You mean, like .....a "host" with access to a limo or a system for a house comped UberXL ?

Because those costs are basically unavoidable. But yes, a lot of people including myself feel like those business practices should be illegal. I also think that Tropicana should be required to put a big "new smaller size" sticker on their containers when they shrink them again.

FWIW, deceiving business practices like not including resort fees when booking a room in Vegas through Expedia are illegal in a lot of countries. There, they are required to list the final price including all fees and taxes on the search results.

You said that luxury hotels were always expensive and that's obviously true. But I just checked old confirmation emails that show me paying $10x including all taxes for regular weekday nights at Bellagio in 2008. Today that room costs roughly twice that including all fees, even though the resort aged 10 years, rooms aren't that high-end anymore and inflation has been pretty low.

You, me and borg23 know all these fees exist and we factor them in from the beginning. But somebody who barely managed to get a high school diploma and travels once every other year might not know about them. That person also didn't read the fine print on his phone contract, doesn't even realize the Tropicana bottle is smaller now and celebrates the 'biggest tax cuts in American history'.

So to answer your question, I don't feel betrayed by corporations for f'ing people over. But I feel betrayed by a government that lets them get away with it for personal gains.

Lex...you cut off the 2nd half of my sentence.
LV will not go down the road of AC ...because they have the option of consolidation, and owning most of the strip. In AC, they were ALL competitors, went after each other incessantly and to their extinction (some). There was no economy of scale, no synergy, just cutthroat survival of the fittest. And then, all the other states got smart and opened up their own.
The End. Nearly.

Fair point, but if he wants to drive himself, then the issue still remains. Look; I get it that one phone call from that OP could have probably taken care of things, and that they would bend over backwards to get him back. However, you would think that they realize that some people won't do this and will instead just walk away, which is his prerogative.

I am not trying to be over practical, but you would think someone that spent as much as him (I would lay 20-1 he isn't lying) would have like a special card mailed to him (prior to the roll out of the new paid parking service) that allows him to just avoid any payment...ever; with a simple flash of the card.

Someone said it above, the idea of going to Vegas is more attractive than actually going to Vegas. When the itch gets too strong, I spend an evening with a couple of beers and catch up on TR's.

Anyone reading this who posts TRs, you might not be the heroes we need, but you are definitely the heroes we deserve.

I will still go to Vegas because I have many friends there and like the good restaurants. That said, outside of the WSOP and March Madness opening weekend it's not nearly as fun to go anymore because there are so many douchbags in the higher-stakes poker games. I can put up with a table full of no personality, but the unnecessary tanking and general lack of emotional intelligence and lack of understanding that it is every player's job to make the game enjoyable has made the game kinda meh. An average $10 blackjack table is much more fun. This was not the case 3 years ago.

I'm mostly indifferent to the fees. Instead, older age (I'm 50) brings with it a sense that there is only so much time left on Earth, and why in the world would anyone want to spend it in some crappy poker game filled with dicks or in front of a slot machine? Hence the rise of PLO. The $10 rock killed the fun in the Aria $2-$5-rock game. So now it's WSOP King's Room or $1-$2 nl or get lucky to find a fun $2-$5 table or don't bother.

I only have one disagreement. I've been going to Las Vegas since the 1980's. I remember when playing 25 cent slots or playing poker got you no comps whatsoever. The corporations decided to trade the cheap meals and free stuff for points you could redeem for whatever you wanted. Drinks? Forget about it back then. I'd say that the poker player and slot player are treated much better today than they were 30 years ago.

As for restaurants, it isn't even close. It is so much better today. Back then, you were charged a fortune for an "Outback" quality steak, baked potato and iceberg lettuce salad even at the best rooms.

If there is any blame for it going in the direction it has, it is because we wanted it that way. Take resort fees. They've done enough studies that show people will chose a headline hotel room cost $1 less with the resort fee tacked on later compared to a room without the resort fee that is actually cheaper.overall

Not really. You could get rooms in a reasonable strip hotel for under 20 bucks. You can't even park for that in some places now. In some places resort fee and parking runs 60 bucks a day. What good is a free room in a place like that?

I didn't buy steaks back then, but I never had a problem finding good, cheap eats. These days I mostly go fast food in Vegas because hotel restaurants are outrageous.

I doubt anyone wants resort fees.

I've been to Vegas about 15 times since 2003. (I last month, for the first time in 3 years.) Overall, I'm glad I went, but the poker was the least favorite part of the trip.

I did all my playing downtown at the Golden Nugget, and it was tough. Maybe I lost money because I didn't get good cards, but it's clear there are hardly any idiots playing; everyone seemed to know what they were doing, and there were more than a few grinders. The only big pot I won in 3 days was when I flopped a set and someone couldn't get away from his Aces. If there was ever a time in Vegas that you could just sit down, be patient and allow the money to come to you, that time is over now. Perhaps the games are easier on the Strip, but I doubt it and I hate staying on the Strip because I feel I'm in an amusement park. My last day I forgot about poker and just played slots and video poker. Lost a lot of money, of course, but at least I had the opportunity to win a big jackpot.

My only trip to the Strip was to see Carrot Top at the Luxor. He really sucked, and the round trip taxi ride cost almost $100. That said, it wasn't all bad. The food was wonderful, although maybe a little overpriced. I was upgraded to a nicer room without asking, so that helped.



