Another raise in resort fees

[dewey089]

In many cases now the amount that I consistently pay on average for a room in Vegas, the upscale visitors get as an added fee each night.
It is hard to believe.

These places within the last couple months went from $20 to $25 a night:
Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, Aria, Vdara, Bellagio and The Mirage

Monte Carlo went from $15 to $20

These places went from $15 to $18:
Luxor and New York, New York

Excalibur went from $12.50 to $15:

And even little Circus Circus went from $7.95 to $8.95

and it probably is well above that as the properties probably add tax to the fees

$25 goes up to $28
$20 goes up to $22.40
$18 goes up to $20.16
$15 goes up to $16.80
$8.95 goes up to $10.03

[Miller77]

Re: Another raise in resort fees

Yet another reason why I am not a fan of MGM properties. I used to always stay at them for the free wifi in the room, but I have learned that "free" wifi should not cost me $20/day.

I am not a fan of resort fees in general. Like the airlines in Canada, who now have to advertise flights and travel packages 'including' taxes and fees. It was frustrating when I'd see a flight from Vancouver to Las Vegas for $159 only to find out it was over $400.

Anyways, before I hijack this post, thanks for posting dewey...

CM

[jj & cindy]

Re: Another raise in resort fees

There’s two reasons why we believe MGM is doing this unbelievably unpopular practice.

Anybody comped will not be charged a resort fee at any MGM Property.

So, since this practice only targets the “sightseers,” it essentially just raises the price of MGM rooms. Since MGM stocks are down, they have to do something.

[dewey089]

Re: Another raise in resort fees

Absolutely,
If your stock holders start to lose money on their bet, it is time to lie.
And a big lie is better than a little one.
If they were "essentially" raising the price of the room...well.... they'd just raise the price.
What they are doing is "disingenuously" raising the price of the room.

So, they now can claim that they are comping you more value for your play simply by inflating the price of the rooms.

And they can sucker all the "sightseers" in with false advertising and then switch the price in the ad to something more profitable to them.

Let's take a recent ad by Excalibur that offered 30% off the room rates


I was curious as to what this really meant, so I did the math, for three nights selected at random in June.

The sale gave me rates of $36 a night on their site.
So the regular rate must be $51.43.
Sounds like a good deal.

Not really.
First, hotels.com, easyclick, and priceline all gave me the same $36 sale figure.
So the price for "sightseers" on their site was overblown and the Excaibur sale was bogus even without the bait and switch of the hidden resort fee.

But the lie gets better.
It does not mention resort fees in the ad, so I guess they don't exist, right?
Certainly we pay the price advertised.

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

The bill comes to $108 for three weekday nights plus tax.
But wait.... what about the newly raised resort fee?
Well, it did not appear anywhere in the advertisement announcing the sale. No where did it say that the quoted $36 a night would actually be $51 a night plus tax.


With tax the resort fee adds $16.80 daily to the room rate.
The "sale" subtracts ( when the saved tax is figured in) $17.28.

So, whenever we are curious about a resort fee and its value to the casino, we need to remember this example.
The Excalibur's resort fee allows it to advertise a 30% sale and actually give a discount of less than a dollar.

Well, Excalibur is the land of wizards. What amazing slight of hand!

************************************************** *********
Just remember that there are plenty of alternatives out there.
Most of downtown is free of these fees. And even the Gold Spike fee is upfront when you book, only $9, and throws in free wifi and a heated pool.
The Boyd properties have very small fees. And as long as you are a "sightseer" with a player's card and book on B Connected, it is our experience that the fee won't be charged.
Eastside Cannery has no fee.
And, of course, Harrah's has no fee as advertised.
************************************************** ********
So, continue to do the math and see what is cheaper.
Meanwhile, we'll let the poor casinos suffering recession trick the "sightseers" out of more money than they say they will. At least until consumer protection comes to the same conclusion as they did with the airlines, and sees this scam for what it is, a way to trick people.
And what the heck? Those "sightseers" are not the real people anyway. Why not find a way to fleece them, so the real gamblers can only be fleeced by one armed bandits? Why protect them from fine print trickery?

I guess the recession did not affect other business around the country the way it has the casinos. When I buy groceries, I can check the sales from home and what I see is what I pay. At the cash register there is no hidden fee I pay for the privilege of checkout and parking and a restroom. Same at the department stores. No fee for the fitting rooms and parking is added to my bill.

Well, I don't want to say that too loud. Lies and corruption have a way of spreading when they are unchecked.

[Ben Jammin]

Re: Another raise in resort fees

WE DON'T PAY NO STINKING RESORT FEES, PERIOD.

Harrah's Props, El Co, AZ Charlies, Planet Ho, we there cuz.

Resort fees are for SUCKERS!

Stand your ground.