Venetian-Palazzo Raises Resort Fees
(MEGARESORT™©® NEEDS MORE MONEY)
It was announced that the Venetian and Palazzo would be increasing their Resort Fees to $45 dollars. In response to a request for comment, a representative (or maybe it was a fever dream vision, I’ll never know) explained the rise in cost for the following reasons.
“Due to the increasing demand of our corporate visitors, as well as the increasing demand in rare plant extracts to get the exact color maroon in Mr. Adelson’s hair dye, we have decided to increase our resort fee to screw over the…I’m sorry, I misspoke…to ENHANCE our guest experience. In addition to other included amenities such as WiFi which will be increased tenfold (by research, speeds equaling LTE!) and free bottled water will now come with a surcharge in order to run it through our in house filtration system! (Shout out to Pur.) In addition we might charge for parking, or might not, we don’t know yet! Either way you can rest assured that the Sands Convention Center* (*and Hotel/Casino) will stand out among Strip Properties for offering excellence and value. (*For our rich guests!)”
When asked for follow up, my fever dream slapped me, I woke up, and realized this for real. When reached for further comment, at which I subjected myself to a viral infection to achieve contact with the fever dream representative, my disembodied self simply slapped myself while the rep laughed at me. When reached for comment, my own consciousness reflected on all of this and came to one conclusion…
Stay ANYWHERE THAT DOESN’T CHARGE A RESORT FEE.
Fees Gone Wild
But, is this even possible? It seems that we are living in an age of travel “fees gone wild.” In the airline industry, ancillary revenue in 2017 was projected to exceed $80 billion. That’s over 10% of all revenue. You can read a bit more about the IdeaWorksCompany/CarTrawler report over at AirlineGeeks. Ancillary revenue is the fancy term for revenue from non-ticket sources. Most of us just refer to these as “extra fees.” These fees include seat baggage fees, onboard food and beverage, priority boarding in addition to other items you purchase that are not included in the price of the ticket.
Related: Overview Vegas Strip | Las Vegas Resort Fees + Las Vegas Parking Fees
Is ancillary revenue becoming the cornerstone of financial success for hotel operations in Las Vegas? Or is it just opportunistic, with the hotels seeing that people will pay fees and now they just keep increasing them? It’s also not just resort fees; it is also parking fees. Heck, even Disney is getting in on the “game.” Edward over at Pizza in Motion reports that Disney World To Begin Charging For Overnight Parking At Their Hotels. (Side note: Be sure to register for ZorkFest, you’ll have an opportunity to learn from Ed… also rumor has it that he likes donuts.)
Continuing the thought about fees, there is also more. More than just parking and resort fees. Now, there are destination fees. In one example, the Grand Hyatt New York claims that this new fee “will focus on providing opportunities for guests to enjoy the “New York experience”” Perhaps, it’s not just “Fees Gone Wild” but also “Marketing Buzz Gone Wild.”
Richard Kerr recently had an online chat in his Facebook Group Award Travel 101™ with attorney Lauren Wolfe (Travelers United) of killresortfees.com. Richard continues the advocacy and talks about why resort fees are deceptive and illegal. He also discusses how to avoid them on your very next trip. Richard will be at ZorkFest, and teaches Award Travel 101 Bootcamp.
It’s difficult to predict what the next moves about fees will be, but perhaps there is a tipping point. This is especially true for those that are used to complimentary or highly discounted Vegas rooms and now in many instances also have to pay a resort fee.
Are the increases in fees impacting how often you visit Las Vegas?
