{"id":132,"date":"2009-09-10T16:02:00","date_gmt":"2009-09-10T20:02:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/blogs\/dmckee\/index.cfm\/2009\/9\/10\/From-the-mailbag-4-California-tech-troubles--resort-fees"},"modified":"2009-09-10T16:02:00","modified_gmt":"2009-09-10T20:02:00","slug":"from-the-mailbag-4-california-tech-troubles-resort-fees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/from-the-mailbag-4-california-tech-troubles-resort-fees\/","title":{"rendered":"From the mailbag #4: California, tech troubles & 'resort fees'"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reader Kerr Mudgeon<\/strong> is less than amused by a recent dig at the cuisine offered by Commerce Casino<\/strong> to California firefighters. He writes: "The firefighters can go to numerous other nearby eateries if they don't like the FREE meals offered by the Commerce Casino — same as paying casino customers can eat at other places if they choose. Sound like 'looking the gift horse in the mouth<\/em>.'"<\/p>\n

Good news from IT<\/strong>: Our "austerity regime" of no photos and no links will, it is promised, be ended today. I can think of several potential blog entries yesterday that went unwritten because no linking capability was available, so this should put some wind back in S&G<\/em>'s sails … although some might say a lack of wind is the least of this blog's problems.<\/p>\n

It's absolutely imperative<\/strong> that you read our 9\/10\/09 Question of the Day<\/em>. No, I didn't write it. Our hard-working research duo of Jessica & Tanya<\/strong> did. (Also, Steve Friess<\/strong> recently mis-credited me with the Today's News<\/em> column; that's a J&T Production, too, along with the occasional assist from Anthony Curtis<\/strong> himself.)<\/p>\n

Aaaaaaaaannnnyyyyy-way, today's topic (and it's only online for one day<\/em>) is the pernicious Vegas phenomenon known as the "resort fee." The winner of the Sustained Greed Award goes to longtime gouger Station Casinos<\/strong>. Station's Green Valley Ranch<\/strong> is also the premier resort-fee offender ($25).<\/p>\n

Others who provide optional amenities — of varying desirability — in return for the fee include Bellagio<\/strong> ($25), The Mirage<\/strong> ($15), Planet Hollywood<\/strong> ($5) and Gold Coast<\/strong> ($3, which actually buys you quite a lot). The geniuses at Morgans Hotel Group<\/strong> get the Steal the Stripes out of Your Socks Award for charging you $7 for "in-room safe, parking, minibar (but not its contents), bath products, and a plasma TV."<\/p>\n

There's a word for that Hard Rock Hotel & Casino<\/strong> practice and the word is "chintzy." As our researchers note, "For hotels to presume to charge guests for amenities that they have no intention of availing themselves of, but cannot avoid, seems a very counter-productive measure that can only generate ill-will<\/em>."<\/p>\n

Kudos to<\/strong> the following fee-eschewing properties: Venetian<\/strong>, Palazzo<\/strong>, Wynn Las Vegas<\/strong>, Encore<\/strong> and anyplace owned by Harrah's Entertainment<\/strong>. Yes, Harrah's. I tip my fedora to you, Gary Loveman<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reader Kerr Mudgeon is less than amused by a recent dig at the cuisine offered by Commerce Casino to California firefighters. He writes: "The firefighters can go to numerous other nearby eateries if they don't like the FREE meals offered … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[88,60,34,28,7,53,11,102,6,12,57,32,8,9,19],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=132"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/132\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=132"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=132"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=132"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}