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Resort fees are pricing me out

Discussion in 'Misc. Vegas Chat' started by Snowbelle3, Sep 19, 2013.

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  1. sco5123

    sco5123 VIP Whale

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    It's been a good run but resort fees have finally disturbed my experience.

    I am paying in resort fees what I would pay for a couple nights at Wynn.

    Since I travel from the East coast, the flight alone is usually the bulk of the costs. I usually know how to get some good rates but the best rates are not as far out a few months.

    It's not the same trip anymore. It's not the same inexpensive trip anymore. It's harder to justify. I am sometimes paying more in resort fees than in room costs and in rare cases almost 1.5 times in resort fees than in room costs.

    Time to give it a rest?
     
  2. worldtraveler661

    worldtraveler661 VIP Whale

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    Your not gonna stay away. If your not paying $25 a night extra at Vegas, youre going to end up paying it some other way when going to a different place where your frugal ways cant be planned out.

    Theres threads and webpages on deals for Vegas. So much information and choices on where to go to get the best deals, cheap eats, etc. Vacation to Cancun or elsewhere, you wont find as much options as you have in Vegas.

    You'll be back. :)
     
    Last edited: Sep 19, 2013
  3. VegasBJ

    VegasBJ VIP Whale

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    Even with resort fees, the rooms are still cheaper than almost any other vacation destination.............
     
  4. Vegas Insight

    Vegas Insight MIA

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    there are no apples to apples in vegas. it's hard to say how the last sunday in october compares with the previous year's final sunday of october. so many factors influence demand that it would take a math wizard to tabulate the costs from year to year versus inflation, factoring in demand, etc.

    that said, earlier this week i suddenly found myself looking for one-night options for the last sunday in october, i found several places that offered me rooms at $35 or less, starting with the quad for $19. yes, the resort fee is nearly as expensive at $15, but the total for the room would have been $34 plus tax. it's only the quad, but with tax i'd be looking at about $40. could i have booked a room for less than $40 in the pre-fees era? probably. would it have been much cheaper than $40, after tax? not that i recall.

    i don't spend $150+ a night for hotel rooms, so i can't compare high end hotels, but plenty of places were $50 or less on the low end for that sunday night after adding in the resort fee and tax.

    for now i am not finding that resort fees are sucking my budget dry, they're merely making the math more complicated while cutting commissions to third party booking agencies.
     
  5. hammie

    hammie VIP Whale

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    I just booked the Riviera @$19 per night for three nights, I was told by the reservation agent that the resort fee is waived for players club cardholders. Also booked my flight on Spirit, $118 round trip from Philly.
     
  6. worldtraveler661

    worldtraveler661 VIP Whale

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    Exactly. I dont know where you're from SCO, but have you ever looked into a vacation to NY or SF. A cheap room in Manhattan or even Queens is at least $150-200 and I cant even think of a comparison. I'd rather stay at the Quad for what you get at $150 in NY area.

    I stayed at a boutique hotel in heart of SF that was about 300sq ft and it was $350 a night. There wasnt even parking available. You had to valet right on the sidewalk and who knows where they take your car to park it.

    Vegas is CHEAP compared to everywhere else. You're not going to find $45 rooms with resort fees elsewhere unless you're looking for a roach motel in the bad part of town.
     
  7. RC

    RC Low-Roller

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    Sco,

    The best idea that I have for you is to maybe price out an off strip place like Gold Coast where I think the daily fee is like $9.99
     
  8. Electroguy563

    Electroguy563 Vegas Joker

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    Uh oh......another Resort Fee thread.:evillaugh

    But I hear ya.......:faint:
     
  9. FXT

    FXT VIP Whale

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    Lets be honest, you'd have a hard time along with the rest of us giving up Vegas.

    How much of the aesthetic side of Vegas are you willing to give up for lower/no resort fees? If you're willing to slum it downtown, you have a lot more options there with a $2 bus ride back to the strip.
     
