MGM’s Aria Las Vegas charges guests so much for water that it strikes down a fundamental precept in economics that has held for 150 years. As one guest writes to me, a bottle of water in the room there costs $26!
Also, the person restocking the mini bar..Knocked on my door while I was taking a break between conference and dinner, was grateful to get in. I hadn’t looked in it, he cleaned out of the mini bar – food crammed in the fridge from two guests ago. Told me they are short staffed and can’t keep up.
Told me the price after I had already (out of thirst, in the desert) consumed (fortunately only one) bottle of water. Fortunately the Starbucks downstairs sold water for “only $7.45”.
As an undergraduate economics major I learned the ‘diamonds-water paradox’ that water keeps us alive yet is cheap, while diamonds are useless for survival yet very expensive. Market prices seem to ignore life-or-death usefulness! Adam Smith posed this in The Wealth of Nations,
Nothing is more useful than water: but it will purchase scarce anything… A diamond, on the contrary, has scarce any value in use; but a very great quantity of other goods may frequently be had in exchange for it.
Prices are set “at the margin,” not by total usefulness. Water is extremely important overall, but the usefulness of an extra unit of water (at current levels of supply) is very low. It’s ubiquitous and has a low market price. Meanwhile, diamonds are ardly life or death but the next carat is scarce and highly desired – so expensive.
Marginal utility is the additional satisfaction from the next unit, not from all units combined. Early marginalists economists—Jevons, Menger, and Walras formalized this in the 1870s, dissolving the paradox.
And yet… Aria in Las Vegas proves there really was no paradox after all. Water in the desert is crucial to survival and incredibly expensive for guests staying there!
They have clearly given up on any idea of hospitality. I would think, though, that a $36.28 per night resort fee (inclusive of tax) might be high enough to offer a single bottle of water as one of its inclusions. I guess not!
You are better off actually buying water at inflated airport prices when you land and bringing them to the hotel. This is the perfect example of the kind of out of sample cost that make people feel cheated on a Las Vegas trip, leaving customers with a bad taste in their mouth. And that is dangerous heading into a Las Vegas downturn.
Water is free. Just turn on the faucet.
As Globalist at the Rio or Diamond at Resorts World I get it free.
MGM can blow.
Aria has comped water (MGM ‘purified’) in the rooms too, but the fancy stuff (in the fridge) is always a rip-off.
I aspire to be someone that just doesn’t care about the mini-bar prices, but I doubt I ever will be (even if I had f-you money!), and there’s a CVS within 3 mins walk of the Aria, so go there for $2 water, or the casino downstairs for $7 water, but
How much is the Bud Light? $45?
@L3 – You’re assuming the reclaimed municipal water system in Las Vegas is drinkable.
The Las Vegas of today is way more expensive than the Las Vegas of 30 years ago. I rarely go there now.
I used to have to go to Vegas for work. Hated the Strip area and the costs. I’ll go to Dubai, Bangkok or Singapore anytime over Vegas.
Been 10 years since I’ve been there.
I guess I better not tell you names of the ten different brands of bottled water … some of them major-major, that are actually Municipal Water from Corpus Christi, Texas … this from the City website: “The City of Corpus Christi itself does not bottle and sell water under its own brand, but it does supply the water used by these companies.” I think they should cut a deal with Sweetwater, Texas, just W of Abilene.
@ Pete – when were you at Aria ??? Only room type at Aria that has comp MGM brand purified bottle water is skysuites
The ultimate scam in the hotel industry is the idea that a minibar means you are in a better hotel. If I stay in a mid range hotel I usually get a fridge which is useful. But if I stay in some place supposedly high end I get the privilege of getting charged an outrageous amount for snacks, and often no fridge either.
I stayed at a Ritz Carlton recently that claimed to have fridges in the room. When I got there I found it had a minibar that was unusable as a fridge. So I asked the front desk and they had a small fridge sent up that was loud, ugly, and took up an awkward corner of the room. I would have done much better at a Hampton Inn.
Las Vegas prices have gotten completely out of control, then the executives wonder why visitor numbers are trending down.
Vegas used to be a nice cheap place to visit for the weekend. Now a weekend is the cost of a vacation.
@ ORDnHKG good point. We normally stay in the suites (although they’ve also axed the free limo transfers unless you’re in a 2 bed suite), but we put our kids in a normal room and they had water. I doubt it was status related as all rooms were booked under my (then) Pearl status, but who know. This was also 10 months ago, so things have likely got worse, I agree with others, everything in Vegas is starting to feel like a money-grab, and since most the hotels are also running at a loss, seems like the entire system is just broken.
