I often mention how special the TravelZork community is. It’s a rare mix of advantage travelers and casino fans. Many group members are gamblers, which is fun but that’s secondary to what makes this group special. 

The banter and tips shared among the group are useful and often actionable. This community would be better than most just by sharing information that members can use. Everything else is gravy.

It seems somewhat important to remember this. The TravelZork community isn’t like most people who visit Las Vegas and the information shared is special.

Since I cover the market for numerous outlets it’s helpful to remember that certain things I follow such as gambling and travel are just small pieces of the puzzle. Both have very knowledgeable people in their groups but none of the small groups represent everyone. Frankly, no one person is an avatar for a large group but that seems to get lost.

Supporting Opinions With Data

Every year I’m reminded that ZorkFest is a gathering of a very small group of travelers who love Las Vegas as much as I do thanks to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) and Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB). Yup, governmental agency reports about casinos and travel remind me of TravelZork and ZorkFest.

The LVCVA releases the Las Vegas Visitor Profile each year. While it’s a small sample of visitors, it helps paint a picture of how people spend their time and money in Las Vegas. 

Every year the NGC releases a massive document with income and expenses for all casinos in the state. The Nevada Gaming Abstract has an accounting of all income and expenses for casinos statewide and by segment. 

The two don’t tell the same story but offer insights as to how and where visitors spend their money in Las Vegas. There’s so much information in both documents that it’s easy to get sidetracked. 

Wait, How Many People Get Complimentary Rooms In Las Vegas?

Today, I’m going to look at hotel room information from last year since ZorkFest is mostly a travel gathering. 

The “Trip Planning” section of the Visitor Profile goes into detail on how people in Las Vegas pay for their hotels:

“Half of visitors are still booking at the regular rate. Over half (54%) of visitors booked their accommodation with a regular rate, up from 50% last year. More visitors in 2023 booked their accommodation using a casino complimentary rate (14% vs. 10%).”

The amount of visitors staying at a Las Vegas hotel on a complimentary rate always stands out to me. This number has been between 9% and 15% for the past five years. 

According to the survey, 14% of the nearly 41 million people who visited Las Vegas last year stayed in a comp room. Another 12% of visitors received a discounted rate from the hotel. 

Altogether only 26% stayed in a discounted or complimentary hotel room in Las Vegas last year. This is about 10 million visitors.

This surprises many members of the TravelZork community who might go elsewhere if it wasn’t for the complimentary and discounted rooms available in Las Vegas. 

While the survey isn’t a perfect representation it’s a fair approximation that is supported by the Gaming Abstract. 

According to the report, hotel rooms accounted for 33% of the income for the largest Vegas Strip casinos. Nearly 25% of those sales are counted as complimentary room sales. This number includes everything associated with the room such as the room night, food, and beverage.

This isn’t an apples-to-apples comparison and the travel data should only be considered an approximation. The estimate can be rounded up or down and still tell the same story. 

Not a lot of people visiting Las Vegas receive complimentary or discounted hotel rooms. This is a long way to say that the TravelZork community is different from most people who visit Las Vegas. 

The information shared by the group and at ZorkFest isn’t for everyone. The majority of visitors don’t want to put in the time and effort to find the deals that the TravelZork community can access.

This is probably a good thing. Once the masses learn the secrets shared at ZorkFest and within the TravelZork community some of the best perks won’t be as easily available.