I don't think anybody did, but if that's the story you want to go with, by all means. Have at it. Want to call casinos scummy for resort fees? No problem. Just don't use having to make additional clicks of a mouse as a basis for being upset. Especially online ffs.

if this were the case why arent casinos just charging $1 dollar for hotel rates and making a mandatory resort fee of $300?

Isn't the resort fee pretty much the same for all rooms for all dates? A hotels profitability depends on them being able to wildly price discriminate, and just having a mandatory resort fee for everyone wouldn't allow them to do that.

The ripoff is that it turned comped rooms for many into $32 rooms

Because their internal market research has identified a pain threshold of about $30-$50.

Hotels and airlines don't just make **** up as they go along. They are very serious about making money and they drop lots of money to figure these numbers out.

They want to know exactly how pissed off you'd be at leaving Las Vegas with varying amounts of money, and then leave you with just enough so you don't swear off going to Vegas. They have to let you win at the slots often enough to make you think you might win the next time, but JUST often enough. They engineer the trip to your room to be long enough to see the form of gambling that will entice you, but not so long that you're going to dread the trip (and end up holed up in your room).

How to dick people over is a science, and if you're good at it, you should try to score some of these market research / consumer survey consultancies.

Dont you just love the Stratosphere slogan "Lets Take Back Vegas" or "lets make vegas like it used to be" or something along those lines, yet Strat likes to charge resort fees, which I believe Old Vegas did not, so marketing genius's why dont you start taking back vegas back by removing your own resort fees!! Another do as we say not as we do!

So not completely comping rooms is a ripoff? The grocery store doesn't comp my groceries is that a ripoff

It's not a comp if you're paying for it, it's a discount.

I don't recall if this was mentioned, but it looks like MGM resorts are now starting to charge a fee for selecting a bed type. They've always technically done this in the past, where a King or Queen bed might be a few dollars more... but now there's a bigger gap.

I see a lot of room quotes offering a run of the mill room, where you'll get a bed assigned at checkin. Want a King or Queen bed? That's 25 dollars more.

You could argue that this is also a discount in some regards. It's similar to how airlines are going to start charging for seat selection starting next month. (Actually, United will now have a fee to earn miles too) So yeah, even more fees for flying to Vegas now too.

I would actually pay $25 for a guaranteed king size bed. No matter what my status or how long ago the res was made specifying the bed type, Las Vegas hotels have always, always stiffed me on bed types. Maybe if they had to regurgitate $25 to not give me a king bed I would have less trouble in this regard.

My CET reservations are always specified by bed type and view. The cheapest rooms are kings, 2 queens usually cost a few bucks more.

I don't agree with much you're saying in this thread but I agree with you here. True "comps" on rooms seem to have gone by the wayside, unless you're a cardholder that allows you waived resort fees.

Lets address this first...

Putting Hampton, Holiday Inn, and Arizona Charlies in the same category is like saying: I either want lobster, Steak, or Ramen.

Dude ive stayed at Charies. there is no comparison, price or quality wise.

The fees suck, but your post gains nothing. I hope you dont approach poker like this. Stop basing things off principal. you will lose at life financially. resort fees suck, but if you have 5 nights comped at rio, and the resort fee is 150. Still a great deal. considering the place your staying. Rio isnt the ritz, but it beats anything away from the strip.

But is that Rio price still a great deal when a year or two ago the comped room was free of resort fees? No. It represents another example of the price going up but getting the same thing. Price creep- and keeping people convinced that it's still a good value at each incremental step- is how they keep pushing the chains forward.

So businesses are never allowed to increase their prices? Are you upset that things today don't cost the same as 50 years ago?

A better comparison would be a business that raises the price for the basic product A because their former cash cow, product B struggles in today's world.

It doesn't even matter if gambling revenue increases year over year, if the % of a persons income that goes towards gambling, shrinks.

it's not the price increase that bothers me. it's the deceitful unethical bull**** made even funnier by the fact Cesar's blasted billboards all over town about what a scam resort fees are.

Some weeks in vegas are expensive- some are cheap. I have no problem with that.

yes thats exactly what I am saying. yes, it is still a good deal. you can live in the most comfortable room, have someone pick up all your **** everyday as an expectation. They provide lots.

Businesses don't need to add resort fees to increase prices. If they want to change over $30 more, then charge over $30 more without having a resort fee.

If it were my business and I wanted to charge $30 a night anyways. I would say its free and charge a royal $30 per night resort fee. But im a decepticon like that. As them. Just good business practice. They may not always have the best feel of how to run poker, but bet your ass they know exactly what they are doing with the hotel..

This is the same reasoning that people use to cheat, angle, and not tip at the poker table. It's "good business." It's +EV. Who cares about other human beings right? If I stop tipping dealers I'll know exactly what I'm doing too.

Ridiculous.

Speaking of fees, is it fair to charge $20 a day for a coffee maker?

Vdara starting doing this last year. I never use hotel coffee makers however Vdara had one cup Kuerigs with 2 pods per day in their all their rooms above the deluxe.

now THAT'S brilliant. that's the one item in any hotel room i'm guaranteed to use.

If you agree to pay it ... it's fair. If it wasn't fair you would decline to engage in the voluntary transaction.