Resort fees are bogus!

[Lewisc]

One of the hotels in Vegas was originally charging all guests a valet parking fee. The fee was to have the valet parking available to you, regardless of use. That fee got dropped.

Most booked sites, by default, include resort fees

 

[Sheryl2059]

California passed such a law.

There is a federal law in the works, but hasn't passed the Senate. The No Hidden FEES Act.

In which case it would be interesting to see how they handle resorts in both CA and FL when it comes to booking. Might be easier for them to streamline it so both are the same. There is the old saying that as California goes so does the nation. Some like that idea others do not.

 

[_19disnA]

Aren't fees in Vegas getting into the 60 to 100 a night range?

We were just in Vegas a month ago and the 'resort fee' wasn't anywhere near that much. I think it depends on the hotel and there are taxes which have always been added, but I don't consider tax as a resort fee.

I never understood why Vegas started to charge for parking. It used to be free. Seems they would WANT to encourage visitors to their casino (vs. a competitor) where you are likely to spend far more gambling than the parking fee. Casinos are basically all competing for the same visitors to their property. Likely some accountants convinced management this was a way to increase revenue, but lost site of the big picture. I am still waiting for some casino to start offering 'free' parking as a marketing tool to bring in more gamblers. Once that happens, likely every other casino will follow.

 

[Sykes]

In which case it would be interesting to see how they handle resorts in both CA and FL when it comes to booking. Might be easier for them to streamline it so both are the same. There is the old saying that as California goes so does the nation. Some like that idea others do not.

All of the major resort conglomerates and booking platforms include resort fees in the initially advertised price now, thanks to the California law. The problem that they ran into is that the law applies when advertising to California consumers, regardless of where the resort is physically located. On the Internet, while it is possible to get a decent approximation of where a visitor is located, it is not precise enough that they could reliably show a fee-included price to Californians and a fee-excluded price to everyone else.

There have been other similar follow-on effects of the law. For example, most cruise lines and rental car agencies now show all non-governmental fees as part of the advertised price. (Bona fide taxes may still be separated out.)