Pro tip: There is a Target on the strip just north of the MGM Grand that is very well stocked with sodas, water, chips and they have tons of prepackaged salads, sandwiches, fresh veggies, fresh fruit and so on. All of this is at non-Vegas prices. If that’s not near you, practically every hotel or on the strip or Fremont is within easy walking distance from an ABC store, CVS or Walgreens. I think I paid $3 for two full sized bottles of water at the ABC store the last time I was in there.
But how many meals were you able to yield from that leftover food left by those generous “two guests ago” ? Betcha came out ahead on that ‘comp’ when compared to that exorbitant extortionately inflated bottled tap water ! ..lol…
@Doug..cool story bro. What does it have to do with the “actual” storyline? Nobody cares about your travel plans…
When we stayed at Fontainebleau they wanted $20 for bottle of water. Walked across the street and bought 5 1.5 litre bottles for $3.50 each. Rule of thumb is to never buy the ripoff water in the room, same with anything in the “convenient” mini bar. Many hotels provide water free of charge to your room. You may have to ask but they will.
When we stayed at Fontainebleau they wanted $20 for bottle of water. Walked across the street and bought 5 1.5 litre bottles for $3.50 each. Rule of thumb is to never buy the ripoff water in the room, same with anything in the “convenient” mini bar. Many hotels provide water free of charge to your room. You may have to ask but they will.
Uber a case it is cheaper
You knew it was going to be expensive, but you drank it. Rich do not care and obviously you are not rich. It always surprises me how people tend to eat/drink more at airports hotels as if they just came out of hunger or something. How Adam Smith’s principles apply to Vegas; people get tgere to gamble. Conferences: only presenter, discussant, conference organizers and losers attend the sessions, which is another surprising thing to have conferences in Vegas.
“ardly”
Vegas is dead to me. Used to go there several times a year. Most of those casinos don’t have a single drinking fountain in the entire property as well ( I’ve only seen them in resorts world). You’re right, the money grab leaves a bad taste, and there are so many destinations like Las Vegas now, no reason to go there anymore.
Welcome to CORPORATE Vegas.! Just corporate greed.All these properties on the strip get you any way they can. Lived in Vegas since 74 ,seen it go to hell . They even charge locals for parking! Stay off the strip….
Nickle and Diming I can see ‘Vegas doing. $36 for a Premium bottle of H20 is off my chart. Was a 3-4 time a year visitor to Sin City pre covid. Haven’t been back since and the long range travel radar is negatory for… forever.
Vegas of the old is dead. It is a shame in a sense and in terms of organized crime a good thing. Not sure if getting the mob out of Vegas was actually good for Vegas???
Morally no question it is better but the results have been corporate rule of the strip meant to bleed every dollar out of the guest. Back in the day they were laundering so much money that they could lose money and stay ahead.
Obviously the casino was a profit center but the hotels were cheap and nice. The food was cheap and good. There was a lot of affordable big entertainment acts. A lot of things got comped if you were a regular. Crime was low except, you know, but in the city it was safe. No one was going to mess with the territory of gangsters.
If Vegas is going to stay profitable they need to have the same recipe. Affordable rooms and food at the Casinos, affordable entertainment, etc. Make a profit on the gambling and make people want to come back often because they perceive value.
Either you get a customer once and bilk every dollar from them one time because they aren’t coming back or you give them a lot of value for their gambling and give them shows, and encourage return visits through promotions etc.
Las Vegas is a great city. The city planners and Casinos need to bring back the feeling of old Las Vegas without the mobsters. Limit profits to one side of your equation and give incentives. You make less per visit but return customers are a gold mine. How do these Casinos/corporations not understand basic economics.
You can gamble anywhere practically these days with tribal lands open everywhere, besides the resorts, Red Rock Canyon, a few parks, Art district, there isn’t much unique about Vegas. In the summer it can be really hot. If people can go to Hawaii or Mexico or some other place that has more geographically to offer and has most of the same amenities for the same prices and shopping why would you go to Vegas?
I want Las Vegas and all of the workers employed by the Casinos and various related industries to thrive and grow reasonably over time not get milked for every last drop of profit until the well runs dry. Vegas could become the place to be. I would also encourage entertainment industries for filming in the city. Clean up and revitalize some areas. Make Las Vegas an experience you can’t forget at a price no one else can match and you will have tons of people here. So simple.
