Harrahs AC Pool charges for hotel guests

I just learned that Harrahs in AC is now charging for pool use for hotel guests. It’s $20 per room. Is this also going on in Vegas? The website says the fee is to be in alignment with their sister properties. This is nickel & dimming to an extreme. $27 resort fee for what now, the fitness center and WiFi? And I believe parking there is $20 a day. I recently started going back to AC after a 5 year hiatus, even though I live 90 minutes away. I has a weekend stay at Hard Rock in January, and a midweek stay for 2 nights at Caesars on the boardwalk, just before pool season. After reading this, I don’t think I’ll be back.

 

That $20 will probably go higher during peak times.

Does the pool there get crowded? Some people will gladly pay to avoid crowds. It's also yet another comp that can be given. Of course, it's all nonsense and we know what's really going on. Mo' money.

 

*checks website*

Well that sucks.

There used to be an entrance fee only on weekends, and Platinum and up got in free with one guest.

Now it's every day, and only Diamond and Seven Stars get in free.

Thanks for the heads-up. We're booked there in October, so that's one less surprise when we arrive.

 

Why?

Market conditions! Because they can.

 

For whatever it's worth the harrahs pool is amazing. The other two properties are not worth going to as they are outdoors and in nice weather why not just go to the beach?

 

I’ve stayed at Harrahs AC numerous times, they have a great pool. But it’s the nickel and dimming that’s getting out of control. They used to claim the resort fee was for things like the pool, now they are charging for it. I hope this doesn’t happen in Vegas, as of now they are not charging for hotel guests. I’m starting to actually think they may try and have a casino entrance fee in the near future. I know it sounds crazy, but paying to use the pool at a hotel that you’re a guest of would’ve sounded crazy just a few months ago, as I went to Harrahs AC in September and there was no pool fee.

 

Caesars AC opened the outdoor roof pool and charges $10 for a lounge chair which can be reserved in advance up to 8 pm the day before. It looks as if everyone pays, even diamond. Daybeds are $50. Reservations are held until 11 am, if you don't check in before then, your lounge chair will go to someone else. It looks like there is a bar there so I guess if you get in and can get a bar stool, you're entitled to pay for overpriced drinks.

Here are links to the Caesars AC pool and Harrah’s Pool

 

So a resort fee for amenities, but the pool isn't included in that. Got it!

 

No no no... The pool is free. Towel rental is $5 each and you can't bring your own. Diamond and up get 20% off! It's worth it because they bring the towels to you. They will ask you over and over again for your food and drink order. Don't forget to tip them. Thank you and come again!

 

I think the resort fee basically covers the free air and electric.

 

I don’t care where it is. Vegas or AC this ridiculous nickel and diming takes away from the overall experience. On top of the ludicrous resort fees, I now have to pay to use the pool ? The value a casino vacation use to offer is quickly disappearing. Unfortunately if your young just getting into the “ casino scene “ you accept this BS as normal. Just like accepting short pay VP , 3/2 BJ and triple zero roulette and $50 buffets. Absolutely terrible at least the resort fee still get us unlimited local calls. Let’s hope that’s not next.

 

Hey Tony, hope all's well.

My Dad would say "that place is going nickel nuts" when he ran into things like this.

 

What's funny to me is that this does not line up with their sister properties (Caesars is a fee for loungers and Tropicana varies by pool), nor should it. The pool at Harrah's is one of, if not the best pools in AC, so charging for guests when they are as crowded as they are just makes sense. It always amazes me how we just expect nothing to ever increase in price, especially when just about everything is more expensive. Access to that pool on busy days is hard enough even with Diamond line priority, so if this thins those masses I certainly won't complain. What would be smarter for them is to increase the resort fee by 20 bucks for complimentary pool usage, when a large majority don't use the pool.

As a younger player (mid 30s) who missed the comp boom, I completely get the need to add fees where there weren't before. It's annoying when comps deteriorate, but at the same time logical when the revenue stays the same despite increasing costs. I also think nickel and diming is better than dollaring. They can only make paytables on VP so bad, and collect their 3%, but year over year, the beer and the cup and the server and the lights all cost more. They can only make blackjack so bad (6/5), but dealer costs keep going up. Supply of casino patrons and seats are also fixed numbers, but raises go in every year and rooms have to be renovated etc. So the solution is to make people pay for things that they still want. I would rather be able to pay for the things I want (pool) and not pay for things I don't. The resort fee is annoying, but if you go with 2 people and use the internet, it's basically a wash. (I know, who wants to pay for internet). So they could either add to the resort fee with an amenity most people don't use, or let the people that do pay for it.

