The Disappearing Days Of ‘Cheap Vegas’
By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Travel Blogger
For decades, Las Vegas often gave away certain things in order to draw in people and to have them spend their money on the real money-maker: gambling.
On certain nights you could stay for practically nothing, getting hotel rooms for – depending on the place and the night of the week – from $19-49.
Parking was always free for those who drove to Vegas. Drinks have been free as long as you’re gambling and nd of course there’s long been those great casino food bargains, like the 99-cent shrimp cocktail and huge steak dinners for $9.99.
Because of this, Vegas was a always bargain travel destination. Until you hit the gambling, tables, where all bets on bargains are off, of course.
But now, with hotels slapping on hotel fees (some as high as $45 a night) and even charging for parking, the days of “cheap Vegas” are vanishing as fast as money on a craps table when the shooter rolls that danged 7.
At the start of 2018, several hotels raised their resort fees. The Sands properties, which are Palzzo and Venetian are $45. At least they offer free parking.
Parking ranges from $10 to a whopping $24 a night (or really for 24 hours). The latter is a big-city parking price.
To put that in perspective, let’s say you get a mid-week hotel rate of $49 at New York-New York. Add to that the $37 resort fee and $24 for parking. That $49 room them becomes $110. And that’s before all the taxes.
The resort fees are $39 at these hotels: Bellagio, Vdara, Encore, Wynn, Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, Nobu, Caesars, Cosmopolitan, Green Valley Ranch Resort and Red Rock Resort. Those last two properties are nowhere near the Strip, by the way.
The resort fees are $37 at these hotels: Paris, Planet Hollywood, The Cromwell, Delano, MGM Grand, The Signature at MGM, Mirage, Mandalay Bay, Monte Carlo and New York-New York.
The resort fees are $35 at these hotels: Luxor, Excalibur, Tropicana, Trump International, LINQ, Bally’s, Harrah’s, Flamingo and Treasure Island.
Heck it’s even $14.99 at the El Cortez downtown, hardly the fanciest place in town.
Fortunately, the casino drinks are still free but one has to wonder how long that will continue, too.
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