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Would you sign a petition to END "Resort Fees"?

Discussion in 'Misc. Vegas Chat' started by theshaah, Feb 3, 2014.

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  1. theshaah

    theshaah High-Roller

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    I have been a participant on vegas message boards like these for over a decade now and I have watch the greedy casinos implement and raise resort fees over the years. I myself have had ENOUGH. I have started a petition to Harry Reid, The Nevada Senate, and The Nevada Governer to require the abolishment of "Resort Fees". These fees more often are not are just a way to pad your bill for services that you would never otherwise use and are just a way for a hotel to recover revenue that they would otherwise lose to hotel search engines.

    Sign The Petition Here

    Join me in my crusade to end the deception and tell all your friends who are Vegas enthusiasts to do the same.

    Adam
     
  2. Wolfman619

    Wolfman619 Low-Roller

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    Signed. Don't know how much its worth, seeing as how I am not a resident of NV. To really make this one count, I think we need to get alot of our NV residents on board here.
     
  3. sco5123

    sco5123 VIP Whale

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    I would.

    Signed.

    Someone contact someone from vegaschatter and vegastripping to blog about it!
     
  4. sco5123

    sco5123 VIP Whale

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    Not necessarily.

    NV enjoys their tourism. Tourists can petition.
     
  5. smartone

    smartone VIP Whale

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    Though I have no problem with the fee, I admire you for being pro-active in your approach to actually tackling the matter!
     
  6. sco5123

    sco5123 VIP Whale

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    Ditto.

    Way to go!
     
  7. NickyDim

    NickyDim Hockey is life

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  8. weluvvegas

    weluvvegas Casino Countess

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    Signed - although I think we have a better chance of Bieber getting deported than the abolition of resort fees :(
     
  9. hammie

    hammie VIP Whale

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    Every journey starts with one step, and this is a commendable attempt to right a wrong. I would be more interested in having these fees fully disclosed when making a reservation or searching a travel website. It should be right up there with sales tax, occupancy tax, energy surcharges. I want a damn "walk out the door price". Add 22 fees, just like my cable tv/Internet/phone bill, I don't give a rats tail, just come up with a final number before I commit. Shouldn't be too hard.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 4, 2014
  10. stackinchips

    stackinchips VIP Whale

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    The disclosure makes more sense, similar to what was done with the airline industry. The bottom line is what is your total cost right? It doesn't matter what they want to call each slice of the pie (taxes, fees, rates, etc.). Eliminating the resort fee will just cause that slice of the pie to be included in the rate. The total cost of your room isn't going to change. I don't understand why people have such a difficult time understanding that.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 4, 2014
  11. theshaah

    theshaah High-Roller

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    I'm not saying I don't expect to pay the fees one way or another. I am from the camp that if you're going to nickel and dime me to death with a bunch of fees, then just be an adult about it and disclose my total price upfront. If the room rate goes up 20 dollars than at least it's included in the price and not one price now, and then when you show up to the hotel you get "Oh, by the way before you check in we need to charge you an extra 120 dollars for our resort fees for your vacation. I realize you already paid 150 a night. But you are required to pay an additional 20 per night to us to use our ammeneties"

    Can you tell me what the El Cortez has in ammeneties besides wifi?

    You can sign the petition or you can not. I don't care either way. The way I figure it at least I'm trying to do something about it. Which I found out I'm not alone. Others have started similar petetitions but did not get enough people to sign. If every one on these boards got together and actually signed it we could make a difference.

    If something comes of it. I'll be sure to let you know.
     
  12. vegasvic

    vegasvic VIP Whale

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    Perhaps some of the argument should be within the petition itself.

    I agree with the airline analogy. It's nice to have a total price upfront when doing research. I'd like to see hotel rates with resort fees and taxes all included. If there is some kind of accounting advantage to having a separate resort fee, that's fine. But give us the total price up front.
     
  13. Turtleman

    Turtleman VIP Whale

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    I signed it and will bring it to the attention of others. Thanks for at least trying!
     
