I thought it was deceiving, but for another reason: taxes and mandatory fees (resort fees and "destination fees") aren't included in that total. I can see an argument for not including taxes, as those are generally the same within the same city. But the mandatory fees do vary, and I hate that hotels that charge them get an advantage in search results because their rate is shown as lower than it truly is. I understand un-bundling, even though I don't always like it, but the mandatory fees that aren't disclosed until later in the booking process is just a thinly veiled bait-and-switch tactic. (They won't do this, but they should at least say $XXX total, excluding required resort fee, in my opinion.)