Tag: Resort Fees
View All TagsVegas Rants / Resort Fees / VegasChatter Emails / → All Tags
When Those Resort Fees Still Hurt
When we opened our phone lines email up to your Vegas rants, we knew we were providing a valuable service. Since we invited you to dump your Vegas woes on us, tales have been steady and frequent. Today's grumbles center around those dastardly resort fees. First up, George:
Just checked my status for a 4 nite stay at the RIO, we always got them comped. Not any more. Web-site wants $40.00 per nite or more depending on the date. PLUS the famous RESORT FEE. I feel sorry for the help there they are going to end up starving. Let's not forget those famous words THE PUBLIC ASKED THIS.
Resort Fees / WTF / Hooters / Off Strip / → All Tags
Hooters Gives Us A New Reason To Gape (And, It's Not A Good One)
Resort fees are frustrating enough. But, when they're almost half the starting rate of a hotel room? That's downright flabbergasting.
Hooters wins our latest WTF label for recently raising its resort fee to $12.95 a night. Yes, $12.95 for Hooters where rooms start at $29. A mind-boggling notion that one VegasChatter fan recently encountered after deciding to extend their Vegas vacation by one more night:
Downtown / Downtown Vegas / Golden Nugget / Resort Fees / → All Tags
Golden Nugget Considering Resort Fee
The dominos have been set in motion.
After long being a haven from those hated resort fees we're probably on the verge of seeing the second Downtown Vegas hotel add them. The Plaza started billing resort fees, for your convenience, back in July of last year. And now, it seems as if Golden Nugget is on the verge of charging them, too.
Resort Fees / Venetian / Palazzo / → All Tags
Venetian, Palazzo Up Resort Fee, But Give You An Out
It probably wasn't hard to see this one coming.
Venetian and Palazzo have hiked their resort fee five bucks to $25. The increase now puts them on par with a spate of other Vegas resorts including Aria, Bellagio, Caesars Palace, The Cosmopolitan, Four Seasons, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, HOTEL32, The Mirage, The Signature at MGM Grand, THEhotel at Mandalay Bay, Treasure Island, Trump, Vdara, Wynn and Encore.
Off Strip / Silverton / Resort Fees / WiFi / WTF / → All Tags
About That Silverton Resort Fee
When we stayed at the Silverton a couple weeks ago, we noticed a lot of strange things for the first time. Our special room rate was booked before Caesars Entertainment and South Point announced their resort fees so, at the time, finding that there was a $4.95 resort fee attached to our reservation was a bit surprising for a mid-tier, off-Strip hotel. Like most resort fees there is no mention on the hotel website until you click to reserve a room and, even then, there's no detail on what you get for the $4.95.
When we checked in, the desk agent informed us that WiFi was not included in the resort fee and that we could purchase it for an additional $11.95. WiFi is free throughout Silverton... except for the rooms. We were also advised that we could come to the lobby and use the WiFi on one of their couches or chairs. So, we grabbed a cup of Starbucks and took them up on that offer. No big deal.
Resort Fees / Treasure Island / Tips / Survival Strategies / → All Tags
Getting Out Of Treasure Island's Resort Fee
Caesars Entertainment's newly instated resort fees don't apply to everyone. And, in case you weren't aware, neither does Treasure Island's.
@TIVegas told us on Twitter recently that there are ways around its $25 a night (plus tax) resort fee. And, it's sharing the news with others, too:
Resort Fees / Stratosphere / PIN UP / Claire Sinclair / Frankie Moreno / Shows / → All Tags
Stratosphere Rolls Out a PIN UP, And An Upped Resort Fee
Frankie Moreno who?
The Strat has pinned up (see what we did there?) its newest headliner on billboards and signs all over Vegas while initial verdicts are mixed on the less-than-a-week-old production starring Playmate Claire Sinclair. The only two reviews for PIN UP on Yelp are a choice between "great singing, dancing, choreography and a really tight live band" and.. "If you think Holly Madison was okay in Peepshow then Claire Sinclair was terrible in Pin Up." Oh, my. A va-va-voom Claire Sinclair, however, isn't the only eye-raiser at the hotel-casino.
VegasChatter commenter ssoucoup alerted us to the fact that the Strat has upped its resort fee by several bucks since our annual resort fee guide rolled out in January:
The Stratosphere raised their resort fee from 7.50 to 12.99 a night. And that does not include internet. Another 11.99 a day for internet.
Under the old charge, guests were granted admission to the tower during regular operating hours and pool access. Here's what guests are offered now for the extra $5.49:
Resort Fees / Caesars Entertainment / Tips / Survival Strategies / Caesars Palace / Planet Hollywood / WiFi / Internet / Harrah's / Free WiFi / → All Tags
Caesars Entertainment's Resort Fees Don't Apply To Everyone
Caesars Entertainment began charging resort fees on March 1. They haven't released detailed information on the resort fees so we've had to do a little exploring on exactly who will pay resort fees and what we will get.