  14. theshaah

    theshaah High-Roller

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    The accounting trick is that the rate you pay online to a discounter like hotels.com or priceline.com a percentage gets paid to the discounter. Resort fees are charged as seperate items once you arrive at the hotel and are in most cases REQUIRED. So you sign up for a rate of 50 dollars a night on a hotels.com website. When you get to your hotel to check in they require an addition 12.95-20.99-35.99 etc. etc. PER NIGHT for you to check in. Those are paid DIRECTLY to the hotel and the discounter doesn't get any of that revenue.

    I used to think it was my understanding that people on VMB didn't care for resort fees. Caesars CEO was really right. Ya'll actually WANT them!
     
  15. weluvvegas

    weluvvegas Casino Countess

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    Boy I totally agree with you on that! It used to be, you would see a great fare and think you got a deal - just to get down to the "submit" button and see that you would actually be paying much more. So much easier now.
     
  16. joshrocker

    joshrocker VIP Whale

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    I signed it. Full disclosure is never a bad thing. I have to go through a few extra steps now when trying to book a hotel room in Vegas. Before I would see the room rate and knew the general ball park with taxes. Now you have to go all the way through the reservation process to get the total for you stay. It's annoying. I personally am thankful that the airline prices are all inclusive now and would love the hotels to be the same.
     
  17. matguy

    matguy High-Roller

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    I see it more in the vein of "Truth in advertising" than in regulating prices. They can charge all they want for the room, nothing is stopping that. The problem is listing one price in advertising, but then changing the price when you actually go to purchase it. Sure, we're big boys and know to look for such things, but it sure is an eye opener for people that don't know to look.

    Also, it's disingenuous to consumers shopping by price. Sure, hotels can sing tales of woe all day long about whatever they want, and people can say to vote with their cash, but that doesn't work well for tourists that aren't educated on the intricacies of seeing through the artificially low advertised rates.

    For the most part this isn't just about price, of course the rates won't magically drop just because the resort fee is now part of the advertised rate. But, forcing them all to advertise the full rate forces them to compete fairly with full disclosure to the consumer in the advertising. The can, and likely will, still charge about the same for a room, but they'll just have to be up-front about what they're charging.

    This is even more important for people booking over the phone. I've booked a stay and wasn't told about the resort fee until I specifically asked.

    It's all about fixing the bait and switch. And, it's not like a tax, it's hard to compare it to one. A tax is a fixed amount or a fixed percentage imposed by an external regulatory agency. Resort fees vary by location and are marketing driven, so you can't even just mentally add the resort fee and they'll charge whatever they want for the resort fee that they feel that they can get away with (which, again, is fine to charge whatever they want, it just needs to be fully disclosed any time a rate is advertised.)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 4, 2014
  18. numeno

    numeno VIP Whale

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    Sorry if this has been said.

    Removing resort fees is not the solution. The solution is what happened with the airlines a little over a year ago. The FTC made them make their advertised price include all mandatory fees. That included taxes mainly but anything mandatory was required.

    The hotels simply need to add that to their rates. This was the entire reason the D put in their resort fees. They could lower their prices by $20/night and get a much better listing on the search engines.


    All that is required is hotels disclose exactly what a room will cost the customer at the time they are searching for rooms. They can still have all of these fees, but they need to be optional.

    The FTC already had laws on the books to deal with airlines. Simply do the same with hotels.
     
  19. TomTWI

    TomTWI Custom Title

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    I read all the arguments pro and con and responses. Decided to sign even though I don't stay in Vegas hotels anymore.

    TomTWI
     
  20. wrxrob

    wrxrob High-Roller

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    I'll sign this however, the best bet is to vote with your feet.

    I have never stayed in a Vegas hotel that charges a resort fee, and have even emailed some to say that was the specific reason I was cancelling the reservation.

    That said, haven't been to Vegas in a couple years, so I wonder if any of them still do not charge the fee. Four Queens has been my home base, but will no longer be, if they are now charging resort fees.
     
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