This is perhaps the most pathetic series I have ever embarked on. But our local Strip resorts seem to have run out of ways to make money that aren’t sneaky like the resort fee or customer service damaging like layoffs.
Anyway, I took a few moments to make a list of ways casinos could earn more money or bring in more business that are straightforward. I regret that most of these ideas still suck for the customers, especially locals. But they all beat more layoffs, less service and a dull and lifeless Vegas.
I will be refining and expanding and looking further into some items on my list before posting them. So, instead, I will share with you one-by-one over the next weeks my modest proposals on easy ways Vegas resorts can make more money. This inaugural idea really sucks for locals like me. But in the interest of helping casinos remember how to make money, I offer this one first:
Dear Casino Executives or Dudes(well, statistically still overwhelmingly dudes):
Why don’t you charge people who don’t stay or play for self-parking at your resorts? It seems so obvious to say this, but, you know, people are totally used to paying for parking in every other city. Strip real estate is expensive. And, building any parking garage in the tourist corridor is expensive, too. The Hard Rock has a beautiful and totally free new parking garage.
My point: People will understand a $2 charge to self-park or whatever the charge. Any low charge would collectively generate a lot of cash for the resort and still kill compared to the hourly rate people are used to paying for parking in most cities. Resorts essentially have a monopoly on convenient resort corridor parking. When it comes to selling overpriced soft drinks, resorts understand this advantage. Why are you still giving the parking away for free?
In case you never have been there, the downtown casinos in Las Vegas charge for parking already, have for years, and they simply use a ticket validation system to exempt customers from having to pay a parking charge. Who would think you big Strip folk could learn anything from downtown operations? This is supply and demand at its most basic; people need a place on the Strip to leave a car. And, most people don’t care if that parking lot is at a casino where they intend to be a customer. At least, you can get those people to pay a few dollars or to do some business on your property to get their parking validated. Again, it adds up.
Parking in New York or LA is expensive. But that is not really what is most relevant. More importantly, from theme parks to concerts in their hometowns to wilderness camping grounds, customers are accustomed to pay for parking at entertainment and vacation destinations. Yet, in Vegas you can leave your car for days at a resort where you never spend a penny, and that remains free. Time to charge? Yrs., Richard (Photo: Lanie Crossman)
Hmmmmmmmmmmm…….
Richard teaching Steve Wynn, Kirk Kerkorian, & Sheldon Adelson among others how to make money. This should be very comedic.
They make parking free because they don’t want to miss out on people gambling $100 because they’d rather save the $2 on parking.
Also, there has been many times when I’ve chosen to go to the Strip even though I’d rather go downtown because I didn’t want to deal with their parking hassle.
Also, I think that free parking should be seen as a service amenity, so to charge for parking is decreasing the level of service, which is something you said you were going to avoid with your suggestions.
Also, people come to Vegas to escape the downsides of LA and NYC, one of which is parking. Also, NYC (and to a lesser extent LA) has a strong public transit system, giving people alternatives to paying for parking. In Las Vegas, there is no alternative.
Sorry, Richard, but I really hope they ignore this suggestion. I eagerly look forward to your other ideas.
I concede your points Cindi. But there is no way to make money without someone having to spend it. And, as I note in the item, the losers on parking will be locals like you and me who park at a casino but are not customers at that casino. Downtown casinos allow customers to validate parking. Maybe Strip resorts can at least get you to buy a soda there to take care of validating parking. And, remember I am proposing this as an alternative to sneaky charges like “resort fee” which is far more likely to make a customer never come back to a property. This is more likely to make you a customer where you park. Yrs., R.
Richard, I also think this is a bad idea. I’m one of the many people (who stay and spend on the Strip) who would feel that such an act would “go against what Vegas is” –especially since I’ve been to the strip since I was a small child in the early 80s –I was happy to trade the cheap prime rib/lobster specials and buffets for top restaurants, but I don’t think free parking should go. Besides, the people that visit downtown are hardly the same crowd as the Strip. I remember driving down Glitter Gulch and being fascinated by the signs that are now sterilized in the Fremont Street Experience. Any first time tourists I take there are thrilled to leave (though happy they “saw it once”). It stopped being relevant, or a good comparison, a long time ago.
Besides, doesn’t the Trump charge for parking? I know it did when it first opened (or at least a rumor that it did was spread to tourists like me). That was all I needed to know to avoid it and deem it an inferior strip hotel (that frequently appears the cheapest luxury hotel on travel sites). That’s not a good omen.
Trump doesn’t have a casino. And, my suggestion is for resorts with casinos. Is it too late to put a casino in Trump? Anyway, customers at the casino/resort property, as for downtown, can get free parking by validation. And, people who are just using a spot would pay a little charge. For example, I would not mind paying $2 to the Rio when I park there today to watch WSOP. I am not spending a penny at the Rio otherwise.
People are used to everything costing more on vacation including overpriced toothpaste and even an extra quarter on the newspaper, if you buy it at the casino (in order to get a wrap around advertising section), at the sundries shop. Anyway, no charge is popular. But I think a parking charge is fair. Again, I point you to the “resort fee” as an alternative. That is infuriating, sneaky, and not optional. Anyway, if casinos listened to me then New Frontier and Stardust would still be standing. Yrs., Richard
A problem with parking fee’s is that there would have to be some form of collusion among the strip properties, I doubt anyone would want to go first and hope that everyone else jumps on the bandwagon otherwise the people will go to the adjoining property with the free parking and usually the means having to go through that casino to get anywhere.
My guess is that is that if the casino’s i.e. MGM Resorts International (or what ever they are now) implemented your idea they would simply roll it into the resort fee anyway and then try telling us with a straight face that we were clamoring for it all along.
I follow you on twitter and was wondering about your thoughts on the ethics of Casino’s like the Luxor, Mirage, Excalibur etc using Twitter to promote room rates for $39.00 or so per night and not mentioning the resort fee as part of the rate, it seems awfully close to “bait and switch” to me when the resort fee can end up adding $15-$20 per night to the advertised rate.
Jim
Jim, I totally agree with that. That is one of the many ways that “resort fees” are sneaky almost to the point of dishonest. Thanks for reading. Yrs., R.
Parking…one of the few affordable items left in Las Vegas. A simple validation system may be reasonable. Nonetheless, Strip parking garages have high volume…validation system would back things up.
Resort Fees are total nonsense. They are sneaky and dishonest. It’s tough for Las Vegas: Indian Casinos have greatly affected it’s core business: Gaming. Hotel corps decided that going Upscale would make up for it. Along the way however, they priced out the gamblers, cheapskates, families and Seniors. What’s left: Singles that don’t gamble, and a small wealthy crowd.