Nobody will argue that resort fees stink, but the Caesars resort fees aren't as bad as many initially thought. Why? Because not everyone will pay a resort fee. Caesars is "rewarding" their bigger players by waiving the charge. Total Rewards players with Platinum, Diamond or Seven Stars status won't have to pay a resort fee.
The resort fees at Caesars include only three items: local calls, fitness center and "Internet service for one device." According to a Caesars Entertainment spokesperson, this is what customers demanded. Many of us look at resort fees as the cost for WiFi since we don't bother with the local calls or fitness center. Well, the resort fees at the Caesars properties don't exactly include that.
WTF / Resort Fees / South Point / → All Tags
South Point Adding A Resort Fee, Too
Remember when Oprah surprised her audience with cars and was all like, and you get a car, and you get a car and you get a car! Well, subtract the thrilling excitement and replace "car" with "resort fee" and you get the state of things in Vegas.
Since last July, the Plaza added one ($10), the Cosmo added one ($25) and all of Caesars Entertainment's Vegas properties added one ($10-$25). And, you guessed it, one more resort is saying, 'wait for me!'
Resort Fees / Caesars Entertainment / Hotels / → All Tags
Breaking Down Caesars Entertainment's New Resort Fees: Who's Charging What?
Now that Caesars Entertainment has buckled under pressure and is charging resort fees at all their Las Vegas properties (and in its other Nevada locations), we've got some major updating to do to our 2013 Resort Fee Guide.
But, to make things easier for you, we've rounded up all the new resort fees right here. These will go into effect on March 1. And, to clarify, that is for bookings made on March 1st and after. So, if you're looking to go to Vegas and stay at one of the hotels below, book your stay now to avoid, on average, an extra $18 a night!
Resort Fees / Caesars Entertainment / Vegas Disappointments / WTF / → All Tags
Say It Ain't So: Caesars Adding Resort Fees
Are you sitting down? Resort fees are about to hit the fan again. You may recall our disappointment was so severe last year over news the Cosmopolitan was adding a resort fee that we named it the Biggest Dissappointment of 2012. VegasChatter's annual Resort Fee Guide always draws plenty of opinions on their usefulness or lack there of. Many readers confirmed they would stick to Caesars Entertainment which was so proud of its no resort fee policy, it once created a marketing campaign with angry showgirls to remind everyone they were above resort fees.
No more. Vegas.com is reporting that effective March 1 Caesars Entertainment properties will also tack on the much dreaded Ticketmaster resort fee. Sigh. Sigh. One more: F*&$ing SIGH. Caesars Entertainment resort fees will reportedly start at $10 for The Quad and go up to $25 at Caesars Palace. The report indicates this covers admission for two to spa facilities, in-room internet access for one device, and all local phone calls.
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Las Vegas Resort Fees: The 2013 Guide
It's 2013, nearly five years since Las Vegas hotels began instituting the dreaded Daily Resort Fees. (Plus, tax!) The grinches who run the hotel ops in town have pretty much beaten us down to the point where unless we stay at a Caesars property (Update 2.21.13: As of March 1, Caesars will be charging resort fees) or somewhere in downtown (with the exception of the Plaza), we expect to cough up an additional $15 or more per day.
We know we should take more of a stand against this annoying practice. After all, when resort fees started back in 2008/2009, it was supposedly to make-up for the loss of visitors in the recession and for plummeting room rates. But, looking over some stats from the Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority, we see some interesting things.
For 2012 (through October), rates were averaging about $105 a night. The occupancy rate was around 85 percent. Not quite the mid-90s rate of Vegas' halcyon days in the mid-aughts but clearly an improvement from 2009 when the occupancy rate threatened to dip below 80 percent. Also in 2009, room rates were averaging $95 a night. When we stayed at the Excalibur in 2009, they charged a simple $5 resort fee. That later increased to $12.95 by 2010 and then again to $15 this year.
So, in conclusion, room rates are going up, occupancy rates are going up and resort fees are going up? Ugh, we're afraid so. Currently, the top-tier properties along the Strip are all charging around $25 while mid-range hotels go from $15 to $20. We just hope no one decides to bump it to $30! (And, hope we didn't just jinx ourselves.)
So, until someone can get a petition.org thing going for resort fees (we've lost the will to do it, sorry), VegasChatter is here to help you navigate choppy resort fee waters. We will do our best to update the guide throughout the year, but always double-check that reservations page before you click "book" to determine how much your resort fee, per day, will be.
