Las Vegas was known for the casinos and ancillary services. Hotels, Restaurants, Entertainment were the source of income for the casinos apart from the gambling. However, that was not enough for the casino owners and they wanted to bigger slice of profit. Well, then they did something very interesting. They removed the ‘Free Parking’ and other basic fundamentals services to the gamblers and in fact established a new charge, ‘Resort Fee’. There have been multiple debates on the resort fees before. There has been dissent among the customers as well.
However, it seems now that it has kept the customers away from the Las Vegas Casinos.
Dr. Stephen Miller, Lead of the Centre for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas said that these changes would impact the business of Las Vegas. He said that in the long run, these charges are not going to help. Customers from other places like South California would hardly come and the hindrance is simply self-made by the casinos to boost their revenue by introducing the new charges.
Dr. Miller echoed similar views in the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance on Tuesday. He said, as per the official visitation data of Las Vegas, total visitation has increased by 0.5%. Well, but the point of concern is the Golden and Silver gates. The visitation from California has significantly dropped as per Dr. Miller. He further commented that vehicle movements through the border of Golden and Silver Gates are 1.1%. This simply translates that there has been a drop of 500 vehicles per day.
The issue of the fees has now made a big impact and the attorneys of the different states have started taking note of it. They have initiated legal actions and started approaching the right forum to stop the hidden fees. Well, the issue is so grave and impactful that even the Federal Government had to involve. It is now reviewing a bill that would ensure the end of pricing schemes by the hospitality services. The hospitality services would not be able to take any fees and instead, they need to list under the publicized price.
The gravity of the situation can be understood from the fact that resorts like MGM and Caesars charge for parking as well. The resorts in Vegas now expect a guest to pay around $50 that is taken to cover the maintenance, internet access, business fax services, etc. These charges are either included in the hotel bill or it is handed over as a separate bill to the guests. There are fees in the resort bars as well. These are also taken in the name of the maintenance. What interesting here is the basic understanding as Maintenance is the responsibility of the venue’s and not of the customers reported Calivinayre.
Is Las Vegas losing its shine? Well, it seems to be with the casino companies trying to pocket more. Things could turn worse for Las Vegas if California decides to expand the gambling which is on the table. In that case, Las Vegas may suffer a great deal.