 

This is a new thing in Harrahs AC, as they’ve never charged for pool use. I believe they’ve always allowed non guests in for a fee, if they are worried about overcrowding they could stop the practice. They used to claim pool use was part of the resort fee, like paid parking, fitness center etc. I remember when the resort fee got you bottled water daily and USA Today paper. They are slowly doing away with all the perks the resort fee is suppose to cover. Sure prices go up, that’s not the point, the point many of us are tired of being nickel and dimed.

It’s only going to get worse. There used to be a great value in a casino vacation, but it’s slowly dying off. Since I still get comped rooms or nice discounts, I’ll continue to take casino vacations. If my offers ever dry up, I’ll look elsewhere with my vacation money. I could gamble online when I have the itch.

 

@BlueBellThunder You are absolutely correct during most of the time hotel guests (2 per room were permitted). I don't ever recall that being stated in the resort fee, but if it was, then they could easily have just increased their resort fee by 18 dollars from 27 to 45 and include pool entry. People would have complained about that as well. The resort fee includes (from my recollection) 2 devices for internet, which if paying would be 28 dollars and complimentary self parking or 10 dollars off valet parking. It also includes a bunch of things no one uses like unlimited calls, faxes, and such things.

From a property perspective increasing the resort fee to include the pool or to keep the pool included is better for the property because everyone pays for it rather than just the guests who want to use it. So to me charging for the pool is not nickel and diming. Would you rather a 50 dollar resort fee that gets you 2 bottles of water, a paper, internet, pool access, self parking, etc. Or a 27 dollar resort fee covers the internet and parking, pay for the pool if you use it, and buy your own water and paper. Actual out of pocket is the same, but the resort fee gives you no choice. (as an aside the water was back by request in February and we were told it had been stopped due to Covid. It may be back now regularly)

Casino vacations are a phenomenal value if you like to gamble at a brick and mortar casino. No amount of nickel and diming will change that. Obviously if the room at Harrah's cost the same as say legacy vacations in brigantine and you don't care about gambling then the value stops being there. I have looked elsewhere with my vacation money, and did before comp rooms as well. Right now we keep getting drawn back because adding 20 bucks a day to the budget to use the pool is better than adding 250 dollars a day to the budget to stay at a top end resort in New Jersey without a casino but pool access.

Assuming prices for things increased 3-5% per year, where does that price get passed on, or when. So the pool opened in some iteration in 1980 41 years ago. Assume annual operation costs were 1 million for the pool in 1980 for everything, staff maintenance etc. Assuming a 5% increase in costs on just that 1 million (to balance that it might be less percentage wise some years and more others) today that pool would cost 3 million to run. Also running it at a time when AC was struggling due to a pandemic and prior to that a decrease in demand. Where does that extra 2 million get made up? It's from first reduced paytables (Bonus Poker can't really get any lower), then resort fees, then more expensive food, then cutting drink quality, then cutting comps and then charging. Clearly the cost to operate the pool is getting to be more than the pool was generating, which also explains why they added a whole dining experience as well to try to increase revenue.

 

@hammie all is well sir and I hope the same is true for you. I’m getting the itch to jump on a flight to AC soon but it might not happen until September. I’ll keep you posted maybe we can meet at the Borgata again. First drink is on me

 

While I do understand your point, it just rubs me the wrong way charging for use of the pool. I could understand if this was a normal thing in non casino hotels, like paid parking is in some, but I don’t recall ever staying at a hotel that had a fee for pool usage. As far as resort fees, I’d rather have the option to pay for what I want. I hate being forced to pay for WiFi when my phone is all I bring with me.

 

You never use Wi-Fi on your phone? I would say you’re the exception not the rule.

 

Actually I use WiFi as much as I can. But if I was given the choice to not have to pay for it, I certainly would. I can change my plan month to month from a few Gigs to unlimited data.