Strip Is Becoming Dead To Me

Well as a person who has just returned from my first trip to Vegas in 8 years, I can tell ya a lot has changed. Resort fees, parking fees , early check in fees I mean Marone !!! The whole vibe of the strip has been altered drastically since I last visited. As far as abandoning the strip, I'm not close to that point. I like staying center strip so I can take advantage of the better gaming and eating options at the Cromwell, Ellis Island, the Gold Coast and reasonable table mins ( most of the time ) from Ballys to the Casino Royale. While still enjoying the glitz of the strip. My next trip which will be in December will be downtown 2 nights at the D . I've stayed DT before and enjoyed it . I figure it's cooler out I'm a solo traveler DT this time seems to be the way to go. I'll probably continue to bounce between the two for the foreseeable future. I am looking forward to a few nights as a solo guy downtown.

 

Seriously, try Reno.

 

I understand the strip may not appeal to everyone but it still appeals to me. Life is too short to let a resort fee , parking fee, or a 6/5 fraction ruin my Fantasy world.

Go ahead and boycott if you want, but from my perspective I have XX number of years left in my life and as long as I am healthy and able to get a round I will be on the strip (aka the happiest place on earth).

Cheers!

 

I don't know as many posters as I used to, but Jimbucc remains one of the old standbys. This isn't a rant from a typical disgruntled sort.
When he talks, I listen. I can relate buddy.

 

Vegas is a travel destination. Don't look at it any other way. Rationalize, justify, proselytize about locales or advantages, comps or DisneyWorld, it's one of many places to go and all have costs. Costs come in different guises, but tally 'em up and that's the nut you need to crack. Enjoy what you do, do what you enjoy; fun and value are as different to each of us as our political or religious beliefs. If you want to crack that nut downtown or the Strip, Waikiki or Hanalei, if it works for you, that's all that matters.

 

i get it's a privilege to be served a drink in an expensive piece of real estate, but the price of food and drink on the strip is another reason i find myself less interested in spending time there. i've read too many horror stories about ridiculous prices for a hamburger or the obscene amount a casino charges for a shot of liquor mixed with carbonated soda. i look forward to the day where money is no object, but i don't see that one coming any time soon. i'll get back to you tomorrow after i check that $2 worth of lottery tickets i purchased. i think i've spent $6 on lottery tickets over the summer. i might need to go to a gambler's anonymous meeting.

irony: i'm now planning to stay at Tahiti Village for my next trip, something i've never done before. they have a shuttle to and from the strip.... i'm looking forward to spending a morning or two walking around the strip, which i haven't done much of in years. last time i spent significant time on the strip would have been the fall of 2009. and i spent two mornings, and afternoons, at Tropicana, as a Wayne Brady spectator. i'm still bitter about that.

 

How do I have it "SO good"?? I just said Vegas is not the place to go if you are concerned about money. Exactly why I've stated I only made one trip this year. If an extra $30 worried me I would have no business vacationing until I'd saved the money to cover it.

 

Lots of good thoughts brought up by everybody here. We are a diverse people, high rollers, mid rollers, and low rollers. Some of us are gambling degenerates and some of us go to Vegas to vacation. Vegas is an escape for me. I need a car because I like to take in the whole valley from Summerlin to Henderson. I use the ACG and MRB so tons of coupons for food and gambling are off strip. I do still like to visit the strip so I park at The Tropicana and walk for the southern end and park at PH for mid strip. I don't drink anymore so drinking and driving isn't an issue. But this is just how I roll. Each of us have our own agendas that work.

My wife and I flew to Vegas last month spur of the moment. Spirit had flights for $114 total round trip for the 2 of us bought at CLE Hopkins Airport. $70 for a car rental and $59 a night at The South Point made for a cheap get away. Where else could I go on Vacation for that? Vegas is still my place to go. I make adjustments for parking on the strip. It's like looking for good paying VP schedules. Part of the Vegas experience for a lot of us is the "hunt". I am approaching 50 trips to Vegas. If there weren't great deals out there, I probably would have made only half of those trips. As long as those deals are out there, I will keep coming back. I probably just won't be staying on a strip property that charges for parking.

 

It seems for the most part, all of us on VMB will go there no matter what. The only things that may change is how many trips or which hotel they now go to. So the hotel income based on people like us just balances out. They get more money from the fees, and they lose money on people who don't go as often or change locations. Whales don't get charged anyway even though the fees are like nothing to them. They just like the idea of the pampering. The additional income really comes from those who only go once or once every few years, and I'm sure that is the bulk of who goes there. Many come from LA so they drive to save money on airfare, parking, and transportation.They are also the ones who pay more for the rooms. When you add a couple of hundred dollars for fees, I'm sure it eats at their total budget. Many of them who only go on one vacation every so many years, probably don't realize that the fees and taxes really add a significant amount to their total bill. I have the luxury of making multiple trips to Vegas. There are many who don't, and fees and taxes (especially hotels that don't immediately reveal that it can almost double their hotel bill) can really be a sticker shock moment. My suggestion is that hotels should state their rate as well as the fees side-by-side. Or as Southwest Air does it, state the total of what you will be paying, and break it down with fees afterward.

 

In a way it is like what Steve Wynn did with the Craps odds.......it is the hotel conglomerates looking for any other "revenue stream" to give even more profits to the board of directors. Which in America, they have a right to try and do...........