  10. Vegas Insight

    Vegas Insight MIA

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    not sure how long this policy will last, but it's in play at the D, too. i just finished booking the final two nights of my trip. once again the D is too good to pass up. they're offering me B1G1 free nights, and my room rate for the first night is just under $25. night two is free, and since i have their player's card they waive the resort fee, so my total for two nights is $25. and it wouldn't surprise me if they give me match plays, a drink coupon and a nominal food credit for that $25.

    between my three nights at orleans (two comped) and two nights at the D i'm spending less than $100 on rooms for five nights. (i rent a car, so the cost of moving during my stay is nominal.)

    i'm not being comped at a high-end strip resort, as i'm a casual, low-rolling gambler whose favorite machines are at the pinball hall of fame, not MGM. even with resort fees, i'm getting decent rooms for less than $20/night. (no friday or saturday night stay.)

    i hope you can find ways to beat the resort fee blues, sco.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 20, 2013
  11. Guardian

    Guardian High-Roller

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    Sco5123, you've been to Vegas enough times, no comped rooms with CET?
     
  12. sco5123

    sco5123 VIP Whale

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    It's funny because there are a ton of inexpensive options in other cities (exception of NY and California lol) too from relative's places, hostels, and bed and breakfasts. I can still travel to these places.

    These places actually cost me way less than Vegas, but that's because I only visit for a couple nights, I stay in cheap places, I pay little in transportation to get there, I can only see a show or two because that's mostly what is available, etc.

    However, where I want to travel to is Vegas. I stay in Vegas for a minimum of a week and usually a week plus (last May I stayed for 3 weeks--best thing ever--and spent only $300 on accommodations total). The value of that trip was through the roof.

    Where before I could spend $100 or less on 5 nights, I am constantly paying double that with resort fees. This may not be the case if your night is $80 and the resort fee is $20. Even the small resort fees on myVegas is kicking my butt because it used to count as a free night that would alleviate hotel cost for a couple days. Nevertheless myVegas still helps very much.

    The question of downtown is a great one. *Because I actually do have regular 3 night comps downtown at multiple properties*.

    The burden of having to stay downtown is numerous for me.

    I love DT but I get bored compared to the strip, because I do lots of stuff beyond gambling and food. I like shows, glitz, glamour, mini-Disney life.

    The rooms downtown feel darker to me and the more bright and happy a room is makes the difference in my exuberance.

    While I have comps, I am afraid of being able to keep them because everything is so arbitrary. Also, I like to casino hop so being obligated to focus my funds in one place over several hours hurts my BR and my fun.

    Last May I used my DT comp and it was so helpful but it had its burden. So I usually pay now but that could hurt me too.

    One of my most favorite reasons for visiting Vegas was how inexpensive it was. The chase of the deal was a thrill. Sure, they are still technically a deal but they are no longer a steal. lol

    I do agree that I will probably continue to go to Vegas anyway but curtailing my trips will be so hard for me. I think it's something I will just have to do.
     
  13. sco5123

    sco5123 VIP Whale

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    How is spirit? Are rates always that low? Can you change flights without change fees?

    I called Riviera and they said resort fees are not waived for cardholders. Is this specifically with the party you booked it from? I would love to jump on this if I can!
     
  14. Mitkraft

    Mitkraft VIP Whale

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    Those of us attempting to vote with our feet and dollars who are certainly not going to stop going to Vegas but would like to avoid resort fees in an effort to make our voice heard need to dig and dig to find ways to still enjoy our favorite destination but avoid supporting resort fees as much as possible. These things include:

    #1 with a bullet: Stay somewhere that doesn't have them

    (often this isn't pheasable)

    #2 Stay at places that have ways to avoid them. At TI I understand you can opt out (others places to I believe). Having a certain tier at some places gets out out of them. If you aren't High Roller enough to have a resort-fee free tier, consider getting a Total Rewards Visa which will give you platinum for a year at least and this will get you out of them at CET at least.

    #3 if you aren't getting comped and are forced to stay at a place that has resort fees, maybe you give ALL of your play to someone else? And if you do make sure you let them know that on your post stay survey.

    Maybe there are other ways at well.
     
