It's true, you rarely find a coffee maker in a Las Vegas hotel room. The principal reason is that the casinos don't want you enjoying a leisurely cup of coffee in your room when you could be drinking it downstairs -- and spending money. Though things have changed drastically in the last decade, and rooms (especially at the newer resorts), have many more creature comforts than they used to, casinos still seek to minimize the number of reasons to stay in your room.
Throughout the world, even the sleaziest of motel rooms usually has some kind of hot-beverage maker, but in Las Vegas it's definitely a luxury -- although not always one that's found in the most luxurious rooms. For example, and as you might expect, the rooms at Green Valley Ranch, the Palms, and the Four Seasons do have coffee makers, but then so do those at Casino Royale, Four Queens, Golden Gate, and Terrible's. Meanwhile, the rooms at Venetian, Bellagio, and even Wynn, don't.
While keeping guests in areas of the resort where they can spend more is the primary motivation for witholding coffee machines, there are a couple of other practical reasons. According to the Clark County Health Department's Regulation 96, governing the "Sanitation of Food Establishments" (which surprisingly includes hotel rooms, if they have coffee makers in them), all food-serving equipment must be washed in a three-compartment sink in an approved sanitary area, or in a dishwasher. So the maids can't just rinse them out in the bathroom sink and be in compliance. This makes coffee-maker upkeep a more labor-intensive operation, further removing any incentive for hotel management to provide them.
Yet another reason is sheer expense, a point made to us by a source in senior hotel management: "When you've got several thousand rooms in your hotel, providing coffee for all of them on a daily basis can seriously eat into your bottom line. So why bother when the competition isn't doing it and you're already providing 24-hour-a-day room service?" However, the same source also informed us that coffee makers are the most-requested amenity and that the property he works for is seriously considering introducing them next year, especially now that the availability of single-cup makers, where all components are disposable, makes it easier and less costly to comply with Health Department regulations.
Perhaps the strangest answer we've come across regarding this subject is that they encouraged the manufacture of crystal methamphetamine -- both in and out of the rooms (they were being stolen). Yes, we thought this was a bit far-fetched, too, but Las Vegas is known as a crystal meth hotbed. And whereas this isn't a concern in 90% of Las Vegas casino-hotels, there have been instances of hotels- (and motels) -turned-labs getting raided in some of the seedier parts of town.
For our full survey of which casino hotels do and don't provide in-room coffee makers, visit https://www.lasvegasadvisor.com/coffeemakersurvey.cfm.
