las Vegas hotels and the big chains, parking in 15 US cities, standard check-in and check-out times, pet fees, and what the 2025 federal rule on hidden fees changed for travelers.

What a hotel deposit covers

A hotel deposit is usually not a charge but an authorization: the hotel asks the card issuer to set aside money for the stay. The amount is built from three parts, the room rate times the number of nights, the taxes, and an incidental buffer for anything charged to the room.¹ The card rules cited here require that estimate to be genuine, matching what the guest is expected to spend, and forbid adding an amount for possible damage, theft or tips.⁴

How much does a hotel hold on a credit card

A worked example shows the scale. Five nights at $200 make $1,000¹ of room charges; a 12% tax adds $120 and an incidental hold of $75 a night adds $375. The hotel authorizes $1,495¹, while a guest who charges nothing extra pays $1,120. The hold is therefore $375⁵ higher than the bill, or 33.5%⁵ more.

On a credit card the hold only lowers the available credit. Its size depends on the property: Hyatt hotels typically hold $25 to $50¹ a night for incidentals.

How much is the deposit for a Hyatt hotel

At a Hyatt, the deposit is the room and tax for the stay plus that incidental amount of roughly $25 to $50 a night, set by each hotel.¹ Releasing it takes longer than at most rivals: 7 to 10 business days after check-out, against 72 hours at Hilton and 5 business days at Marriott.¹

How much does a hotel hold on your debit card

A debit card changes the stakes. The same hold freezes real money in a checking account, typically for 5 to 10 business days or longer, and some Wyndham-branded hotels hold $100¹ a night on debit cards or refuse them for holds altogether.

Holds also stack. Each booking gets its own authorization, so three rooms with a $450¹ hold each tie up $1,350 of credit before a single charge posts, and a card with a $5,000 limit runs out after about 11 such bookings.¹ Families booking two rooms, or travelers with back-to-back stays, meet the same effect on a smaller scale: the second hold lands before the first has been released.

How much are hotel incidentals

Incidentals are whatever ends up on the room folio beyond the rate: room service, the minibar, parking, phone calls or spa visits. The hold for them is a ceiling, not a price, and a guest who buys nothing pays nothing for it. In the example above the incidental part is $375 of the $1,495 hold, a quarter of the total. A booking platform's rule of thumb puts typical holds at 15% to 25% above the bill;¹ the example lands above that range because its $75 nightly buffer is large for a $200 room.

So what stops a hotel from holding, or charging, whatever it likes? For card payments, the answer sits in the card network's rulebook rather than in any hotel law.

The rules behind holds, no-shows and damage charges

The rules of the card network cited here, which hotels accept when they take that card, set hard limits; other networks have their own rulebooks. One lodging authorization can stay valid for up to 30 calendar days⁴, and the final charge may exceed the amount authorized by up to 15%⁴; a bill more than 15% above the hold needs a new authorization.⁴

How much is a no-show fee at a hotel

When a guaranteed reservation is neither cancelled nor claimed, the hotel may charge a no-show, and a charge for more than one day's accommodation is grounds for a card dispute.⁴ For a guaranteed reservation paid with that card, the no-show fee is therefore at most one night's accommodation; prepaid non-refundable rates follow their own terms.

How much is a hotel cancellation fee

A cancellation fee follows the policy shown when the room was booked. The guest must get a written confirmation with the conditions, and for a guaranteed booking at least 24 hours after that confirmation to cancel without penalty.⁴ After the deadline in the hotel's own policy, a booking that is not cancelled becomes a no-show, billed at up to one night for a guaranteed reservation.⁴

How much can a hotel charge for damages

A damage charge added after check-out is limited to the actual cost of repair or replacement, or the insurance deductible if that is lower. The hotel must send the guest the documentation within 10 business days of check-out, and the guest has 10 business days to send an alternative written estimate.⁴ The hold itself may not include an amount for damage.⁴ Holds come back; mandatory fees do not, starting with the resort fee.

Resort fees

How much are hotel fees

A resort fee, also sold as a destination or amenity fee, is a mandatory nightly charge added to the room rate, usually said to cover Wi-Fi, a fitness center or a pool. In a 2026 analysis of 160 hotels around the world, 30 charged one and the average was $33⁶ a day, within a range of $15 to $50. About 6% of US hotels charge resort fees, a share that has been declining.⁶ Among big-chain hotels that charge one, Marriott's are highest at $36⁶ a day and Wyndham's lowest at $25, and no Choice hotel in the analysis charged a resort fee.⁶

Some hotels waive the fee for loyalty members or award stays, and some brands avoid it altogether: Drury Hotels and Disney Resort hotels charge no resort fee.⁶ Because the fee is mandatory, it belongs in any price comparison, exactly like the room rate.

The Las Vegas hotel resort fee average per night in 2025

In Las Vegas resort fees are close to universal. Of 102 hotels across the Strip, downtown and greater Las Vegas, 88 charged one in mid-2025, and the average among them was $44.05⁵ a night before tax. On the Strip, 39 of 41 hotels charged a fee, averaging $50.16⁵; 13 of them charged exactly $55, and The Strat topped the list at $56.63².