  15. sco5123

    sco5123 VIP Whale

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    Gold Coast, with the resort fee, is not much less than some places on the strip. While GC is one of my favorite properties, I have been focusing on the strip a lot lately.

    CET used to give me comps but then I low-played them and when I tried to play again they still never gave me comps, so I decided to just use the rates and stop playing. This is good anyway because I rarely get lucky in their casinos anyway. And I do not like to play for hours or with much money.

    Looking at some of the responses, it makes me realize that my complaint is truly my own fault in many ways. I want things the way I want them and my lack of flexibility hinders my "frugal" experience. However, before I can get it the way I wanted it without flexibility. lol

    My lack of flexibility looks like this:

    1. ignore comps

    2. afraid of the limitations of or losing comps (and I don't want to wait for comp cycles)

    3. don't want to play for hours or with much more than $40 a day within the same casino

    4. can't wait for the prices to drop because I have to start organizing my activities around my hotels

    5. I do not want to stay off-strip much anymore...or even downtown

    6. I want to stay for a week and not less

    7. I want to stay on the strip even on the weekends

    8. I have low rates offered to me at places like Stratosphere but it has to be a certain type of room that makes me happy (which it doesn't)!



    Sadly, even some off-strip and downtown rates mirror strip rates at the properties I look at (especially non-direct or third party deals).




    Clownho that sounds awesome! If I could just get over this hump!
     
  16. thecarve

    thecarve Misanthrope

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    Last time I booked Venetian/Palazzo I was told the resort fee was optional. Obviously V/P isn’t going to make any “most frugal” list. But for those who want to take a stand against resort fees and have the budget, it’s another option.
     
  17. ken2v

    ken2v This Space For Rent

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    Is it really the fault of resort fees? When McHa$$ah'$ was touting its no-fee gig, I typically found that like properties across brands priced out the same when you looked at room vs. room+fee where it was charged; the bottom line was the same actual cost nightly, no matter how the words were assembled. Hoteliers know there is a yield limit.

    For those of us not on the Fortune 500 list travel is all about flexibility. I might want a Grand Hyatt experience but if I'm not willing or able to abide the rack rate, I have some decisions to make, be it alternate dates and waiting for possible deals to arrive or booking elsewhere. If I don't want to put up with steerage I have the option to upgrade to first class. If I want steak but PRIME's prices aren't in my wheelhouse, I find other ways to get steak. If our schedules don't allow us to take advantage of low or shoulder seasons, then we either don't go or we fork out the greater amount of cash that is required.

    If you can't fade a nine-night trip but the savings afforded by dropping one night of the itin brings it together ... I don't think you really have a problem to worry about.
     
  18. bigdogmom

    bigdogmom VIP Whale

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    Sco, are you sure you're not just having a little Vegas burnout??
     
  19. woodsie

    woodsie VIP Whale

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    You nailed it right on the head. It does just make the math more complicated and that's it.

    I've always said that as soon as one place does resort fees, they ALL will eventually merely as a competitiveness issue. That's why CET dropped their "No resort fee" strategy. The market proved that customers would rather be buffudled by resort fees than given a straight up front price. People here laughed when CET said their customers "demanded it" but it really is the God's honest truth.

    It's either no one has them or everyone has them. Long term there will be no room for non participants.

    For us, we simply have to do the math and take the best overall deal we can. Resort fees aren't going anywhere unless regulators get involved.
     
  20. LolaDoggie

    LolaDoggie VIP Whale

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    It hasn't priced me out of Vegas yet. Just changed my strategy.

    Somebody brought up and I honestly hadn't thought of it that way. It doesn't make it OK with me, just made me view it differently; but hotels are using lower prices and then tacking on the resort fee because that's how the current travel search engines are geared. They really need to be in the top picks or at least the first page. The resort fee days will stay with us until search engine technology changes. Change is the only constant. Think back to planning a trip to Vegas before the internet, before toll free #800 phone numbers even. As my Dad would say, usually at a stupid time and I wanted to punch him but he was right, "this too shall pass".
     
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