SB 683: Hotels and short-term rentals: advertised rates: mandatory fees.

The False Advertising Law (FAL) makes it a crime for a person or a firm, corporation, or association, or any employee thereof, to engage in specified false or misleading advertising practices. The Unfair Competition Law (UCL) makes various unfair competition practices unlawful, including any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue, or misleading advertising.

Existing law requires every keeper of a hotel, inn, or lodginghouse to post a statement of rates by the day for lodging and prohibits collection of a sum greater than that amount, as specified.

This bill would, beginning July 1, 2024, require a person or an internet website, application, or other similar centralized platform that advertises a hotel room rate or short-term rental rate before the public in this state, or from this state before the public in any state, to include in the advertised hotel room rate or short-term rental rate all mandatory fees, as defined, that will be charged in order for the consumer to stay in the hotel room or short-term rental. The bill would require a hotel or a short-term rental to clearly and conspicuously disclose on its internet website a list of all mandatory fees and any payment surcharges imposed on consumers. The rental and include in the total price to be paid, before the consumer reserves the stay, all taxes and fees imposed by a government on the stay.

This bill would authorize certain public attorneys, including the Attorney General, to bring an enforcement action action against a person or an internet website, application, or other similar centralized platform that knew or should have known that it has advertised a hotel room rate or short-term rental rate in violation of these provisions, and would require a court to impose a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for each violation after consideration of specified factors. The bill would also provide that a violation of its provisions constitutes a false or misleading statement under the FAL. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.