Question of the Day - 01 October 2021

The younger generations form the primary Vegas visitor demographic. "You mean blackjack used to pay 3 to 2??" "You mean parking used to be FREE??" "You mean they used to give you free rooms just for PLAYING????"

The starry-eyed members of Generation Whatever have no experience or even conception of NOT being ripped off in Vegas. So to them, Gouge City seems perfectly normal.

Also, Vegas has successfully sold itself as a be-irresponsible partaaay town--which ties into vaporizing your wallet at the tables and laughing drunkenly afterwards. What happens in Vegas actually shows up next month on your credit card statement, but by then, it's too late.

To read LVA or not to, that is the question. There are informed people and uninformed people. The corporations are very smart to run casinos outside of Nevada and fly dump the players onto the strip with free flights. Recommend Vp for winners and the reply is always What, pay for software! I know what I’m doing! And Vegas offers much more than gambling.

not quite half of its entire existence, and more than half of mine; so I've watched the place decline in real time. Last visit was 15 months ago, just about as long as I've ever stayed away: no comp offers.
I gave up on the strip long ago because of high prices and bad games; and on downtown later, mostly because of parking fees. The last few years we've been staying off-strip where it was still possible to play enough not-too-terrible video poker get comped, but that's been slowly drying up, too. 
With the rise of six-to-five blackjack, we switched mostly to poker tournaments. My significant other likes the WSOP, but even that's been on the skids and we passed on it this year.
OTOH, we're still getting comp offers from Laughlin; and there are casinos even closer to home comparable to anything in Las Vegas. And blackjack is still three-to-two. 
Kevin is correct about the new Vegas target demographic, and I'm afraid it has pretty much passed me by. But I can live with it.

I've been going for many years and went in July. Casinos are catering to the lowest common denominator.  The rubes are clueless and as long as they remain that way the casinos will continue to gouge.   

I talked to many people in July about the "worker shortage" and that's not really the case.  The casinos simply are keeping their costs down as low as possible.  Have to wait in a long line to check in?  Too bad, we're booked.  Bad customer service in restaurants?  Who cares, we have record numbers coming to town.  

This isn't simply a case of longing for the "good old days".  When looking back it's human nature to remember the good and filter out the bad. 

I have a ton of other gambling options.  I don't need to overpay to have a "celebrity" chef's name on the restaurant.  There haven't been any new, innovative shows in a long time.  

Vegas has simply run it's course for me.  Many of you will disagree and still love it.  That's great. Whatever works for each person. 

 

For me, Vegas still offers things I can't get locally.  I've just altered what I do there.  I don't pay for parking - if I can't get it comped some how (validation/etc), I just don't go there.  I don't play 6-5 BJ.  I stay on the strip because somehow I keep getting comped rooms there, but I don't play enough to support those comps, so I have no idea why I keep getting them.  I mainly play poker tournaments now, or some limit cash games (there aren't any limit games worthwhile at most other locales).  I play some craps but even that is getting too expensive for me.

Also, with a family, Vegas is a getaway for me.  A trip to a local place just isn't the same (no free drinks, worse games, higher limits, etc).  So, as long as I still get cheap flights and rooms, I'll come.  But I still avoid the gouge (not paying to park, resort fees, etc).

I have seen several polls on why do you like to come to Las Vegas.  But I do not recall ever seeing a poll on why do you not come to Las Vegas anymore or why do you not come at.
The thing that stops me is the $45 resort fee and the 6 to 5 blackjack.

Vegas has a lot of advantages over other tourist places. Warm weather, easy to find flights and some cheap. Vegas  attract all races,  the rich,  middle class , the  poor, young and old, they all can have fun and find a  place they can afford . Great variety of entertainment and food. Open 24/7 .  Nothing like it I have found.  I do go less now that is not such a great deal but still go

 I've been going to Vegas since 1973 my first visit. I was visiting Los Angeles on a work assignment and in the lobby of the Beverley Hills Hilton where I stayed there was a travel agency with a promotion of a flight to Vegas and a one night stay in the new tower at the Hacienda for $11.95 all in. (!). I went and I was hooked for over 40 years. Until the pandemic hit I would go sometimes two or three times a year. I always had great hosts and great offers and still do except now the offers aren't as great. Also the one thing I love to do as I always stay off-strip for part of my visits is rent a car as I love driving around and staying in Summerlin or Henderson. My last visit was in February 2020 and my car cost $159.00 for three days. Now it's $289.00 or more depending on dates and I just won't pay that. Sad to hear about all this gouging going on and once can only hope that like all things this will pass. And if it doesn't I can say I had the best of Vegas and it had the best of me.