But the main reason I will probably keep coming back (at least for now, when I'm single) is the escorts. Beautiful women. Unlike poker, they did not disappoint. That said, I know lots of big cities have escorts, and if the ones that I saw in Vegas suddenly retired, I might not go back for a while.

Dear sir, I think it is time for you to revive the escort thread. I haven’t seen that thing in a long time.

Agreed, that thread needs some life !

Hookers and Blow.......

The quality of both is at an all time low in Vegas. Trust me.

True, I'd guess personal "hosts" were getting squeezed at the time.

The MGM however had no problem leveraging free parking privileges for anyone who got their credit card.

Following this thread with interest as I quickly tire of Vegas during each of my trips... then it's time to leave and I don't want to, and as soon as I get home I'm ready to go again.

I agree with a lot of what has been said so far, but esp this. During one of my blackjack sessions this past trip two morons sat at our table for a bit. Some of the worst play I've ever seen, splitting 10s, doubling hard 15, etc. They weren't doing it to mess around- they legit thought they were making good plays and were really upset when they lost. Obv bought in short- 100$ at a 25 min table.

My point is that IMO there will always be a never-ending stream of clueless people who want to burn what little money they have in Vegas. These guys clearly had little money, and zero clue. Resort fees, whatnot literally mean nothing to them and they have no idea there was a time not so long ago such a thing didn't exist.

Holy crap, where was this taxi from, Barstow?

You want escorts, the place to go is Sacramento. Better looking and half the cost (or less) than in Vegas. Don't know how you find them any more, the old websites were shut down. Sacratomato also has casinos, if you want some poker too.

Next best is San Fran Bay area, but prices are higher than Sac.

I got vomitosis from going to Vegas in the 1980s.

In your haste to mash buttons, you forgot to read the post your quoted.

The whole point that venice10 made is that everyone says they don't want resort fees but yet over and over they voted for resort fees by ignoring them in the search sites.

Hotel #1: $125 with $25 resort fee
Hotel #2: $130 without resort fee

Everyone picks Hotel #1, and then bitches about the resort fee on the Internet.

Not me.

It's all about the Four Queens from now on. Cheap. No resort fee.

Even when you factor in the extra Lyft distance, you're saving $$$.

My wife and I used to go on four day trips four or five times a year. Now it's a couple of three day trips and one four day trip a year.

She plays dollar VP enough that we get comped rooms regularly at the Wynn/Bellagio/Mirage/TI - tend to hit the Bellagio or Wynn if we're getting a cabana, but we're fine at the TI, too.

I think the poster above who noted that once you get to a certain level of play/players card a lot of the annoying crap gets less was on the money. I don't have to pay for parking.I still get stuck with resort fees, but that means I'm paying $35 a night at the Bellagio, which is still a good deal. We tend to go during the week (except for a yearly football betting trip with my brother) so it's easy to get into shows/restaurants - and last year we went the week before the superbowl and got an upgrade to a suite at the Bellagio for $50 a night. I've pretty much stopped playing poker for all the reasons noted above. We're more going for the restaurants/shows anyway - we live in Reno, and while we don't gamble here, Tahoe is only 30 minutes away.

I'd stab myself in the eye with an oyster fork before I'd spend March Madness in Vegas. If you want to bet basketball, the week before is better ( a lot more games with all the conference tournaments ) and the books are mostly empty.

MM MD

This is probably correct and represents the changing face of Vegas. I am not being arrogant when I ask which customer has more money to spend, though?

I'm not smart enough to run a Vegas casino, or any business likely, but it seems to me if I had my choice between a 20-something willing to lose $100 at blackjack and spend another $500 on booze/women or a guy like me willing to lose/spend $5K/trip I'd prefer the guy with the larger, more expendable bankroll.

The "expendable bankroll" part should not be ignored. If a 20-something loses/spends all he has or maybe even taps his credit card to stay in action for the trip it might leave a bad taste in his mouth and not much of a desire to return. I expect to go through $5K/trip and it's in the budget to do so. As long as I have a decent time doing it, I'll be back.

The person spending $5k per trip is a rarity though. If most visitors did it your way the resorts would absolutely gear themselves to you.

To be fair, I'm talking spending $5K in Vegas once I'm there, not necessarily gambling all that. Eating, shows, gaming, etc....

Maybe everyone doesn't spend that much, I don't know, I know I feel like a pretty low roller at that budget, but I'm pretty sure the barely 21 college kid isn't spending that much, or even close and if he is it's on credit.

I could be pretty far off, though.

Add me to the list that has become meh on Vegas. Started in 2003, went a few times a year for a while. Now I might go every other year, or even less.

Overall, I don't burn to play cards like I used to, and when I do (a few times a year), there are games an hour away in our mountain casinos.

What I've found on my last couple of trips is that I'm not really in the casino that much. Go to the Walgreens/CVS, grab a beer, and just watch people on the Strip. Nothing like Vegas for people watching.

It's kind of like Key West; fun to visit, but after a couple days, it's too much.

If you're a big fan and your team is in the dance, it might be the only place you can watch all the games your team plays. On ordinary cable, the games that are shown are chosen by the local schmuck in charge. So you might be in Arizona and want to watch every PAC12 game but the idiot that chooses used to live in Florida. So you have to watch a stupid Florida game instead of a PAC12 game on at the same time.