My most recent trip to Las Vegas affirmed that Vegas is far from dead. Like it always has been, the day of the week, the time of the day, the casino, and even the time of year can all have an impact on how busy it is and what sort of scenario you’ll encounter.
My trip started on Labor Day Weekend, and saw a nearly full parking garage downtown suddenly become virtually empty at the end of the weekend – a scenario not unusual in Vegas right after a big holiday weekend.
The accusation in some media articles is that Vegas has priced itself out of many visitors’ pocketbooks. Indeed, the data does show those who travel on a budget are pulling back more so than high rollers.
Fees have come up a lot in the conversation. While fees in and of themselves aren’t solely causing people to walk away, the experiences triggered around the fees run that risk. A while ago, I saw an article about a post that went viral about early check-in fees. This is an area I personally am frustrated by, and my latest trip illustrated it.
Palm Springs flights to Vegas are often on the extreme ends of the day – the flights are scheduled either first thing in the morning and last thing at night. I took advantage of starting my Saturday of Labor Day weekend flying in to Vegas early, arriving at the airport by 6:30 am.
After meeting my friend and grabbing breakfast, we went over to Main Street Station, where my first room was located. They had a room assigned for me already, but if I wanted to check in before noon, there would be a fee.
My issue with this isn’t the ability to prioritize check in for a fee – it’s the fact that there was nothing to prioritize – the room was ready, so the fee was for the sake of charging a fee.
This actually happened on three separate occasions throughout my trip – my room was ready, but because I wasn’t willing to pay a fee, I was not able to access it.
There was one exception to this – MGM Resorts gave me access to my room by 9:30 am the day of my check-in to that room, even though I didn’t pay a fee. They did give the option to pay for early check-in, and in those incidents you’re cutting the line vs. those who didn’t pay.
In this case, my check-in was on the Tuesday after Labor Day, not exactly prime time for the property, and they let me in early.
I’m personally OK with fees that let you get access that isn’t guaranteed otherwise. To me, it’s an alternative to prioritizing those with higher statuses, which generally itself comes with a cost. It’s when you’re charging a fee for the heck of it, and not for a purpose, that I tend to not be as pleased.
Getting me into my room earlier means I’m at your property earlier, and I’m spending money earlier. If I know I can’t get into my room until 3 pm, why would I show up at noon.
By comparison, I was at the MGM property by 10 am, had an early lunch, and was on the casino floor by noon. Their smart call to not just require a fee to have access meant they got a larger share of my visit budget. And I can confirm they got more than the fee would have cost me, so they came out ahead by having the foresight to get me on property sooner.
Sometimes, I think these decisions are made in a vacuum where customer service and other revenue streams matter less than that specific scenario at that specific time. This isn’t the sort of thing that will cause me to not visit Las Vegas, but it is the sort of thing that may encourage me to consider when and where I stay at various properties.
Of course, the number and size of the fees are growing. When a growing part of your budget has to be devoted to fees like parking, resort fees, and so on, it can also price a segment of the market out. To then also face optional fees that create obstacles between you and enjoying your vacation, I can see how that could encourage thinking that maybe some other destination might be a better choice.
During the trip I also stayed off the strip more than I ever have, trying out new to me properties like Silverton and M Resort. Another consequence of the growing costs on the strip is my willingness to explore. I’m not the only one – Red Rock Resorts is reporting record success, and are citing former strip customers as one draw to their properties.
Boyd properties (one of which is Main Street Station) will go out of its way to separate you from your money). On a recent stay at a Boyd property in mid-September, I receive an email offering a list of pre-check-in upgrades. A higher floor was an extra charge of $20 per night. Being closer to the elevator was an extra $15 per night. But the best one was a $15 “hydration upgrade”. They’d give you two 12-ounce bottles of water at check-in. In uppercase letters they clarified that this was two bottles of water FOR THE ENTIRE stay, not tow bottles of water per day. And the casino giants wonder why the average person has a negative opinion about Las Vegas these days.
We’ve seen some examples of room upgrades being less than ideal offers, but this is pretty next level craziness! For a short walk to the ABC store you can often have two bottles of water for $2-3… this is another great example of some of the mistakes they’re making.