Our visitors really get hit in the wallet with the new fees and reduced comps but the ones who really have been hurt have been the local workers.  

After the depression of 2008 the casinos only hired about 70% of the staff that was released.  That meant lower services, and yet the visitors kept coming.  

Now that the pandemic is (hopefully) entering another slow down phase the bosses are at it again.  So many locals have lost their jobs permanently and there is no reason for the hotels to hire them back since today's customer seems to be OK with fewer services and higher prices.

It's sad for the general public and the local work force but it's a time to rejoice for the ultra rich casino bosses.

I run an IT department for a major corporation and people retention is always big on my list. I used to do all the team face-2-face meetings in Vegas - almost everyone saw it as a perk. We could bring in people from almost any state or Canadian province to Vegas cheaper than it was to fly people into Pittsburgh, Chicago, Denver etc. By doing it in a location where our company did not have operations then everyone was available for evening team building vs heading home at night. Hotel rooms were also cheaper and the hotels always threw in the meeting room space. In NYC the Marriot would gouge us $700/day for the space before catering. Although flights are still reasonable the rooms, parking, food and entertainment no longer are. We have since shifted to Orlando. The pain there is that people like to bring in their families which again cuts into team building so I try to get some people to bring family early and some to stay after and have family time then.

I haven't gone since COVID, but definitely will return in the future.  Most of the "gouge" things you mention don't affect me.  My room is always comped for 3 days so even if I pay casino rate for another day or two it's a very cheap stay in a very nice hotel.  As a comped visitor resort fees are waived, so I don't pay them.  I never drive (driving to me means it's not a vacation) so the paid parking is meaningless.  I can still get coupons online for cheap multi-day monorail tickets.  I won't play anything worse than 9/6 Jacks or 8/5 Bonus, so the poorer games don't impact me.  Between the comp offer and what I earn I still usually get several hundred dollars of free play, so even though comps may not be what they once were, how many other resort destinations actually give you money?  I hate buffets, so that doesn't matter to me.  I eat at some great restaurants and usually cover breakfasts cheaply from CVS and get one cheap meal a day at a food court.  Great shows and side trips, too

Even though I live around 80 minutes from AC, and 30 minutes from Parx, in the last 11 years, I’ve spent way more time in Vegas than those 2. For me it’s the comped rooms, nice restaurants, people watching, the desert scenery. You can’t get this anywhere else. Now if the comped rooms go away, and they become less affordable, say prices compared to major cities, well I would give up on Vegas. With the high prices for rental cars, and the higher airfares, I don’t see myself going there anytime soon, but this is probably temporary. 

I still go to Vegas, although I am still worried I will get Covid even after vaccination. Only one trip so far this year, usually its 4 or 5.  Moderna, so no booster yet.  I drive in from LA.  No partking fees as they are comped for me as are the romms, food and drink.  I do not play BJ, but Craps and VP (I know its lousey).  I get away from the rat race here.  My wife does not really like it there and does not really gamble, so I go with friends.  Play golf, eat, play craps, VP, and expect to lose (I am a decent VP player, so its just bad, not awfull).  Still its great for people watching.  I'm not interested in nightclubs or booze, but the sights and sounds are fun.  So is the pool.  So Vegas is still my get away place, even though it's not cheap.  I am blessed that I can afford it.  I do try to find better VP at the local casinos, but that is drying up, too.  Vegas is still fun, unless your only reason for going is to gamble.

