The days of bargains on the Las Vegas Strip have long been over. But lately, casinos have been finding more and more ways to get Strip visitors to spend more of their money.
That includes higher prices on just about everything inside the casino and on the Strip. And then there are the dreaded fees: resort fees, parking fees, early check-in fees even fees for flatware and silverware on room-service orders.
It may be one reason why gaming revenues and visitation are down this year, though not by huge percentages.
Still, longtime visitors and social media users have expressed their anger and frustration, even threatening to stop coming to Las Vegas. They say they are being gouged.
Is the gaming industry going to do anything about it? In short: Yes. Room rates are coming down and promotions from multiple casino companies are being directed towards tourists and staycation-friendly locals. But will it be enough to lure back folks who swear they're staying away from the Strip?
Some notable takeaways:
"[The post-pandemic Strip] ended up with the perfect storm of the casinos having high prices, having something that people wanted to see, and now they also have increased expenses that they have to continue to pay for," said Las Vegas Review-Journal gaming reporter David Danzis. "So what we are seeing now is the operators trying to figure out a way to continue to be sustainable going forward as they face all of these factors. And now, there's declining visitation. We are seeing declining gaming revenue, and that's resulting in layoffs and restructuring throughout the casinos. [So now] we're starting to see these deals, these promotions, these offers from the operators for things like free parking or deals for locals, they're starting to realize that maybe we've not just reached a tipping point, we've actually hit a breaking point."
"[Casinos are] doing what any business would do, [which] is what the market will bear," said Anthony Curtis, publisher of the consumer-friendly Las Vegas Advisor website and newsletter. "Problem is, the markets are starting to not bear this. We're getting feedback from our customers in emails and in chat rooms and things like that that they've just had enough. A lot of them are saying, 'I'm just not coming back.'"
"If I zoom out from Las Vegas for a second, and I think about the U.S. as a whole, and I think about other major metropolitan destinations for travel, Vegas is still an incredible value, right?" said Josh Swissman, founding partner and managing director of GMA Consulting, which does gaming/hospitality research and consulting. "Yes, fees are higher. Yes, a cheeseburger is more expensive than it used to be, but if you compare that cheeseburger here to that cheeseburger in New York, it is still going to be a tremendous value. If you look at the room here compared to that room that you might stay in Orlando, it is still a great value. And I think at the end of the day, that's part of what makes Vegas Vegas. It's easy to access and still a relative value, and that's why I'm still bullish on Vegas in the long run."
