Years ago I didn't have grey hair. Show me a big business that doesn't change and I'll so you a failure. If people can't absorb it then they won't go. I don't like it but I don't like being charged 10 cents for a bag when I buy groceries but I still go.
Actually Boyd so far hasn't really strayed from their business model, to serve the Hawaiians that come to vegas. Yes, they renovated the Cal and spiffed it up but they (knock on wood) still don't charge resort fees and I don't notice too much nickel and diming (yet). They seem to still be doing okay but it is bolstered by their charters that consistently bring 200 people to vegas 4x a week so a good amount of their rooms are usually filled. Yes they do charge for parking but (unlike Mlife) they don't charge parking for hotel guests and parking is free if you eat at their restaurants or put in enough play.
To make up for the lack of resort fees their rates may or may not be a little higher than other downtown hotels and I usually take that into consideration when I book a place to stay.
I hope that Boyd will continue to stay away from resort fees and continue to provide free parking for hotel guests. Not sure what I will do if they start to do the same things the other hotels are doing now (resort fees and charging for parking for hotel guests). Maybe Siegel Suites? Ha ha. yeah, right.
Then we have the outside hotel casinos. (sshhhh, don't tell). It will be interesting if the Orleans, Palms, GC, Rio, Sam's Town and other hotels start to charge for parking.
The fees stink, no doubt about it. I have to laugh at suggestions to park at say, HRH, and then either walk or Uber to the strip. Uber is going to cost something. Your time is worth something. If you're paying $13 to park, that's a dead-even race at that point. When you check into hotels in major cities and you have a car, you're automatically paying $35 to $70 per night for your car to rest comfortably in a parking space. Hell, I once got a room at the Westin on Michigan Ave in Chicago. Got a honey of a deal for $89...parking was $65. So for $24 more, I got a bed and a shower and all my car got was a cold parking space. We've been lucky to not pay these fees in Vegas all along.
If enough people vote with their feet, I'm sure the fees will be revisited. But the hotel fees have not swayed enough folks away, and I'm guessing the parking fees will be the same. It sucks, we can complain about it, but we'll keep coming back.
I already have my plans for parking on the strip. On the south side the Trop still doesn't charge for parking (unless they changed their policy) so I will park there. For the north side the
Venetian/
Palazzo and the Wynn still don't charge for regular self parking. Does PH charge for parking yet? If not I will park there if I go to the strip. When the rest of the strip starts to charge for parking I will have to decide whether I want to visit the strip. I don't visit the strip that much anyway so not much of a loss for me.
As for voting with their feet, I think the only way resort fees will be eliminated will be with the politicians. On the national level they changed the rules and the big airlines now have to list the "total" price of your flight so why can't they do the same for hotels? But then hotels in many cities also charge these fees, maybe call it something else but it is still a "resort" fee.
On a side note the airlines still have other nickel and dime fees, baggage fees, seat fees, etc. but they got rid of all that bs airport and landing fees so you generally know how much you will be paying for flying.