@Ben B – Conferences? You mean wasting several days of your time and several thousand dollars of your employer’s money, staying at an overpriced hotel, enjoying mediocre-at-best catering and a laughable open bar all for the privilege of attending blog posts, but performed live?
Don’t worry soon the aholes will be begging locals to come get half price this and that’s like pandemic. Locals tell them to fkoff .
No more nickel & diming you, they are ten & twenty dollaring us. Use to go 4-6 times a year. Now stay local. San Diego
Reading this article made me stupider.
There is not a person on this planet that would think anything out of a mini bar is going to not have a sky high upcharge.
Dieing of thirst in a desert could have paid 0 dollars and got a glass of water from the bathroom., it is as clean as any other city’s water
Las Vegas Casinos on the strip is just nickel and diming people and that is one of the many reason visitors are not coming to Vegas!!!! This is another example plus charges for the plate at MGM for dine in orders – really!!!! Just stupid!
Vegas … never again ..
Waaay way overpriced. A fool and his money are soon parted and they have it down to an art .
Between the Vegas hotel fees, over-priced lousy food, homeless druggies lining the strip and downtown streets and the general ghetto population from LA pouring in for the weekend, why go to Vegas anymore? It blows.
One more time, thank you, Gary, for continuing to ‘name and shame’ properties that do this egregious nonsense.
On water, I’m reminded of the ending of the film The Big Short, where they say Michael Burry, the investor who called the 2008 financial crises, claimed that water scarcity is one of the world’s most pressing issues, and as demand rises, the value of water will increase. Well, maybe Burry’s onto something.
Also, screw Nestle. Horrible company behind much of the water-speculation.
Governments around the world should follow Israel and the Gulf states’ lead in desalination infrastructure. We could practically prevent sea-level rise while turning our deserts green if we leveraged that technology properly. Likely, a combination of nuclear power to fuel the entire process would make it all possible. Anyway, utopia in our time, right? Or, we can just do WW3 instead. Cool. Cool, cool, cool, cool.
Get water at the gas station right off the Strip near Flamingo
Supermarket. Dozen 16 oz/500 ml bottles. Worldwide under Us$8.
I don’t play well with highway robbers.
Aria won’t get my business.
Curious how they got a $32 Resort Fee there when it’s been $55?
It’s worth it to pay $26 because that’s where Jason Bourne went and where CIA Director Tommy Lee Jones stayed. A celebrity endorsement, almost.
Nothing new here. The article is about 10 years late on the subject. I’ve seen similar prices arround the world.
I was shocked and vividly remember the tag on a bottle of water next to my bed in Moscow, in 2014. The tag said “Quench your thurst” and the paper under the bottle showed a price of the bottle 1000 rubles (at that time $1 = 30 rubles). I am paying attention to the watter prices since that.
why cant you just drink from the tap? its that bad?
Two alcoholic beverages and a popcorn cost me close to $90 at the David Copperfield show.
The Vegas clientele has changed tremendously over the last 20 years. Vegas’s current crop of largely younger tourists have no idea how much prices have increased there.
The older ones who do stay away. But if you do go, the restaurants are still largely full, even with their very high prices.
Resort fee at Aria is $55. Not sure how guest got it for $32. Fiji water was over $20.
At the Hilton Elara we get a couple of free bottles of water at check in and no resort fee. Diamond status has it’s privileges. I haven’t stayed in an MGM property in Las Vegas in years they charge a fortune for parking too. The Elara and Southpoint still have free parking
@Denver Refugee I’m guess you believe airplanes are shooting chemicals out of their engines, vaccines cause autism and fluoride is harmful.
The water coming out of the tap is just fine. Most of us have been drinking it for decades and don’t have a third eye or an appendage growing out of our forehead. But, hey, if you want to pay $26 for the illusion of safety I’m sure Aria will thank you.
Did it ever occur to any of you that tap water is potable in the USA in most cities?
The service is not worth the resort fee there anyway. To me, Aria is tight; and, 3 star- not 5 star.
Vegas today is a place I’d rather avoid. The 60s and 70s were fun times in sin city. Eat, drink and smoke for little or nothing, as long as you were gambling. We won alot of money in those years. It was fun, shows were entertaining and staff was all over themselves being of any assistance needed. We visit our children who reside there, but never go out on the town anymore. Place turned into a big sewer.
I bring a bottle of dehydrated water that I make myself at home. It is affordable, gets through TSA easily and weighs almost nothing.