Travel App Hopper to Pay $35 Million to Settle FTC Allegations It Charged Fees Without Consent and Deceived Users About Fees and Benefits of Some Products

The companies that operate the Hopper travel apps have agreed to pay $35 million and will be prohibited from deceiving consumers about fees to settle the Federal Trade Commission's allegations that they unfairly charged consumers hidden fees and misrepresented the total prices consumers would pay and the benefits of the companies' VIP Support and Price Freeze services.

The FTC's complaint alleges that despite its "no hidden fees" promises, Canadian company Hopper Inc. and its Massachusetts-based subsidiary Hopper (USA) Inc., unfairly charged users without their consent for "Tip" and VIP Support fees that the company claimed were optional yet were hidden and pre-selected for consumers.

"Hopper deceived consumers by showing them a total price that did not include hidden, pre-selected fees," said Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection. "The Commission will continue to use all available tools to promote price transparency and to combat unfair and deceptive pricing, billing and cancellation practices."

Hopper allows consumers to search and book airfares, lodging and rental cars primarily through its apps. Until mid-2023, when consumers were ready to purchase their booking, they saw a screen with the "total price" and a Swipe to Book button that failed to adequately disclose that the company would add charges for Tip and VIP Support fees, according to the complaint. These "optional" fees were pre-selected and hidden on an app screen that only appeared if the consumer scrolled down. Since 2023, Hopper has continued to fail to disclose that Tip fees were optional, according to the complaint.

Consumers routinely complained that they did not consent to these extra fees, which have generated millions of dollars in additional revenue for the company, the complaint alleges. For example, one consumer complained that, "I did not intend to buy the VIP support. Honestly it feels like ya'll snuck that in on the final screen at the bottom and opted me in."

Company employees also raised concerns about these tactics, according to the complaint. For example, in internal communications, numerous employees expressed concern about Hopper's fees tactics, including one who said, "To me, the problem here is that we're tricking users."

The complaint alleges that the company's own internal testing showed that the Tip and VIP Support fees were deceptively hidden and that if Hopper adequately disclosed these fees and made them unselected by default, most consumers would decline them.

In addition to charging consumers for the VIP Support fee without their express informed consent, the complaint alleges that Hopper also misrepresented the benefits consumers would receive from the VIP Support service. For example, Hopper said that VIP Support would ensure consumers could reach customer service "instantly" or within a few minutes. In reality, many consumers who purchased VIP Support were often unable to reach a customer support agent at all or had to wait substantial amounts of time, according to the complaint.

Hopper also has deceived users about the benefits they would receive by purchasing its "Price Freeze" service, also known as "Hold the Room," according to the complaint. The company has said the service would allow consumers to hold or freeze an advertised price for a travel booking for a period of time so a consumer can book the travel later for the same price and that the fee paid for Price Freeze will be applied to the total price of the booking.

The complaint alleges, however, that Hopper has failed to clearly disclose key restrictions including that Price Freeze only protects the price up to a certain amount and only if the booking is still available. In addition, the company fails to apply the Price Freeze fee toward the cost of booking as promised, the complaint alleges.

The complaint alleges that, through this conduct, Hopper violated the FTC Act and, for short-term lodging bookings since May 12, 2025, the FTC's Unfair and Deceptive Fees Rule.

Under theproposed order, Hopper must pay $35 million, which will be used for consumer redress. In addition to the monetary judgment, the company is prohibited from misrepresenting any fees and must clearly and conspicuously disclose fees and charges, as well as the total price of any goods or services and the final amount of payment for any transaction.

The Commission voted 2-0 to file the complaint and stipulated proposed order in the U.S. District Courtfor the District of Massachusetts.

NOTE: The Commission authorizes the filing of a complaint when it has "reason to believe" that the named defendant is violating or is about to violate the law and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest. Stipulated orders have the force of law when approved and signed by the District Court judge.

The lead staff on this matter include Karen Mandel, Edwin Rodriguez and Esther Lee in the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection.