I'll gladly build them the finest parking structure known to man for 400 million and keep 50m as my "fee".

Edit: read article, structure is only going to cost 56 million. My offer still stands lol.

link for the credit card is live

That story seems to say that hotel guests won't have to pay for parking, and even will be able to park at other MGM properties for free. Who knows if it is accurate though. It could really be that they will only have to pay once.

Actually what that article says is consistent with guests having to pay for parking. In the video for hotel guests on the MGM website, it says:

http://www.mgmresorts.com/parking/


Still doesn't sound convenient to me but whatever I'm used to MGM acting like its customers are idiots.

The only new parking garage I've heard about is the one that's supposed to be behind Excalibur which hasn't been built yet.

Well, the article is oddly vague, but it does say: "Hotel guests will be able to use their room key access cards to avoid parking fees". I guess it could mean they can avoid paying more than what they are already being charged to their room, but it would be an odd way to put it. Anyone reading the article who hadn't heard of the issue previously would certainly be likely to infer that their parking would be free.

They just mean that you can use your room key to get in and out of the garages and you won't have to bother with getting any tickets or paying at any kiosks when you're staying there, but when you pay for your room/resort fee/etc. you will have to pay for the parking then.

If anybody is really concerned about the issue they should at least visit the link I gave which has a brief video explaining what they have to do.

You're probably correct, but I just think the article implies otherwise. I believe a lot of hotel guests are not going to expect the parking charges and will be angry when it shows up on their bills.

I wonder if it will be "conveniently charged" to all guests, even those who are not arriving by car. If so, there will be even more angry guests.

How many non-Golds are paying $20 for valet? I imagine the valet areas are a ghost town.

People will show up and have no idea they are supposed to pay. In the article I linked to the guy and his wife were angry about having to pay up to $10 a day to self park and they were obviously shocked about it and had no idea it was going on.

I think the article is not clear on that issue and I do think it could easily confuse people and get them to think hotel guests have free parking. But it's clear on the MGM website that they don't. On the site I linked to earlier it says this:

I noticed it says parking MAY be conveniently charged to your room bill, which to me suggests it won't be charged if you never use a car in Vegas.


In the FAQ section it says stuff like this:

and

So it's pretty clear that hotel guests have to pay.

Same was true of resort fees but look at things now. They are here to stay

The resort fees are here, but there is legislation pending to try to outlaw them, which I fully support.

Peoples objections to resort fees is really nothing more than a mental block. We all understand that a room rate of $150 and a resort fee of $20 is the same thing as a room rate of $170. And banning a hotel from calling it $150 plus a $20 resort fee is just going to mean they charge $170 for the room rate and adjust other charges or discounts accordingly. Why any person cares about the title of the charges is purely their own issue that doesn't change the actual costs.


This is significantly different than a parking fee because a parking fee applies to people who wouldn't be paying a room rate at all and in this case doesn't affect people paying a room rate but not using the parking facilities.

My objection to resort fees is that it makes price comparison significantly trickier.

This, and the fact that comped rooms are really no longer free. If resort fees were outlawed, they probably would still give out some comped rooms, which now would again actually be free.

Except they could either comp you for all but a certain amount. Or make you play more to get the comp.

I don't find price comparison to be very hard. And if you are using those price comparison websites they could program to show total price with resort fee. That they choose not to do so is their shortcoming not the hotels.

If it makes no difference, why don't they just add $30 to the room rates and drop the fee then?

oh wait because it's better for them and worse for consumers if their prices are less clear

Sure they could, but I don't think they will; it doesn't sound as impressive to offer a discounted room as a comped room.

And maybe the websites could program to show total price, but if so it would take a lot more work on their part as the fees are always going up. Even Super 8 Motel in Vegas has a resort fee now; I wouldn't expect Orbitz or whoever to be able to stay on top of that.

You are just making excuses; the hotels do this deliberately for deception and no other purpose. The fact that it may be possible to work around the deception with extra effort doesn't excuse it.

It was explained before that by doing it this way they have to pay 3rd party sites less.

Why don't you also argue for them to include tax in the listed price then?

It's not deception because it's fully disclosed.

I mean, not including tax in prices is probably in my top three gripes about visiting America as a tourist, so...

That's fine. As long as your logic is consistent I have no issue with it.

Do you have a source on this? It seems dubious to me that third party sites would let you get away with something so obvious and that Vegas would be the only place to have thought of it.