Some readers may be surprised to learn that it was all the way back in 2007 when we first fielded a question on this topic, which we responded to in the June 16 "Question of the Day" of that year. The specific query we were sent read as follows: "I live in Las Vegas and from time to time book hotel rooms for visiting friends or relatives. It seems quite a few hotels have extra fees that are collected at check-in and are not included in the room rate. Hotels will call these charges 'resort fees,' 'energy surcharges,' etc. Can you please list the hotels that have such fees, and the amounts?"
Here is part of our response, paraphrased, from back then (since which time, we might add, we have tackled in excess of 20 queries on this subject, making it an unquestionable QoD FAQ):
Back in 2004, there was something of a scandal in the hotel industry, when a number of major chains -- including Hilton, Wyndham, and Starwood -- found themselves facing class-action lawsuits alleging that the extra fees being added to their declared room charges were unfair, since customers had not been informed of them prior to checking in. The Las Vegas-based Station Casinos group was also named in the suit and agreed to pay a settlement of between $2.50 and $3 per guest, in coupons, to those who'd stayed at what then was their total of nine Las Vegas properties, between April 1, 2001 and April 4, 2004, and had been hit with $1-a-day telephone charges (regardless of whether the phone had been used or not) and a $3.50-a-day energy surcharge. Those former guests numbered some for 940,000.
The energy surcharges that some chains introduced nationwide coincided with a spike in electricity prices in 2001, which some hotels opted to offset in a specified add-on, as opposed to folding it into a higher nightly room rate. It's ironic that a policy introduced back then with the objective of operating with "transparency" and keeping the guest informed about (what was originally to be) a temporary extra fee is now widely reviled as the casinos nickel-and-diming their customers, much in the same way that airlines have felt a backlash from customers unhappy at being separately charged for carry-on luggage and other services and amenities that formerly were free/part of the ticket price.
While all of their properties here continue to charge nightly resort fees, years after the energy crisis had passed, Station wasn't necessarily the originator in Las Vegas of the dreaded resort fee, however. The now-defunct Stardust, plus the Tropicana and Circus-Circus hotels, were all also involved in the lawsuit, having previously slipped in add-ons for such seemingly standard amenities as the hotel pool and fitness center.
What the attorneys ruled was that such "resort fees," while unpopular, were legal as long as the guest was informed in advance, which triggered a bemusing response from the PR spokeswoman for Hilton Hotels, who countered defensively with: "We thought we did notify people. We had signs on the reservations desk. We told them online. But there's always somebody who didn't get informed."
Online booking had yet to emerge as the predominant means of making a hotel reservation back then, while posting a sign on the reservation desk seems a tad tardy for the guest who just flew in from New York or Anchorage.
Still, while the casinos were ruled against back in 2004 and were obliged to issue those coupon rebates, it wasn't the concept of the acceptability of resort fees that was on trial, apparently, but rather what was deemed a deficiency in the communication channels. Hence, when we answered this question in 2007, not only were Stations' fees still in place -- in some instances having skyrocketed to as much as $19.99 per night in those intervening years -- but other properties had also jumped on the bandwagon.
For example, back then Mirage had debuted a $15/night resort fee, which covered two passes to the "Secret Garden" attraction, access to the fitness center, a daily paper, unlimited local and toll-free calls, two bottles of water per day, bath robes in the rooms, and notary services in the business center. Sister properties in the MGM group had also signed up, with a declared $12.95/night fee at Luxor, $9.95 at Excalibur, $12.95 at Monte Carlo, $11.99 at New York-New York, $20/night at the Signature at MGM Grand, and $4.95/day at Circus Circus --one of the original instigators of the concept.
By the time of our June 2007 call-around, Stratosphere was also charging $5 per day, which covered 2-for-1 show tickets, Tower passes for all room occupants (reg. price $9.95 per person, but the resort-fee versions were valid from 10 a.m.-2 a.m. only), access to the pool and fitness center, laundry facilities, a funbook, and valet parking. The Trop was charging a $5 nightly fee, the former Ritz-Carlton out at Lake Las Vegas had added a massive $25 charge, for which they at least appeared to throw in the kitchen sink, listing coverage as applying to high-speed Internet access, phone calls, transportation to/from the airport, business-center amenities, a daily newspaper, pool, spa, and fitness center access, yoga classes, reduced tee fees on the golf course, mountain-bike hire, board games, volleyball, croquet, beach toys, and a $100 gift certificate for the boutique. At the humble Sahara, meanwhile, a $4 mandatory nightly fee was explained as breaking down into a $3 energy surcharge and $1 for the phone, following the Stations model.
From then on, there's been no going back -- aside from at M Resort, which debuted with a $25/night resort fee but soon thought better of it and simply upped the nightly room rates instead. Luxor, Excalibur, Monte Carlo, New York-New York, and Signature at MGM Grand had all joined their sister instigator Circus Circus, with fees ranging from $4.95 up to $20/night. It was in March of that year that we called, and were informed that Mandalay Bay would be introducing a resort fee that May, which it did, while absentees from the list including MGM Grand, Aria, and Bellagio, have all since introduced nightly mandatory charges, as have the majority of Strip hotel-casinos.
While downtown seemed to be immune to this trend for some time, with only the Plaza joining the unpopular ranks of hotels charging nightly fees, others have recently followed suit, as have the majority of the other "locals" casinos. Click here for a complete list of current list of Las Vegas hotel resort fees, including what they include.
