We asked MGM Resorts International, which dismissed this query as "rumor and speculation," for which it blamed VegasTripping.com author Chuck Monster. (Yes, that’s his online handle.) However, it can be no coincidence that the topic of paying for parking arises as the MGM/AEG Arena – the naming rights are still up for grabs – nears completion (see QoD 10/27/15). If there’s an event or – as many hope there will be – an NHL game going on at the arena, Strip parking will be at a premium and there’s the potential (emphasis ours) for money to be made by instituting parking fees, as SLS Las Vegas and the Stratosphere both did back in May of this year, capitalizing on the dearth of parking options in the vicinity of the somewhat ill-conceived Rock in Rio festival.
It’s not unheard of on the Strip already. Mandarin Oriental and Vdara charge them (in Vdara’s case because your car has to be valet-parked, as is also the case at Trump International). Many downtown casinos either charge for parking outright or require that you spend money on-property -- and have that fact officially validated -- in order to get your parking comped. The Stratosphere was charging a mandatory $5 nightly valet-parking fee long before resort fees became the norm, and that was regardless of whether or not the guest even had a vehicle!
One thing that’s a metaphysical certainty that if one Strip operator successfully introduces this initiative – and CityCenter has already put a thin wedge into the door – everyone else will jump on the bandwagon, as was the case with resort fees.
From an ownership standpoint, there’s an argument to made for imposing parking fees, particularly if demand suddenly escalates. It’s much the same as the one for resort fees: Customers are now paying for something it costs you little to provide (think fitness-room access, bottled water, or in-room WiFi), so you’re maximizing the potential profit margin. (And we’ve been told by more than one casino operator that the real villains in that instance are the OTAs, or online travel agents, like Orbitz, Expedia, Hotels.com, etc., whose bulk-buying power renders hoteliers at their mercy, forcing them to add an additional fee -- of which the OTAs get no cut -- in order to make any profit on their room inventory.) People who have articulated this point of view differentiate parking fees from paying to dine or attend a show, those being things of value that it costs the casino a considerable amount to provide. Not so all those vacant parking spaces that are sitting there, waiting for some Harvard MBA to come along and ‘monetize’ them.
And, if it happens, it will be part of a wider, mostly invisible trend (although one that many of our readers have noticed all too acutely, judging by the feedback we've received via applicable Reader Polls. Steve Wynn stated candidly last summer that "I changed the casino. In effect, I raised the price. We win more money with [fewer] games now." We’ll spare all but those who care to read it the long and convoluted explanation, but it dealt with things like limiting craps odds to 2X and shuffling low-margin games off to "secondary" locations on the casino floor. In MGM’s case, Jim Murren has been on a crusade to eliminate 3:2 blackjack, making 6:5 games the rule property-wide. With Vegas visitation at record levels (and table games increasing in popularity), what better time to squeeze the player (especially as gaming revenues and room rates continue on a downward slide, despite the increase in guests)?
Returning to the meat of your question, one can only speculate at the impact of parking fees on the rental-car business, but it is hard to see how it could be anything but negative, at least if you have to pay every single time you park the car in the casino garage, as the aforementioned blog post conjectures. (Flexible parking vouchers covering your entire stay would probably encounter much less consumer resistance.)
Taxi cabs, Uber, and Lyft would rejoice, as there would undoubtedly be a greater demand for their services. And it could be the windfall that allowed the Las Vegas Monorail finally to fulfill its potential: Why pay to park your car at MGM Grand, then again at Westgate Las Vegas, when you could make the same trip on the Monorail an infinite number of times a day for 12 bucks? Locals are already alienated from the Strip as a destination for a night out, and pay-for-parking would likely have a glacial effect on that already chilly relationship … good news for locals-casino giants Station Casinos and Boyd Gaming, though!
In other words, if – and it's a big "if" – this scenario comes to pass, the Strip casinos stand to make out like bandits, at least with the new generation of visitors who won’t know any different (and remain reluctant to spend their money in the casinos). However, if you’re not tied to an automobile, remember that that there are plenty of transit providers standing by to take your business -- we just hope they in turn don't start gouging a clientele that finds itself stuck between a rock and hard place.
