Not sure if this is the right area for this topic, but I did a search and didn't find much under "resort fees". Do y'all have any tips or tricks to avoid these meaningless, dumb fees? I have a total rewards account, but not diamond member status. I will be staying in the Flamingo in August.

Last year I booked through otel.com (for a few nights at Flamingo) and they couldn't tell me if I had to pay resort fees, and that its up to the hotel, ect. So I call the hotel and they tell me its based on who I book with, and that they can't see anything in their system other then that I'm booked for the week and paid up, but can't give me an answer on the resort fees. Call back Otel.com and explain this to them, still no answers. I end up keeping my reservation, going up to the Flamingo counter and apparently I lucked out, NO RESORT FEES. This year I attempt to do the same thing and both parties make it clear to me that resort fees are mandatory this time, but could not give me any answers as to why I didn't have to pay last year. Did I just luck out? Do most people just chalk these fees up as annoying fees that have to be paid?


Any input will help. I booked for August already, but can cancel my hotel stay whenever. Flight is just set in stone...

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/10...-fees-1504103/

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/10...rrahs-1421762/

Resort fees suck but non Diamonds have to pay them. Unless you give the hotel lots of action, they will not be waived. You got lucky last time I assume.

if you were Platinum last year it was enough to have the resort fees waived. Now it takes Diamond level or better to get the resort fees waived.

You were likely Platinum last year and fees were waived for platinum members last year.

This year you need to make diamond to get fees waived.

Edit: I was slowponied...

I'm actually only gold. I just checked and I don't have **** for offers! lol

I know at most places if you play a little slots, some other games, they will want to remove the resort fees at the end if you request in on checkout. Obv it helps to play in their casino a bit, but most people do gamble anyway right?

If you gamble enough to earn out on comps the same amount that the resort fees are, then yes they will comp them. But they're not giving you anything, you're just choosing to use the comps you earned for this rather than something else.

BTW, they won't "want to."

no they probably dont want to, but it sure isnt hard to force their hand to make me want to come back. 5 minutes of talky talk at their front desk saved me $200+ my gambling was quite minimal too.

Details of the interaction? Some of us have trips coming up soon and want pointers.

Even with the resort fees, the cost of accomodation in Las Vegas is still not expensive compared to many other places in the USA. Just add the resort fee onto whatever the basic cost is, and don't stress about it. You are in Las Vegas to have a good time. Good for you if you can get it waived, but it is stilll no big issue if you can't.

Yeah, you're being screwed by hidden fees and bait-and-switch advertising practices, but hey! You're still getting a pretty good deal overall, so you should just lay back and take it.

Eff that! If the cost is Y, advertise it as Y. Not X (+Y-X). The sad part is that people fall for that shady marketing crap, so once one place starts doing it, the others have to join in or lose all the booking. Hopefully the FTC will step in soon and make them either require upfront disclosure or making the damn things optional.

What makes you think they're not disclosed up front? Every time I've booked either directly through the hotel or on a 3rd party site the fees have been shown before I click "submit"

On all the sites I look at for accomodation in Las Vegas when I am planning my vacation, they quite clearly state there is a resort fee, and the amount, where applicable. That is not bait and switch. Its called reading the fine print. Compared to world wide accomodation prices for similar standards of accomodation even with the resort fee, accomodation cost in Las Vegas is a bargain. One of the reasons why I travel to Las Vegas almost every year for a month or more from Australia, is because of the cheap costs for good, clean comfortable accomodation.

Roll on August 2.

1) Not all sites disclose before submit, though this is improving somewhat.

2) Comparison shopping still takes forever at the sites that do disclose, because it doesn't show in the search, only in later steps. This is definitely bait-and-switch advertising as they get you in with the "base" price, (bait) and then add on the resort fee only after you've got the whole thing ready to book (switch). That is the definition of bait and switch, though some people mistakenly use it to mean "doesn't deliver what is advertised," which is actually outright fraud, not bait and switch.

3) Even the sites I've found that show it in parens in the search make you do the math yourself rather than showing a unified total.

4) It is not a convenience fee if it is mandatory. If you could turn it down and not get the wifi/newspaper/whatever, then I'd be fine with it. It would be silly nickle and diming, but it would be legit.

I agree that Las Vegas is generally reasonable priced overall. What I disagree with is the misleading practices to make it seem as though it is even more reasonably priced by pretend that part of the cost is actually something else.

Whatever.

Sure, but the practice is so widespread across so many different industries - fuel surcharges on air fares, the 23 extra fees on your phone bill, etc. - that it's increasingly akin to tilting at windmills.

every extra fee on my phone bill is a govt tax or fee. hard to be mad at the cell phone companies for that.i have in the past had them add on some administrative fee of their own which was taken off after i noticed it and asked them to remove it.

fuel air charges are included in the price.

hotels are intentionally being deceptive with this horse ****- and to top it off have the audacity to tell me it's being done for my convenience despite the fact i wouldnt pay 30 cents let alone 30 dollars for any of the worth crap the resort fee includes.
In the case of total rewards, this is being done a year or two after having a huge advertising campaign boasting of no resort fees.

And ... ?

You need a warning label on your computer monitor?

"CAUTION - companies may screw you over if it pads their bottom line. The contents of the website you are about to visit may be designed to make you pay as much as possible to receive as little as possible in return"

When I go to purchase tickets from most online sites, there is often a fee attached that didn't show up when initially searching for seat prices. WHERE IS THE OUTRAGE

And?

If you wanna bend over and take it up the ass from them knock yourself out

For those of you in this thread who travel to Vegas a lot: what is the best way to comparison shop hotels with minimal effort (IE, sites that show all the fees up front, rather than having to click through constantly)?

I start with priceline or kayak then check the hotel website. mlife and totalrewards make this easy to because you can search all their hotels at the same time

Most of us who travel to Vegas a lot or live in Vegas have player cards and get comped rooms or for longer stays (2 weeks) get rooms for under $10 a night they our players cards so we don't comparison shop because there is nothing cheaper than that out there. Plus, if we are CET Diamond, we don't pay the resort fees.

Exactly.

You can either bend over and take it up the ass from every single company that tries to squeeze every dollar they can get from you, or you can go fight every single company that tries to squeeze every dollar they can get from you.