Question of the Day - 26 July 2017

[Editor's Note: We get this question all the time and we finally got a definitive answer from Andrew Uyal, our inside-the-casino correspondent; Andrew has an old friend who's a valet parker at a major Strip casino. Here's what the valet has to say via Andrew.] 

Almost everyone assumes that valet workers have taken a hit financially since the paid parking movement. In reality, if one valet’s experience is indicative, and we don't see why it wouldn't be, it’s even worse than most of us imagined.

I spoke with a friend of mine, a long-time valet at a major Strip casino, to give us the inside scoop.

Let’s start with the business side of things. Since S.P. Plus was brought in to take over paid parking ventures on the Strip, valet usage at my friend’s has dropped by more than 65%. On their busiest night since the change-over, less than 35% of the valet parking spaces were filled, when before the fees, they would have been 100% occupied. Average nights are worse, I was told, utilizing less than 15% of the valet spaces.

This has led to an overabundance of workers, which brings us to the meat of your question, how the workers themselves are doing. Many workers have had their hours cut. In addition to cut hours, our source tells us that tips are down 60%.

Needless to say, the valet community is furious, inciting a historic and unanimous 385-0 vote to join a union. They were able to negotiate a wage raise of $2 per hour, with hopes of more soon. The union will help provide job security for my friend and his colleagues, but there’s still a long way to go to get them even close to where they were before parking charges were implemented. Many valet workers, including my friend, have been forced to obtain second jobs in order to fill in their income gap.

Two years ago, valet on the Strip was not only a viable career, but a highly desirable position. Now, it’s more suited to young people who just need a job, like bar back or bussing tables. Long-time valet workers, experienced in handling every type of car and all types of guests, including celebrities, can no longer afford to make this a career.

Also, according to my friend, even though gamblers of a certain reward tier are granted “free” parking, until recently, that referred only to money. What was actually happening was the valet parkers would swipe your players card and the valet parking fee was deducted from your points. One guest my friend cited was charged an extra $20 when his tier level dropped while he was parked and he didn’t have enough points to cover it. Thankfully, that’s since been changed and now it’s actually free for those gamblers.

Of course, that’s just a small step in reducing the seemingly endless string of complaints these valet workers are forced to field every day.