Everybody loves resorts fees, right? Although Caesars Entertainment has warned that eventually, customers will become fed up with paying these unclear fees, the resort and casino operator is betting that they haven’t reached that point just yet, as they are now raising resort fees at four additional Las Vegas properties.
VitalVegas first broke the news, reporting The Linq Hotel, Harrah’s Las Vegas, Flamingo and Bally’s will raise their fees starting on March 3, bringing the total fee up from $35 to $37, totaling to $41.95 a night once taxes are added on.
Oof. Told resort fees at Harrah’s, Flamingo, Linq and Bally’s increasing to $37/night plus tax ($41.95), effective March 3, 2020.
— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) February 27, 2020
The Las Vegas Review-Journal later followed up with Caesars on the motivation for the change. This “brings these properties in line with their competitive set, such as MGM Grand and The Mirage,” noted Caesars Entertainment spokesman Rich Broome. Those two properties post a $39 fee before tax on their websites.
Caesars Rewards loyalty card holders with Seven Star and Diamond level status will be except from the hike, as this level of regular is exempt from resort fees entirely. For non-members, or lower level members, the hike will very much apply.
Lauren Wolfe, an attorney for Travelers United and advocate for ending resort fees, believes that the practice will ultimately kill Las Vegas. “I think people are upset and people want to see an end to these fees so it’s really disappointing to see these hotels go in the opposite direction,” she said.
While he’s probably not exactly on the same page as Wolfe, at one point in time Caesars’ CEO Tony Rodio also cautioned that the industry needed to be careful about hiking fees. He didn’t feel Caesars had reached a breaking point, but noted that it’s a revenue stream that’s hard to quit, and admitted “we’re getting pretty high.”
With visitation to Las Vegas remaining fairly flat in the last few years, the new fees might be a way to bring in new revenue. But they might drive away customers who resent the fee hike, and combined with those who want to avoid common gatherings as coronavirus fears grow, the Caesars might reach that breaking point Rodio talked about sooner than he anticipated.