The American Spectator "Vegas suffers from its own greed"

You knew it had to happen at some point. I used to come out here for vacation, then I do staycations. It' very expensive to do so. We used to do 4 staycations a year but we have only done one this year. We do still spend many weekends down at the strip, in fact we were there Friday night. We tend not to spend money like we used to though and don't spend the night like we used to.

 

I'll note that among my professional friends, we used to occasionally take lunches at different properties and now it's such a hassle that we keep to off-strip places, or Fashion Show Mall which we know is free. I'm not spending $6 to park for a $10 meal. MGM has gotten especially heinous with its event parking. Their regular self-park area is $25 if there's a concert.

Now that I think about it, I don't really know which properties charge locals and which don't, and since it's a PITA I just avoid all of them unless I have to. So there's an argument it affects properties that don't even charge just because I assume they are all going to try something.

I see that the North Outlets is going to become a victim of its own huge growth lately and is adding some sort of metering to its parking. I used to stop in every 6 weeks or so and sometimes buy just a clearance shirt or hat. But again, I'm not going to stop in for an $11 shirt and pay $5 to park. Defeats the purpose of going to a place that is for discounts!!!!

 

Locals park free at the outlets.

 

I personally think MGM's parking fees have hurt them. Wynn has already stopped it.

If you look at what's going on at the North end of the Strip, there is no paid parking at the Treasure Island, the Venetian, the Wynn, Encore, Circus Circus, SLS, and Stratosphere. Its highly unlikely the new hotels of Resorts World and The Drew will go paid parking given they want to get people to switch.

This this kind of pressure, MGM will be forced to replace paid parking with resort fees or something like that (Wynn did the same thing -- increasing resort fees). That will steam roller through the other properties.

I have no problem in MGM charging parking at T mobile. But to charge everyone for just visiting any of their properties every day -- especially locals -- is ridiculous.

BTW: The Raiders stadium "tax" is about $1.3 dollars a day. It's insignificant so the story is really tainted and visitation to LV is at record levels.

 

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So I went on the Mirage web site and hypothetically punched in the dates for SEMA, October 28- November 3.

I then entered my M life card, to see what the discount would be.

Take a look at the pic. The taxes and resort fees completely wipe out the savings / discount.

 

The tax that is paying the public portion of the Raiders new stadium is very, very miniscule. Last time I was down there (strip) locals definitely didn't get out of paying for parking, either. It's not really too big a concern for me personally, as I only visit downtown a couple times a year so I guess you could say I'm just prepared to light money on fire when I go.

 

People forget that part of the Raiders room tax pays for the new Convention Center expansion and fixing the old one ALSO, which we absolutely need. It's not all going to Raiders stadium.

And, the county has control of what events go in it because we paid for part of it. There are groups working now on securing all kind of other events (sports and non sports) that will be held there -- all of which will support additional tourism.

 

Sometimes the journalists see the sliver of information and then like to sensationalise the meat they put on the bones around it to make the story a hundred times more sensational than it really was...... who knew? Hehehe

I’m hitting town in September, so I reckon MGM will be able to spike their projections skywards again!

 

"Resort Fees" are a racket.

 

We were at the strip on Saturday shopping as we often are and it was packed. Bought my grand kids, my wife and I coffee at Starbucks. Even that was $35 for the 4 of us (~$22 off the strip). The wife and I recently stayed in a weekend in Scottsdale and paid under $100 a night at the Bayfield which is decent enough for me. The money I saved paid for the gas and then some compared with a "staycation" here in Vegas with a crapy room. No parking fees either...................just sayin

Ok not as exciting but I enjoy Scottsdale.

 

Scottsdale is great; I am a big fan.

 

Aww, man, it’s okay when you live in the greatest city on earth to be a little tired of the costs now and then, it spare a thought for people like me, living in one of the most boring countries in the world surrounded by socialists..... I need Vegas, and the cost is just the cost, and worth every penny!

 

I would be a liar if I didn't say my wife and I go to the strip almost every weekend we are in town, we just don't spend money like we used to. And when you are in town I would love to meet you!

 

Me too... I’m in town on Friday next week, so I’ll try to remember to send you my cell, maybe you could text if you plan on an evening on the strip and we’ll organise something! Be good to put a face to the name here

 

FYI The Wynn Resort does charge locals for self parking,its only free if you spend more than $50

 

Thanks to the trolls in the f1 section I was banned so couldn’t get in touch while I was in town, but the strippers are all safe in the knowledge their bills have been taken care of for another semester!