The fee buys little that differs between hotels: internet access, local calls, boarding-pass printing and gym entry appear on almost every list.² Three nights at a $55 hotel add $165⁵ before tax. Downtown is cheaper but not free: 11 of 14 hotels charged a fee, averaging $37.12⁵, led by Circa at $50.⁷

Off the Strip and across greater Las Vegas, 38 of 47 hotels charged a fee, averaging $39.80⁵, but the range is the widest: from $12.98⁸ at the Longhorn to $56.69⁸ at the Rio and the Virgin, the highest of all 102 hotels.

Set side by side, the three areas show how much location matters inside one city: Strip hotels charge $10.36⁵ more a night on average than off-Strip and greater Las Vegas hotels and $13.04⁵ more than downtown ones.

What the federal fee rule changed

Resort fees are still legal. Since May 12, 2025, the federal rule on unfair or deceptive fees has required hotels and booking sites to show the total price, mandatory fees included, whenever they show a price; taxes and optional extras may still be added later.⁹ The rule's own analysis counted 49,216¹⁰ US hotels, of which 6%, or 2,953, charge resort fees, and 683.9 million¹⁰ lodging bookings a year by US consumers, including home-share rentals.

States moved first. Pennsylvania obtained Marriott's commitment in 2021 to put mandatory resort fees in the first price shown.¹⁰ Texas has signed six settlements over hidden hotel fees, the largest being $9.5 million¹¹ from Booking Holdings in 2025, the most any state has recovered over hotel or travel-site junk fees, and $1.25 million¹² from Hyatt in December 2025.

Hotel parking fees

After the resort fee, parking is the add-on most guests meet. Across hotels in the 15 most popular US city destinations, more than 90% offer parking, but only 23% of listings offer it free.³

How much hotel parking costs

The average hotel charged $43.71³ a night in late 2025, a quarter of the average room rate of $182.52, and $10.06 more than nearby public parking at $33.65 for 24 hours.³

Against the room rate, Chicago parking is the heaviest burden at 43%³ of the nightly price, and Washington follows at 40%.³

How much is hotel parking in San Francisco

San Francisco is the most expensive city to park at a hotel: $65.53³ a night on average and $55.90³ for self-parking, both the highest of the 15 cities.

How much is hotel parking in NYC

New York hotels average $59.32³ a night, and only 15.73%³ of listings with parking have it on site. None of the listings offered free parking.³

The average hotel parking cost in Washington DC

Washington's hotels average $56.92³ a night, 40% of the city's average room rate, and 68.66% of them list valet service, the highest share of any city in the study.³

Where hotels offer parking at all

Parking is not a given in the densest cities. In Las Vegas 97.73%³ of hotel listings mention parking and 96.28%³ of those have it on site, and Fort Lauderdale, Atlanta and Orlando are close behind, each above 97% listed. At the other end, only 70.59%³ of Boston listings and 71.32%³ of New York listings mention parking at all. Chicago sits in between: 89.57%³ of listings mention parking, but only 55.48%³ of those have it on site, against 62.96%³ in San Francisco.

Valet follows the same pattern. It appears on 59.52%³ of Boston listings with parking and 58.22%³ in Chicago, but on only 8.90%³ in Orlando, where 97.88%³ of listings with parking have it on site. In Washington DC, 80.60%³ of listings with parking have it on site and valet is listed more often than in any other city; Los Angeles and Honolulu list valet at 46.37%³ and 42.67%³ of hotels with parking.

How much does valet parking cost at a hotel

Valet costs more everywhere: $56.92³ a night on average, $22.77 above self-parking. New York charges the most at $77.50, $24.44 more than its own self-parking rate, and Orlando the least at $33.³

Parking as a share of the room rate

Measured against the room, valet is the costly choice. In Chicago valet adds 49%³ to the lowest weekend room rate and self-parking 33%³; in Washington DC and Houston valet adds 43%³. New York has the dearest valet in dollars, but against a room rate of $337.28 it adds only 23%³, the same share as in Miami. Fort Lauderdale shows the widest gap between the two options: self-parking adds 8%³, the lowest share of the 15 cities, and valet 22%³.

In Las Vegas self-parking adds 11%³, and too few hotels list valet to measure it. For a guest at a Chicago hotel, a car with valet adds nearly half the room rate again.

Free parking is a matter of geography. In Las Vegas 73.64%³ of listings with parking mark it free, and many of these listings are casinos, which use free parking to attract players.³ Houston follows at 55.94%³ and Orlando at 44.03%³. In New York none do, and the five cities with the costliest hotel parking are also the five where free parking is rarest: in San Francisco, Washington DC, Chicago, Boston and New York the free share is 6.47%³ or less.

