This will be short and sweet. ish.
While I’m working on finally getting this site up to snuff, I am easily distracted (“Squirrel!”) by local news on the Internet. One of my squirrels is Vital Vegas, “Essential Las Vegas news, tips, deals, and WTF,” and it’s one of my favorite Las Vegas sites. While I happily share pretty day-to-day prosaic food and wine stuff, they get into the down and dirty swamp that people look for in Vegas.
Their latest post, which slams (in a matter of speaking) the “resort fees” that most, if not all, hotels/casinos charge, is another winner. Suddenly, casinos are “waiving” the “resort fees.”
What are “resort fees”? It’s pretty simple. It’s a way for casinos to advertise lower room rates and then add the extortion-level “resort fee” on top of them. For instance, a Strip hotel/casino – which will go unnamed – recently advertised a $95.00 a night room rate. Luxurious, a killer bargain for that hotel, and well worth it. If it had stopped there, that was my summer staycation! Woo Hoo! The problem? A $45 PER NIGHT “resort fee.” In other words, along with other charges, fees, and taxes, the actual basic cost was $140.00. Which, admittedly, was still a bargain for that hotel, but because of the principle, I opted to stay home.
I only do staycations in summer because I want to use the pool, enjoy the AC, do Vegas summer tourist stuff, etc. But there was no staycation this year because that hotel was just one of many with the ripoff attempts. They seduce you with a teaser room charge and then back-door you with the “resort fee.” And they won’t even use KY.
Some hotels will say that it’s a surcharge for WiFi, for using the fitness facilities, breathing their air, etc. Yet, they will still charge you if you, for instance, touch their mini-fridges – $6.00 for a can of Coke? Really?!?. All of this, and they’ll still ask you to use the same sheets and towels for the sake “of the environment” during the duration of your stay. How holy and sustainable of them.
Ripoff, thy name is “resort fee.”
Apparently, I’m not the only one who feels that the “resort fees” are a ripoff. People have been staying away from Vegas in droves, and almost universally the reasons are the “resort fees” and the ridiculously expensive paid parking. Vegas is no longer the value, but still luxury, destination it once was.
I’m sure Bugsy Siegel is rolling like a lathe in his grave.
Rather than go on and on about what’s happening in the casino world now that we’re heading towards Vegas’s ‘downtime” time of year, I’ll encourage you to read the Vital Vegas article. And then go back to visit their site on a regular basis. I love these guys!
Absolutely my soulmate!
Photos thanks to Unsplash.com, a free site of high-quality photos, especially for those of us who are writing and recovering from crud at the same time!