The poll you cite is a 2018 poll. a lot has happened since. People are now flocking to vegas amid all the gauging, and those miserable greedy corporate bigwigs is the fact that for a long time we all where practically enclosed in our personal bubble because of covid, and now, just like animals just ut of their cages, we need the freedom, and that's precisely the illusion Vegas gives you, the "what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" illusion. When will it all stop?, as long as people keep spending, hey will keep up the gauging madness, when people start thinking again they will either change for the better or just jump ship ( with it seems they are preparing to do by selling all the physical ties to the city ( buildings and land) and just managing the casinos and hotels and just paying rent, so they do know that this trend will not last forever, and their greed has been shown by that land sale move, and now....we wait.   

Because they have been cooped up like chickens for almost 2 years. One they get out they travel and don’t care about price for now!!! However the Federal Reserve keeps printing trillions of dollars in paper money like the monopoly game. 3.5 trillion more is coming. Another thing coming is major market correction like we have never seen. Inflation 6%. What a joke. Look at food gas lumber housing. True inflation is prob 30%. Recall the fed does not use major sectors when calculating inflation. The casinos as result of all this with few exceptions gutted its video poker pay tables. Who knows what they have done with slots. All of this will cause many people to stay away. Why should I travel when I can play 9/5 DDB and full pay JOB at tunica. They are 30 minutes away. 

By the way I told you of the lockdown coming in March 2019. On of you said I was on a drug high. No one has come forward.  I also alerted Las Vegas Advisor. 

First off covid-19 has imposed thousands of restrictions upon our freedoms and Vegas is the only place where anyone can get a taste of freedom again.

Secondly, let's face it, people are just simply stupid!
Ignoring all reason, all facts, and all consequences to their actions.
This is actually a psychological rebellion toward the pandemic.
It's time to act out their frustrations with random shootings, refusing the vaccine, or total loss of income by quitting jobs or giving it all away to Vegas.
Idiocy beyond belief.

Now I'm going to ask a simple question.
Why haven't any of you written your Congressional Senator and asked why He/She isn't doing anything about a cure for Covid-19, not another vaccine or even a booster, but a CURE?
A cure would put an end to the first and second reasons.

Te LVA subscriber is more knowledgeable than the typical Las Vegas visitor (otherwise they would ALL be LVA subscribers!)

The average Vegas visitor doesn't know what the payouts used to be.  They don't understand or often don't care that the payouts can be different withing the same bank of VP machines, let alone different casinos.  Whatever it "is" in Las Vegas becomes their "new normal".

Being to the point, the vast majority of Las Vegas visitors don't know all the ways that they are being taken advantage of.

I consider myself a "value" visitor and still go twice a year and stay Downtown. I go once during December when rates are lowest, and later when a trade show is in town.  I haven't paid a resort fee in 5 years, use the LVA and American Casino Guide coupons.  I research  and know  where the best VP odds are, where the"few" restaurant coupons are still valid, as well as where to the happy hours are.  

That said, the next trip i plan will be to Reno.

The QoD mentions that some people think that 6/5 is better than 3/2 because the numbers are larger.  This reminds of a story back in the 70's.

Major hamburger chain introduced there 1/4 lb burger.  A competitive chain, wanting to outdo them, came out with a 1/3 burger...it failed.  WHY - Many people thought that the 1/3 lb burger was SMALLER... 4 IS LARGER THAN 3, ISN'T IT???

That answers a lot of questions. 

Ah, the "old timer" adage, "ah, the good old days". 

Come on people, sure, we all have some good memories of things the way they were in the past, but often I think if we are all realistic, they are often distorted. And often badly distorted. We are all guilty of that, myself included. Las Vegas or any biz is, was, and will be about taking one's money in the end. If it takes shorter now to take your money vs the "wonderful old days", is that really impressive to many of you? Your money took longer to be removed from your wallet on a game one can't possibly win in the long run? Seriously? That's "value" to some of you? The games exist to take your money. Always have, always will. In the end, on the other side, the positive, try to stay at a 5 star quality resort, even with parking and resort fees, anywhere else in the world at a price say of the Wynn Resort. You'll be out a lot more money than that. And many people go to LV to not gamble but enjoy the resorts, atmosphere, food, etc. 