Public car parks are the alternative, and they are not always cheaper. In San Diego hotel parking costs $12.02⁵ more than 24 hours in a public car park, and in Boston $14.48⁵ more, but in Miami and Las Vegas the hotel is the cheaper option, by $6.67⁵ and $5.53⁵; in Orlando the two are close, with the hotel $1.89⁵ dearer.³ In San Francisco, the costliest city, the hotel premium over a public car park is $15.51⁵ a night, and in New York $7.84⁵.³

On the Las Vegas Strip the parking fee is close to uniform: hotel guests pay $20 for 24 hours of self-parking at the MGM, Caesars and Venetian resorts, and valet costs $40, or $50 at Caesars Palace. Wynn and Encore let hotel guests self-park free; Fontainebleau's free guest parking ran until September 7, 2026, and its later guest rate is not listed.¹⁴ Together with the resort fee, a car at a $55 hotel adds $75⁵ a night before tax, or $95 with valet.

Away from the Strip, parking is mostly free. Downtown, hotel guests self-park free at eight of the 14 hotels listed, among them the Golden Nugget, the Plaza and The D. Circa charges its guests $25¹⁵ a day, the most downtown, while Four Queens charges $5 and Binion's $5 unless the guest has a player's card; at Main Street Station and the Oasis at Gold Spike no guest rate is listed, only the public one.¹⁵

Off the Strip and across greater Las Vegas, 39¹⁶ of the 46 hotels listed charge nothing for parking. Four charge for self-parking, from $11 a day at the Westgate to $25 at Elara, and three resorts with free self-parking charge for valet, up to $25 at The Resort at Summerlin.¹⁶

Check-in and check-out times

Time is a fee too, because arriving before check-in or leaving after check-out is what hotels sell as early check-in and late check-out.

Average hotel check-in time

Standard check-in at the big chains falls between 3:00 and 4:00 p.m.: 3:00 p.m. at Marriott, Hyatt and Best Western, 4:00 p.m. at most Wyndham and IHG hotels, and 3:00 to 4:00 p.m. at Hilton and Choice.¹⁷

Average hotel check-out time

Check-out is earlier and more uniform. In a survey of almost 200,000 hotels, 86.27%¹⁸ set it at 11 a.m., 6.31% at noon and 6.25% at 10 a.m. Marriott and Hyatt hotels usually allow until noon, while most Wyndham hotels expect guests out by 10:00 a.m.¹⁷ Loyalty status buys time: IHG Platinum and Diamond Elite members can ask for late check-out until 2:00 p.m.¹⁷ The gap between a 10 a.m. check-out and a 4 p.m. check-in at the same chain is six hours, the window that early check-in and late check-out are sold into.

Across the industry, one check-out time dominates: 11 a.m. covers far more hotels than noon and 10 a.m. together.

Pet fees

How much is a pet fee at a hotel

Most hotels that accept pets charge for them, often $50 to $150¹⁹ per stay. A few brands are the exception: Kimpton charges no pet fee and sets no weight or breed limit, and Motel 6 lets two pets stay free.¹⁹ Red Roof charges only for a second pet, $15 a night up to $105 per stay, which is seven nights, and accepts pets up to 80 pounds each.¹⁹ La Quinta caps its fee at $40 per stay, so a long stay there costs no more than two nights of fees.¹⁹ The structure matters as much as the rate: a per-night fee grows with every night, a per-stay fee does not.

What the extras add up to

Taken together, the extras can rival a cheap room. A three-night Strip stay at a $55 hotel with a car adds $165 in resort fees and $60 of parking before tax, and the deposit on the card will be higher still until it is released. The taxes come on top of all of it, and the federal rule lets them be shown separately.⁹ They vary by state. At the state level alone, the District of Columbia charges the most, 15.95%²⁰, while Alaska, California and Nevada leave hotel taxes to cities and counties.²¹

Conclusions

1. The deposit is the stay plus a margin. Room and tax plus an incidental hold of about $25 to $50¹ a night on a Hyatt credit card, or $100 a night on a debit card at some Wyndham hotels; a booking platform's rule of thumb puts holds 15% to 25% above the bill, and a five-night example with a $75 nightly buffer goes beyond that, holding $1,495¹ for $1,120 of charges.
2. The card rules cap what a hold can contain. One authorization can last 30 days⁴, the bill may exceed it by only 15%, a no-show on a guaranteed reservation costs at most one night, and damage cannot be pre-charged through the deposit.⁴
3. Resort fees are near-universal in Las Vegas. About 6%⁶ of US hotels charge one, yet 39 of 41 Strip hotels do, at an average of $50.16⁵ a night.
4. Parking can cost more than the resort fee. San Francisco's $65.53³ a night is higher than the top Las Vegas resort fee of $56.69,⁸ and in Chicago parking adds 43% to the room rate.³
5. The 2025 rule changed the price shown, not paid. Mandatory fees now appear up front,⁹ and states have settled hidden-fee cases with hotels and booking sites for up to $9.5 million¹¹.