I like when the dumps charge the resort fee.

Like I want to check into Silver Sevens or something similar just to say "what in hell could you possible be charging a resort fee for?!"

 

I've always felt this way but have started to see the other side lately. My sister just booked her first trip to Vegas with her husband and friends. They thought they found a great deal but had no idea about resort fees. As people who normally do other type trips they booked with a 3rd party site and had no idea about resort fees. I got them straightened away but I'm starting to understand how and why people show up, think they have the trip paid for, and then get pissed when told they owe an extra $300 or $400. Sure the details are out there but if they can miss it I can understand how others do to.

 

i just resent the slimy underhandedness of resort fees, and I don't even have to pay them. They give people a bad feeling about Vegas. These fees are nothing more than SEO for Hotels.com et al. Speaking of which, since resort fees rob these sites of up to half of their Vegas revenue and leave their customers feeling ripped off and/or misled, they should be upset too and tell the hotels they won't go along with the scam. Think of a place like Excalibur. Hotels.com might sell a $30 room that is actually $60 with the resort fee, yet they get their percentage based only on the "rate". Why doesn't Wynn just offer rooms for 99 cents on the travel sites, and put a $399/nt resort fee in the fine print? They'd save millions on commissions.

It's the principle of the thing. Vegas used to be pretty good at masking the fact that they are greedy bloodsucking scam artists looking to take every dollar that they can pry out of every visitor's pockets. Now they just don't care how their customers perceive them. That indifference will give them a short-term revenue bump, but in the long-term may hurt repeat visitation, which is the life-blood of Las Vegas. Repeat visitors account for more than 90% of casino revenue.

 

they're hardly specific to Vegas.

and at other places they're even more.

 

In the end all rooms will be free but you have a resort fee, parking fee, cleaning fee, breathing fee, just because we can fee and what other things they can think of.
So you get a room comped but have to pay the fees for 100-150 a night for regular rooms. So annoying and frustrating. Vegas is making itself impossible.

 

Yes, exactly this ... I totally see it as a higher nightly rate. Build it in and tell me what I'm really paying!

 

How is that any different than Spirit?

It's a business model which people can choose to accept or go elsewhere.

 

We book using various methods, but if I'm just checking across a specific market I use Orbitz through the Alaska Air Mileage Plan portal and it shows the full rate.

 

Should TOT be mandated to be overt , as well? A jurisdiction that tacks on 20+ percent vs. the one next door at 10% might have an unsuspecting traveler looking for change in the ashtray of the rental car.

 

Heavens, a little hyperbole? This shit has been around for a very long time, and I'm certain it will be reined in here finally, but we haven't lost the republic.