The CMA's pricing rules for travel: what has to be in the total price

This post is the first in a four-part series on the CMA's pricing rules for travel and what they mean for booking platforms:

1. This post: The CMA's pricing rules for travel: what has to be in the total price
2. Tourist tax in the headline price: what the CMA's total price rule means for platforms
3. How to show a total price that includes local taxes
4. Are platforms liable for pricing errors under the CMA rules, not just the seller?

The CMA's pricing rules for travel: what has to be in the total price

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority has confirmed that drip pricing is unlawful under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCCA). A travel business can no longer show a low headline price and reveal mandatory charges later in the booking journey. Every fee a customer cannot avoid has to appear in the total price shown upfront, and that duty now sits with the platform selling the booking as well as the business behind it.

What counts as drip pricing

The CMA describes drip pricing as showing a headline price that is not the total price. Partitioned pricing, where individual charges are listed separately without a clear total shown upfront, falls under the same prohibition. Both practices are now banned unless calculating the total price in advance is truly impossible, and the CMA has made clear it expects that exception to apply rarely.

What the total price has to include

The rule covers any fee, tax, charge, or other payment the customer will necessarily incur. Local taxes are named directly: the CMA's guidance states that local charges and taxes are normally calculable and should be included in the total price shown to the customer, not added at a later step. Tourist tax is one of the clearest examples of this kind of mandatory charge, since it applies automatically at the destination and cannot be declined. We cover this in detail in tourist tax in the headline price.

Who carries the liability

The CMA's guidance extends shared liability across the commerce chain, including online marketplaces and price comparison sites, alongside the business that ultimately delivers the stay. The definition of an invitation to purchase is read broadly too, covering search results, app banners, and shopping baskets, so the obligation follows the price at each of those touchpoints, well before final checkout.

Where enforcement stands today

Enforcement is well underway. The CMA has been running a cross-economy review of more than 400 businesses across 19 sectors since April 2025 and has sent advisory letters to around 100 companies, with holidays and other travel sectors prominent among them.

In April 2026 the first fine landed. The CMA fined the AA's driving schools £4.2 million and ordered refunds of more than £760,000 to over 80,000 customers. The breach: a mandatory £3 booking fee that appeared later in the purchase journey instead of in the price shown upfront. A £3 fee, a £4.2 million fine. That is the scale the regime works at.

The wider picture confirms the pace. In its first year under the new powers, the CMA opened investigations into 14 businesses, issued 157 advisory and warning letters, and imposed more than £4.7 million in penalties. An investigation into Ryanair covers ancillary charges such as seating, baggage, and booking fees, the closest signal yet that travel pricing is under direct scrutiny. The Annual Plan for 2026 to 2027 names consumer protection enforcement as a strategic priority, and the CMA can fine up to 10 percent of global annual turnover, or £300,000 if that is higher, without going to court first. This page will be updated as enforcement action develops.

What this means for booking platforms

Showing an accurate total price starts with knowing the mandatory local charge for every destination before the price is ever displayed. Tourist tax is the charge that shows up in this rule most often, and it is set locally. Rates change without warning, and monitoring every jurisdiction is a full-time job in itself. The LocationTax API handles that part: send a location, receive the applicable rate, updated automatically when a municipality changes it. See tourist tax in the headline price for how this works in practice, and how to show a total price that includes local taxes for the full build sequence. Where responsibility sits when a displayed price goes wrong is a separate question from the pricing display rule itself, and we answer it in are platforms liable for pricing errors under the CMA rules.

Trippz keeps tourist tax rates current for the destinations you sell. Take a look at Trippz for Platforms, with sandbox access available within two business days.