Nowadays there are tons of young adults that only care about today, they don't worry or think about tomorrow. They don't want to take the time to check for better deals, they just jump in and pay whatever they're told is the price. Zero patience for checking if the cost is reasonable. And the average young adult is not nearly as savvy about things as they think they are. It's all about selfies and being seen doing cool things, regardless the cost. Not our brightest generation, very susceptible to overcharging and outright gouging. So naturally, the casinos will gladly do the fleecing. Makes it harder for everyone else to find bargains.

OMG !
I find myself agreeing with everything Jerry P said today.
Now I'm worried.
8^)

Here we go again, obsession by some with COVID rears its head again, but I'll bite:

"Why haven't any of you written your Congressional Senator and asked why He/She isn't doing anything about a cure for Covid-19, not another vaccine or even a booster, but a CURE?
A cure would put an end to the first and second reasons."

First, educate yourself, COVID is a SARS virus, same family as the common cold. Do we have a "cure" for the common cold? No. Why? Because this virus family is very complicated. And probably never will be a "cure", viruses are far more intelligent than man-kind, can morph, change on a dime. The best "cure" we have for anything is washing your hands, keeping proper weight(2/3 of us can't do that), eating TRULY well(vast majority don't). 

As for your comment: "Why haven't any of you written your Congressional Senator and asked why He/She isn't doing anything about a cure for Covid-19"

This is pure humor, a joke I'm guessing? Because it's very funny, truly! :)

Many things to do within close proximity of each other.  People want to do as much as they can in the short time they might visit Vegas.  It can definitely hurts the wallet.  But at home, every restaurant I frequent has raised their prices and given you less for the increase.  Vehicle rental fees are among the worst (according to friends).  Pricing has increased 20%+ on everything.  The list goes on.  Yes, the casinos are definitely taking advantage of the demand brought on by the pandemic but almost every other business anywhere is too.  I certainly dislike resort & parking fees, high car rental prices, etc.  But Vegas isn't much different than anywhere else - it's just a concentration of things to do/demand to do them in a short period of time.  Less noticeable when you're doing things from home at a more casual pace.  When all is said and done, you're wallet is gouged either way!  But the incredible ambiance of Vegas can't be beat.  You have to pay for those bright lights some way. 

My circles of friends mostly haven't ever, and likely won't ever, visit Las Vegas.  But they envision it as fun city, not necessarily sin city.  I even had somebody say just the other day "I hear the food is so cheap there!"  Yeah, right.  Well, it used to be.

As for why, from plane to plane I feel pampered.  Either you spend a lot gambling and avoid the fees, have a Host to arrange things, eat on their dime (so to speak), sleep in luxurious rooms, etc.  Or you don't spend much gambling but pay those extra fees which are now quite maddening as that didn't used to be the way it was no matter what your level of play.

Candy

My wife and I have been going to Vegas since 1985. We've totally enjoyed our many trips there. Vegas, however, has turned towards a different demographic than seniors. We don't begrudge them their right to make as much profit as the new demographic allows. While we fondly remember the good times, we're also realistic enough to know that it's over. While we still have offers of free rooms and free play in Vegas, we won't be using them. The Aquarius in Laughlin is where we play now. All the 9/6 JoB and 8/5 BP in nonsmoking areas that I can play. We still get free rooms and free play along with a comped meal now and again. We play only on multiple point days. Points, at $2 each times the multiplier, are redeemable at 300 for $1 in food. If we choose to play points for free play it's 500 points for $1. Vegas has moved on and we harbor no ill will. We just won't play there. When the cheap buffets and free lounge shows went away so did the reason to go to Vegas over Laughlin.

I think looking at the younger crowd, they care more about the pool scene and clubs and figure paid parking is much cheaper than the hundreds they spend on alcohol. As for gambling, I wonder if they even stop to figure out how bad 6-5 BJ really is comparison. I wonder what is now king of the Strip in terms of revenue, the gambling or the alcohol sales?

The only thing different about Vegas is it's bigger. ALL types of entertainment "gouge" us. Been to a baseball game? Bought a beer at a football game? Tried to go to a movie lately? Have you been to a non-Nevada casino? Have you tried to get a decent paying Video Poker machine? Have you had to pay a "destination fee"? WHAT THEY DO IN VEGAS ISN'T UNIQUE. THAT is why Vegas still thrives.