The extreme tactics Las Vegas hotels are using as hotspot faces worst crisis in years

UK Daily Mail ^ | August 30, 2025 | Alice Wright

[C19fan]

Las Vegas hotels are rolling out big incentives — including free nights and thousands of dollars in casino credits — to lure visitors back to the city.

Sin City saw an 11.3 percent drop in visitors in June compared with the same month last year, an astonishing fall that means almost 400,000 people stayed away.

That decline translates to less spending in restaurants, shops, shows and at hotels, where occupancy fell nearly 10 percent, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

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TOPICS: Travel
KEYWORDS: lasvegas; nevada

[C19fan]

With MGM and Caesers creating a duopoly on the Las Vegas Strip, they have used this market power to jack up the prices on every customer touch point from the moment you pay for what used to be free parking. The days of casinos offering free valet parking and cheap good buffets to entice people to visit the properyt are long gone.

[Liz]

Unbelievably.....one casino hotel charges an extra $25 to let guests “eat off dishes”....... when ordering its exorbitant room service offerings.

[BobL]

“The extreme tactics Las Vegas hotels are using as hotspot faces worst crisis in years”

A fellow FReeper asked me why people are attacking Vegas in response to one of my postings where I only mentioned parking and facility fees (up to about $90 per night, including tax, by the way), so as I run across more charges, I decided to keep a file on what Vegas is doing to kill off tourism with 1000 cuts, including a few stabs. Here’s what I have so far, mostly from a video that I recently saw:

1. Parking and Facility Fees.
2. Dynamic Drink Pricing (new for 2025 at several joints), also real-time happy hour cancelations when too crowded.
3. Premium Room Fees (buried in fine print, get a nice view, you find out during checkout).
4. Pool Access Fees (many joints, $25-40; chair $25-50, towel fees, chair reservation fees).
5. ATM Fees - $10 to $15, plus one’s own bank fees (also surge fees on ATMs)
6. Room Service Delivery Fees (delivery fees $9-$15, plus about 20% mandatory tip)
7. Technology Fee (3-5%, for betting)
8. Ticket and Entertainment Fees (convenience charges, processing charges, and facility fees)
9. Concession and Venue Charges (3 to 8%, plus tax, plus gratuity)
10. Online Booking and Convenience Fees ($10 to $40 per reservation - hotels, restaurants)
11. Energy and Carbon Surcharges ($4 to $8) - In Vegas! LOL.

[DallasBiff]

Was in vegas nearly 10 years ago. The strip was dirty with trash and the escalators to the crosswalks were all broken.

Big difference than it was in the late 80's.

[mewzilla]

If you think that’s bad...

Hows about a charge to use the mini fridge in your room?!

Policed by a censor in the fridge door.

Sin City is going full Disney.

Note to Vegas: NEVER go full Disney.

[HombreSecreto]

If Hawaii legalized casinos, Vegas would die. Would be an even bigger draw for Asians and Europeans than it is now plus families would prefer the water to dust.

[Liz]

If you think that’s bad...Hows about a charge to use the mini
fridge in your room?! Policed by a censor in the fridge door.

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Also the location of $26 bottles of water.

[AppyPappy]

Las Vegas was a money laundering service when the Mafia owned it. When they gave it up, it had to make money.

[Boomer One]

Vegas used to be our arrival/departure city for visits to national parks. We usually spent extra nights in Vegas. Because rooms and food were very reasonable, we felt no shame in contributing to gambling profits. All of that has changed. My daughter and her husband purchased a timeshare in Vegas at a reasonable price years ago and now regret it, probably more so than the average timeshare owner. In addition to prices, they feel safety has become a problem.

[Liz]

Casino operators stupidly figured visitors losing thousands of dollars gambling
would pay extra for their crummy “services”-——how wrong they were.

[BobL]

“If Hawaii legalized casinos, Vegas would die. Would be an even bigger draw for Asians and Europeans than it is now plus families would prefer the water to dust.”

At this point, literally ANY place in the world is cheaper than going to Vegas for a week, and almost always, far safer than Vegas. Hop a plane to Macau, for example, and you’ll find everything half the price (at most) compared The Strip in Vegas (anywhere in Macau is “The Strip” there), and you won’t even need a rental car. The biggest drawback is time it takes to fly there and back.

[BobL]

“If you think that’s bad...
Hows about a charge to use the mini fridge in your room?!
Policed by a censor in the fridge door.”

I forgot about that one - need to add it to my list. Per Google, hotels rent mini-fridges for $25-$50 PER DAY. So if you’re there more than a couple of days and have a car, it’s cheaper to buy one, bring it to Vegas, use it in your room, and then bring it home.

[mewzilla]

We’ve had it with Big Hospitality.

So we bought a new tent.

No room tax on camp sites, either.

And we’re not spring chickens, BTW.

[dfwgator]

Let the mob run it again.

[OKSooner]

“Nice little show palace you got here...”

[dfwgator]

Wait until Trump frees Cuba and Havana opens up.

[BobL]

“And we’re not spring chickens, BTW.”

I suspect that you have decent knees, though.

[yesthatjallen]

When the Mob ran Vegas, food and rooms were cheap. It was a lost leader. The cheap rates ensured people would think they were getting such a great deal they would spend all their money in casinos and stay a long time.

Now the hotels and casinos are run by investment groups who have accountants who are squeezing tourists for every cent. Hotel parking is no longer free. Buffet's are expensive. Everything that was formerly cheap for free now has a fee.

Two different business models.

[Biblebelter]

I have seen a couple of You Tubers upload videos on the downfall of Vegas.

Table games with “human” interaction have two tiers with the much better odds offered for those betting higher amounts.

Secondly they’ve increased the square footage given slots.

I don’t know all that much about “slots” except they now involve an “electronic” screen.

I also know there are a lot of video gaming machines offered where I live whether they are stand alone parlors or offered at bars and restaurants.

Eventually a “screen” is a “screen” and the folk attracted and addicted to this kind of “gambling” can stay home and save money.

I’m enough of a libertarian to not care much if folk gamble whether it be legally or illegally, but GREEDY politicians at the state and local level have allowed gambling to spread out of control because the licensing and tax revenues have made them partners in the rackets.

I remember when the pols first took over the numbers rackets now known as the lottery.

They made big promises about revenues going to education.

In Illinois they paid Michael Jordan millions to pimp the numbers racket in television commercials aimed at what Rush might call “low information” consumers.

Actually if one studies lottery commercials many are aimed at the 13 per centers.

My favorite example is black folk at the Christmas tree with stockings hanging at the fireplace thanking one another for giving each other lottery scratch cards.

Nowadays no one notices this racial component as most commercials seemed to be aimed at the 13 per centers.