Charging for parking, resort fees, lousy craps odds....the only way it will ever change is if the Vegas nuts like us speak out AND avoid the properties that do this. The problem is that not even that is likely to cause a change.

 

Everyone has their own view on what they like in Vegas. We like the Strip. Is it perfect? No. However, if we go to Vegas, we want to stay at a nice hotel on the Strip with dining options that interest us. We look at Fremont more as a novelty. Nice to visit but we do not want to stay there. I have no issues with people who have the opposite opinion.

 

Not to sound too contrarian, but we "vegas nuts" are too insignificant to change things. I mean how many true vegas nuts are there. Assuming its 100,000 visitors per year, that's still less than one-fourth of one percent to total tourism. My best guess is that if you really wanted to effect change, you would need the organizers of the big conventions to take their business elsewhere (and that's not happening)

 

Agree 100%. But I'm at a loss why, in general, you get the same rate directly from the hotel than you do from an aggregator. If they passed even a small portion of the savings onto the customer, I think many more people would book directly.

As for the Strip discussion - I don't love all of the changes and the nickel and diming is a pet peeve of mine. It's not enough to change my habits (yet). I was all set to try staying downtown for a trip but hit CET diamond between a handful of Vegas/Harrah's KC trips and so now with no resort fee, I don't have much to complain about (renting a car in Vegas is my nightmare and I'd never do it). But that's just me. The great thing about Vegas is it appeals to a wide range of people with a wide range of activities. I'll never second guess what anyone wants to do in Vegas.

 

You did do a lot of bragging about how well your host treats you. Do you realize that's a luxury?

 

That's about right.

The thing that gets me though, is when someone gripes about these things, yet still does them. If you say, "These things don't bother me enough to do anything about it", I totally get it. Go have your fun!

But when people piss and moan about these costs, and STILL GO, then I don't feel sorry for them.

 

Bragging? Are we 8 years old? Anyone can go to an on duty host at end of stay to see what charges they can clear off. I'm a low roller compared to most and again I've only made one trip this year to Las Vegas because of financial reasons, so bragging isn't the word I'd use. Apparently we have different definitions for the word.

 

I love going to Vegas but obviously it has to be one of my main holidays of the year as I like to have 10-14 days there due to the travelling.

I still think there is plenty of value to be had and I find I can still travel there for a reasonable price. The nickel and diming does annoy me a little but the only thing that really affects me are the resort fees (as I don't drive in Vegas). Once I don't find value in going to Vegas I will move my holidays elsewhere.

I like to move around when I am there whether it being on the strip, boulder or somewhere else off strip as I love trying new properties (never fancied staying downtown) even though I enjoy visiting.

I don't play for comps even though I do receive them from time to time but I don't want to be in the position of "I have to put so much coin in at a particular place to please my host etc". We just play and go where the mood takes us and anything we receive is just a bonus.

If we were all the same though we would all be in the same hotel queuing at the same machine. We like how we do Vegas and enjoy it every time.

Whilst we still think we are getting value by visiting there we will continue to go but if the tipping point eventually comes we have no qualms about moving on to another destination where we feel valued and we get our moneys worth.

 

I get the appeal of the strip...I really do.
I just don't share it anymore...
Fees are not an issue for me - I don't ever rent a car, so parking fees have zero impact... Where I stay, my comped rooms are trues comps - meaning the resort fee is comped too.
Most of the time, a majority of my meals are comped, either up-front or taken off of my room-charges at the end of my trip...so, meal prices are not an issue.

What is an issue is that the strip conglomerates no longer value gamblers like me... so, the offers dried up, the low-limit blackjack went to 6:5, $5 craps vanished, and the 1/2 mile walk from one casino to the next became more annoying after I turned 45....and on top of all that, they closed my beloved Stardust, Harrah's ruined my beloved Barbary Coast, Steve Wynn dumped the Mirage & when he did, they stopped caring about $10 bettors,

So - when Boyd reached out to me, inviting me to give downtown a try, I took them up on it.... I've been a "downtown guy" ever since.
Sure, I still hit the strip from time to time, but I don't stay there anymore...not since about 2003.

 

Topcard, did the strip resorts really stop valuing gamblers like you?? Not being jerk, its a legit question, because I think our circumstances are similar. If you were getting comped rooms and the majority of your food and bev taken care of, how much $5 craps and low limit Bj were you playing? Players at those levels do not typically get those kinds of comps. My circumstances are similar to yours. I am RFB or RFL every place I stay on the Strip, so I don't have to worry about resort and parking fees. I still don't like them (who does!) and it would be bigger issue for me if I had to pay them the dozen or so trips a year I take to Vegas. But all that makes me think its the low level gambler getting squeezed, not those of us fortunate enough to get excellent comps. I still feel valued on the strip. if I were nickled and dimed to death, I would probably feel differently

 

Many of us are able to afford the fees, although they are annoyances. People can still be annoyed with fees and accept them. I think when you buy something, the total cost should be given, not just their initial rate of $9 when fees make the total $100. After all that's what you have to pay. And with rising rates of fees it seems that's what it's coming to. To me it sounds like their basis for doing this is to mislead the consumer. I see offers on TV that says you get the second product for free, but the shipping and handling fee is just about as much as the product itself.

It's great if people aren't annoyed at fees, and as one who gets comped, I personally am not annoyed at fees. I do not fault people for being annoyed at fees. I am however annoyed at tactics which are made to make the purchaser think something cost less than it is.