One Explanation for Resort Fees

A high-level casino executive pointed the finger for resort fees directly at the OTAs (Online Travel Agents) like Expedia, Trivago, Travelocity, Hotels.com, etc.

The problem, he claims, is that those companies can offer a guaranteed purchase of room inventory at a volume that the casinos can't afford to turn down, but that forces down room rates, while simultaneously locking the resorts into contractual straightjackets that can actually see hotels losing money on their rooms.

However, while the OTAs take a big cut of the room charge, they don't get a piece of the nightly resort fee. The hotel gets to keep that for itself and it can, this executive insists, make the difference between its rooms breaking even or not.

So there might be some method to the madness, but it's too sensitive an area for the casinos to talk about under the current scenario, resulting in the ongoing PR disaster.

Some properties, for example in downtown Las Vegas, have dared not to charge resort fees or to experiment with deals that waive the resort fee and, amazingly enough, the world hasn't ended. But unless or until the power of the OTAs is somehow eroded, we can't see resort fees going away or changing their nature anytime soon.

Comments

Tim Clark Mar-21-2017

pain in the you know what

I dislike resort fees so much that I refuse to go to these places unless I have to, and now with the parking fees the strip will likely never see me again the local places are fine with me.

Brian Wilson Mar-31-2017

regular

my wife and I are elderly and don't use a single thing they
charge resort fees for so maybe we'll cut out our 6 trips a year
to Vegas

Dave Mar-31-2017

Resort Fee Logic is Flawed.

The logic, that the reason to charge a resort fee, is because the OTAs force them to do this is ridicules.  If the OTAs are making it necessary to charge this fee just to break even, then only charge the fee to the rooms sold by the OTAs.  I am not drawn to a specific Casino/Hotel for the amenities it claims are available.  I am not able or even interested in using the supposed amenities.  I reserve a room with the Casino/Hotel directly, therefore, no reason to charge me a fee.  Simple, charge what the room costs, the resort fee is unnecessary,  The only amenity I use is the video poker machines, and last time I checked, I pay for that!

James Jul-03-2018

Resort Fee BS

This joker states that these hotels lose money on their rooms. What a crock! Resort Fees are nothing more than a increase in room rates that are hidden until you actually book the room. Las Vegas Hotels/Resorts have survived for decades without these bogus "fees". Bookings have not changed one iota in recent years. It's nothing more in some, if not most cases, of a 30-70% increase in room rates. Does this clown actually believe we, the Las Vegas visiting public, swallow this baloney?