Las Vegas Resort Fees: The 2012 Guide

[westie]

Las Vegas Resort Fees: The 2012 Guide || VegasChatter

[dewey089]

Re: Las Vegas Resort Fees: The 2012 Guide

Helpful, but incomplete. For example, no Boyd properties:

Orleans $6
Gold Coast $3
Sam's $4.50
However, if booked on B Connected these have not been charged to me or others with whom I've talked.

And many casinos, like East Side Cannery with no fee don't show up at all.

So there goes the generality that getting off the strip makes huge fees. These Boyd fees are not huge. These places will beat most strip prices for hotels. B connected prices often start under $30 so the small resort fees don't add much even if they were charged. And I have booked all three with no charge, even when the paperwork said I would be charged. I just don't think they charge for B Connected bookings, but they don't advertise that.
Also, the Station fees sometimes will put their fees on the top of cheap prices. Boulder Highway plays the same game as the Gold Spike. They like pushing themselves close to the top on the discounter sites so they catch unsavy travlers. However, the high fees of the station casinos generally mean they just are not good deals when you do the mathematics.


Gold Spike is the only casino downtown that has a standard and named resort fee and it is very clear and upfront if we book with them directly and a confusion of boilerplate if we book hotels.com or expedia.com
Then we need to pay attention to why they charge a fee. Gold Spike merely wants to come out on top of the discounter search engines and especially beat out El Cortez. So I paid the fee in November, but I paid $12 for weekday rooms and $27 for weekends. Hard to beat with wifi in the room, heated swimming pool, and Turner Classic movies on the TV for the days when the bankroll goes South quickly or as insurance against getting sick and needing to sleep for a few days and not be bored by normal TV.

El Cortez has a $25 resort-fee-hiding-for-a-week-in-the-bushes for 7 nights and then popping out, even if we book 4 nights, go away for a couple weeks, and then book 4 nights again in the same calendar month. So far, because they don't call it a resort fee, it never makes these lists.
Pretty good poker play by the El Cortez.
I guess the only amenity is that the casino will tolerate us for more than 7 nights. Some discounters when booking El Cortez will charge the fee in the quoted price, but charge it for all 8 nights if we book that many at one time.
El Cortez used to be easy for rooms. But now they are getting pretty tricky on fees and comps.

That being said, remember that the American Casino Guide coupon is a great bargain for a couple nights and for a bit extra they will take the coupon for El Cabana and Tower rooms.

Stratosphere has a resort fee that is only charged for the first 5 nights. They then keep giving you the amenities (including tower access for everyone in the room,) but as a courtesy, they drop the fee. So a long stay there may be a bargain if the price is right.

I have called Rumors often and never had a bit of problem getting a clear resort fee estimate, nor a sense of what that includes. Generally the 24 hour heated pool has been an attractive amenity for me, but the location is bad and I like having some casino near my bed. Hard Rock won't do it.

My experience with on line lists has been that most get started with enthusiasm, but don't get updated with any attention to detail. Use them as a guide, but call the hotel and ask before booking.
I'd like to see clear dates that indicated when they have last been updated and checked.

The new 2012 American Casino Guide has my article on resort fees with more of the details.

[Miller77]

Re: Las Vegas Resort Fees: The 2012 Guide

Wow... that is sneaky from the ElCo!

Great post and great advice, thank for sharing!

CM

[dewey089]

Re: Las Vegas Resort Fees: The 2012 Guide

So, currently the Stratosphere sale is most nights at $39. Staying January 12 to February 3 gets that rate except for one weekend at $49. You would think that the $7.50 resort fee would add $90 to that booking. Well, it adds $27.50. So actually, for that particular booking the resort fee is $2.30 cents a day. But we have to do the math here to discover the savings; it won't be advertised. Those rates are not terrible even with the 13% tax added. If you liked having coffee in the morning with a view of all Vegas, making the coffee in the room rather than buying at the coffee cafe would give you the pleasure of the view and balance out the resort fee.