Second, it’s a hassle to have to remember to get the ticket validated, and if you do, find someone to do it. This gets worse if you forget and have to pay the fee. That might keep a person from retuning to the casino. Also, the casinos will have to set up an infrastructure to collect the fees and validate the tickets.

Third, most drivers who park at strip casinos do business in those casinos (gamble, eat, see a show, shop, etc.), and would not pay the fee anyway. Downtown is a different story–the casinos are right on top of each other. But doing it there has another purpose, keeping locals who work nearby from taking up parking spots meant for gamblers.

Finally, people like me who visit and sometimes rent a car, and sometimes don’t, will be less inclined to rent a car. And that will be bad for the car rental business, as well as properties off the strip. So if implemented, some kind of waiver for rented cars should be included.

My guess is that you have no idea how much money will be made by such a scheme. My guess is very little if any. It might drive people away.

Strike one.

I hope your future suggestions are better.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Richard teaching Steve Wynn, Kirk Kerkorian, & Sheldon Adelson among others how to make money. This should be very comedic.