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President Biden met with executives on Thursday from a slew of private-sector companies, including ticketing platforms SeatGeek and Ticketmaster and online rental marketplace Airbnb, announcing several companies will take actions to tackle hidden fees and offer more transparent pricing.
“This is a win for consumers, in my view,” Biden said in a press conference.
Ticketmaster, which is owned by Live Nation Entertainment (LYV), has committed to rolling out product features that make it easier for consumers to search for and receive all-in upfront pricing, which includes the service charge and any other fees.
The company plans to offer these features by September.
SeatGeek plans to offer similar search tools over the course of the summer, while Airbnb introduced a new total price display feature in December that allows US consumers to see all fees before taxes.
The Biden administration has pushed for more transparency around junk fees for nearly a year.
During his State of the Union address in February, Biden said: “Junk fees may not matter for the very wealthy but they matter to most other folks in homes like the one I grew up in.”
“They add up to hundreds of dollars a month. They make it harder for you to pay your bills,” he said.
“[Thursday’s] voluntary actions demonstrate that companies both big and small recognize the importance of providing consumers with honest, up-front all-in pricing, rather than tricking them with surprise fees at the end of checkout,” the White House said in a statement. “It is also just a first step towards addressing junk fees in the economy.”
Lael Brainard, who serves as director of the National Economic Council, added in a follow-up statement, “President Biden has been working to lower costs for hardworking families by bringing down inflation, capping insulin prices for seniors, and eliminating hidden junk fees. More companies are heeding the President’s call so that Americans know what they’re paying for up front and can save money as a result.”
Thursday’s meeting comes in the wake of last year’s Taylor Swift fiasco that served a black mark for Ticketmaster’s parent company, Live Nation, and led to heightened regulatory scrutiny of the company and its practices.
Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on Twitter @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com
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