Fewer people are visiting Las Vegas. One insider thinks hotel resort and parking fees are to blame

latimes.com ^ | 5/2/2018 | Jay Jones

[rktman]

Daily resort fees and parking charges are rising and spreading in Las Vegas, adding as much as $45 a day to visitors' hotel bills. The publisher of Las Vegas Advisor blames the extra charges for a recent decline in the number of visitors.

"Everyone hates resort fees, but the parking [fee] is even worse," said Anthony Curtis of Las Vegas Advisor. "Everyone wants some kind of comp, [and] the most basic comp is free parking. That was the one comp that everyone got."

The Advisor, a decades-old, monthly newsletter highlighting what's new in Vegas and featuring deals for visitors, provides lists of parking costs and resort fees across southern Nevada.

[RitaOK]

Are you serious? McCabe in charge of the LV investigation? Maybe you were kidding.

[TexasGator]

“What “stench” and “hawkers”? “

Sorry for using the wrong term .... Perhaps porn-slappers is the preferred?

[dfwgator]

"The town will never be the same. After the Tangiers, the big corporations took it all over. Today it looks like Disneyland. And while the kids play cardboard pirates, Mommy and Daddy drop the house payments and Junior's college money on the poker slots. In the old days, dealers knew your name, what you drank, what you played. Today, it's like checkin' into an airport. And if you order room service, you're lucky if you get it by Thursday. Today, it's all gone. You get a whale show up with four million in a suitcase, and some twenty-five-year-old hotel school kid is gonna want his Social Security Number. After the Teamsters got knocked out of the box, the corporations tore down practically every one of the old casinos. And where did the money come from to rebuild the pyramids? Junk bonds. But in the end, I wound up right back where I started. I could still pick winners, and I could still make money for all kinds of people back home. And why mess up a good thing? And that's that."

[willyd]

That’s probably it... you can play golf in 105 degree heat in palm springs...lol

[ConservativeMind]

Chicago charges quite a bit more.

[RitaOK]

It is painful to have left not even a historic relic from the old Las Vegas starter casinos.

I think if I were “corporate” I would have built my splendid high rise around a centerpiece of, say, the old Sands, etc., leaving some remnant of their original old slot room in place, you know what I mean?

[COBOL2Java]

I would wager that the average cost to stay 3-4 days in Vegas is still far far cheaper than the same stay in a Disney theme park.

A lot depends on when you go. My wife and I used to go the 2nd week of December. That's generally after the convention crowd and before the vacation crowd. You can get some really great discounts during this week. For example, we stayed at the Venetian for about 1/4 of the cost.

As for gambling, we were disciplined enough to know when to walk away from the one-armed bandits. If we were lucky enough to win back a nice meal, we'd take our winnings and go to the restaurant. If not, we'd chalk it up to fun.

[TexasGator]

LV has 8th largest homeless population of US cities.

[hal ogen]

There are about 5% of those compared to several years ago.

[Fiji Hill]

There are a number of restaurants in Las Vegas that serve good food at reasonable prices. I like to eat at Cugino's Italian delicatessen over on Maryland Parkway, across from the University of Nevada. It's run by an Italian family--not Middle Easterners or East Asians, as are so many other Italian restaurants. Here, you can get authentic Sicilian food items such as tripe soup and rabe, a bitter green vegetable similar to broccoli that might not appeal to American tastes.

Capo's Ristorante & Speakeasy over on West Sahara Ave. also has good Italian food.

Tacos El Gordo on Charleston Blvd. is a Tijuana-based taqueria that specializes in soft tacos. At meal times, it is usually very crowded, mostly with Mexican-Americans. If it's too crowded, you can go to Macayo's Mexican restaurant across the street, which is said to be popular with local Mormons.

If you want plain old American food, Blueberry Hill on Decatur, over on the west side, is an old-fashioned coffee shop that offers a wide variety of American dishes. They have one or two other locations in Las Vegas. And if you find yourself on the once glamorous but now seedy Fremont Street mall, you can find tasty hot dogs at Coney Island Hot Dogs, a Detroit-based eatery.

[hal ogen]

Attack? I merely disagreed with what I see as a distortion. “Truth”?...not so much.

[Fiji Hill]

I have no desire to return to DisneyWorld and I live 10 miles away.

I live nine miles from the original Disneyland, and I have lived less than 20 miles away my whole life. My last visit there was in 1969.

[TexasGator]

“There are about 5% of those compared to several years ago.”

Talk about distortion of facts!

[PGR88]

Thanks - I’ll note that.

I mean’t on and around the main strip - I guess high prices there are to be expected - its the busiest and costliest part of town.

[fuzzylogic]

The whole online hotel shopping web sites, with the goal of finding the “best” deal, is a bit of a sham because of all these fees. They’re not consistent and can vary by country (is my understanding). So you never know what the actual check-out cost is until you go to pay.

[TexasGator]

Are you a travel agent?

[Fiji Hill]

i occasionally visit Las Vegas on business and don’t go to the Strip all that often. But if I stay overnight, I usually stay at the Motel 6 on Charleston, which is within easy walking distance of the Strip.

[Fiji Hill]

Erratum: The Motel 6 is on Tropicana, not Charleston.

[Simon Green]

I would wager that the average cost to stay 3-4 days in Vegas is still far far cheaper than the same stay in a Disney theme park.

Let's crunch the numbers.

1 adult, 3 night stay at an inexpensive Strip big casino (Excaliber), 3 nights, May 31st to June 3rd, cheapest room. Including resort fees and taxes: $444.87.

1 adult, 3 night stay at an inexpensive on site Disney World hotel (All-Star Movies), 3 nights, May 31st to June 3rd, cheapest room. Including theme park tickets and taxes: $867.55. Almost twice as much.

On the other hand, the Disney cost includes all entertainment. In Vegas, seeing a couple of shows will set you back anywhere from $150 - $400.

I think it's comparable.

[alexander_busek]

Why not a "fee" for electricity and water, too?

"Let's see... You flushed the toilet three... no, make that four times... That'll be $36, please!"

Regards,