vegas still has value

And those cards cost money, both to apply and annual fees.

kevin once again shows his ignorance & you can always count on him to keep digging his hole.  It is illegal to charge people money to apply for a credit card. 

Some affinity cards do charge an annual fee; others are free.  The airlines cards do charge $99 but we get free checked bags, so we get that fee back with one flight, plus we get a companion ticket, early boarding & seat upgrades.  We pay $99 for my Hilton card but get one free room annually, so again we get that back with one stay, plus the free rooms with earned points, plus free breakfasts/food credits, room upgrades, free/preferred parking. 

On our recent trip to Florida we got a free room at the Hyatt Orlando Airport that was selling for $300+ 

There's still some value to be had in Vegas..it's just that the opportunities and related locations have and continue to dwindle because of strong visitation numbers (demand is over the moon and many patrons just can't say 'no'.). Patron attitudes about frugal options / gambling  have also gone south as many haven't yet obtained their fill of post-Covid conditions related to their decision making. Value, like any commodity, has to be defined. That definition has changed a lot for both provider and patron of late. It's possible to grasp some Vegas value yet..patrons just have to mine em out with more effort these days. When demand and patronage reaches a declining slope, perhaps the casino-resorts will make some different decisions and begin to compete again. Vegas cost and spend conditions may likely never be comparable to those of the past, so visitors are somewhat forced to adjust their expectation bars..even if and when resort competition returns. I'd go out on a limb and suggest that Vegas vacations under today's conditions still compare favorably (overall cost-wise) with other US travel destinations depending on travel starting points, etc. Besides, it's a lot more enjoyable than say..Tulsa, OK.

Tom's kinda dense. He was talking about, and I was referring to, "affinity" cards, not credit cards. Those DO cost money, both to apply and maintain. If Tom wants to think that they don't, and that he's pulled the wool over those companies' eyes and gotten all sorts of free stuff for nothing--well, goody. Consumer gullibility is what keeps America's economy strong.

There's another factor that Vegas visitors as well as vacationers in general should know. Any "deal" that gets you a "discount" is always calculated starting at rack rate, or the highest rate you would otherwise pay. It might not be any kind of deal at all.

Furthermore, a $200 discount on a $400 room is no discount at all if you would never have paid more than $200 for that or an equivalent room.

Naah. There's such a thing as intrinsic value, too. What's 16 hours renting a box with a bed, a toilet, and a TV in it worth? Particularly in Vegas, since your room is basically your crash pad, not someplace you're going to be spending a lot of time in (as opposed to, say, your luxury suite in Hawaii with lounge chairs, an infinity pool, room service, etc. etc.).

What I find irritating is that the casinos have murdered the associated experience. Awful service, anything and everything expensive, gambling becoming untenable...they would be making money hand over fist even if room rates were a bargain. They don't need to do this shit. And despite the prevailing narrative, they're not helping themselves with all the gouging. Yeah yeah, record corporate profits blah blah blah. But how many visitors have been driven back home, wallets smoking, after having been ripped off, treated like shit, and relieved of more money than a weekend at Disney World with four kids would cost? Vegas ain't fun with the $27 grilled cheese sandwiches, the $395 rooms where you can't even get clean towels, and the 86% return $1 ($3) slots. But at the very least, it should be possible to stay there at a reasonable cost. Will those people come back--EVER?

And I don't really care if Vegas compares favorably in cost with other destinations. It used to be FAR cheaper--as of course, the idea was that people would gamble and lose made up for those bargain prices.

And Tulsa is lovely this time of year.

As usual Kevin is the dense one. Affinity cards are credit cards isued by banks. Hilton has an American Express card. Marriott has Via & Amex. American has MasterCard. 

As indicated earlier it is illegal to charge an application fee for a credit card. While some cards do charge an annual fee I get more than that back in benefits. For example with Delta I get free checked bags which make up the $99 annual fee. I also get a free companion pass which is worth several hundred dollars. 

Still trying to figure out why someone who hates Vegas keeps going. 

Your decision is simple, then. Go to Tulsa ( or Reno, Bismarck, Gillette, or Fort Smith  as an alternative vs Vegas). I mean..why go if it pisses you off? The past Vegas conditions aren't likely to return from the standpoints/ levels you outlined ; this has been an ongoing Vegas process for decades but has recently just jumped off into an abyss in its severity. However, I'm sure you can get a grilled cheese for way under $27 in Tulsa...and it'll probably taste better than its Vegas counterpart. The pure lard that they put on most foods in Tulsa ( excluding ice cream) adds come culinary appeal. 

I may be skyrocketing over Tom's head here, but I can still find SOME deals; however, when those deals disappear, I won't be coming to Vegas at all. As it is, I visit far less often and my stays are much shorter.

And I continue to be upset at how rapidly those deals are disappearing, and yes, I despise the people who flood into town like lemmings and pay the high prices and play the shit games.

Great video on visiting Vegas

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi_FGNcFgyM

I think Vegas still has value it's just not in the gambling. My solution was to quit giving Vegas anything other than casual play and I am having a better time in Vegas than I did in the early 00s. It's amazing all the fun one can have when not glued to a Video Poker machine 12 hours a day or more on their "vacation". I get better comps than I did back in the day via MyVegas and then MGM Rewards  gives me free nights at the lower end resorts for simply cycling the MyVegas free slot play through the machines and using their dining comps. Currently, you can get up to $200 in free slot play per-trip through MyVegas.

Hell a couple using MyVegas could get four nights a month free at any MGM resort in Vegas including weekends.  Back in the day Ceasers would stash even their Diamond players in the cheapest rooms they had in their budget properties and you could forget trying to stay on the weekend.  I recall many nights spent in the old 1970s era rooms in the Flamingo in the early 2000s where the room phones were bolted to the nightstand to keep people from stealing them.  Then they would tell you to visit the Diamond lounge where you were treated to a big bowl of stale greasey potato chips and the smallest cans of soda and bottles of water they could find. As far as I'm concerned, I wouldn't want to go back to the good old days.

      It is not surprising that some look at the "good old days" fondly while others bemoan them.