Interestingly enough, M Resort did just that. When the south-of-Strip property debuted back in 2009, it evidently followed the recent precedent set by similar properties (Red Rock, GVR) and opened with a $25/night resort fee. This was still the early days of the dreaded mandatory hotel-room surcharge, but the concept was beginning to take root and spread like wildfire. So, whether it was down to someone savvy in the M marketing department, or or a shorter-sighted but in the only instance of its kind that we're aware of, having debuted M quickly ditched the resort fee, deftly raising its room rates across the board by $25 at the same time. And everyone was happy!
Soon thereafter, an uncharacteristically impassioned Anthony Curtis wrote in the July 2010 issue of the Las Vegas Advisor-member newsletter (click to read a free sample issue, if you're not already familiar), "Compulsory resort fees are wrong! If you want (or need) to raise a rate, then raise it. (M Resort did it right when, after opening with a $25-per-night resort fee, it decided to incorporate the charge into its base rate.) If you can’t afford to include a newspaper, bottled water, or other non-essentials in a low rate, then make a package that includes them optional (JW Marriott at Rampart is the only place in town that does this)."
Unfortunately, in the interim JW Marriott has scrapped that policy; Treasure Island is the only property we're aware of that offers a resort fee-free option to regular guests, but it's only available via one specific TV-ad room-deal offer. M Resort, on the other hand, has remained resort fee-free even after its purchase by Penn National Gaming; we're just waiting to see if the inherited fee structure will remain in place at the Tropicana post its purchase by Penn, or if the two properties will continue to paddle their own respective canoes. (Fingers crossed M isn't eventually obliged to conform to the rest of the herd...)
The fact is, as much as we share the majority's distinctly mixed feelings about the whole concept of resort fees, the best explanation for their existence that we've ever heard came from a high-level casino executive who pointed the finger at the OTAs (Online Travel Agents) like Expedia, Travelocity, Hotels.com, etc. The problem is, those companies can offer a guaranteed purchase of room inventory at a volume that the casinos can't afford to turn down, but which also 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 already-depressed room charge, they do not get to share in the spoils of the nightly resort fee, which the hotel gets to keep for itself and may make the difference between its rooms merely breaking even or not.
So, there is 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; 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 (although we strongly encourage any property that dares to experiment with some deals that waive their resort fee and see if the world ends, or if the M Resort model can work elsewhere.)
