News and notes from around the interweb:
- The problem with Las Vegas is that visitors are now treated like marks rather than guests. The $50 gotcha charge at Paris Las Vegas for unplugging a cord in the room to charge a laptop is a perfect example. So, too, is $26 for a bottle of water in the room at Aria Las Vegas.
But this $45 ATM fee at Venetian sure seems next level:
The Venetian charges a $45 ATM fee because gamblers are "inelastic spenders" willing to tolerate the pain as long as they can keep playing. https://t.co/10xl8ZX0hy pic.twitter.com/h9kWcdMNCA
— Las Vegas Locally (@LasVegasLocally) November 13, 2025
- Marriott Takes Heat From Ousted Guests With Sonder Liquidation (Bloomberg) Not only were guests kicked out mid-stay, while others had future stays cancelled and are facing more expensive rates to rebooked, but those who prepaid reservations are out the money. They booked through Marriott, but Sonder has the money and they’re in bankruptcy.
Guests learned about the property through Marriott. It’s called Sonder by Marriott. They booked through Marriott and paid through Marriott. But the guests are on their own.
“Reputation laundering is the phrase I would use,” said Gary Leff, author of the travel industry website View from the Wing. “Sonder was obviously really troubled when they entered the deal to begin with. Fine, you make bets and it’s a bad bet. Customers are the ones who take it on the chin.”
- The Trump administration isn’t really deregulating, as told by the Deputy Secretary of Transportation: For every new significant regulatory requirement imposed – which don’t come along often – the Trump administration requires 10 deregulatory actions. But each of those just requires a change in one phrase in a regulatory action. So DOT is making hundreds of phrase changes to rules, often where they’re just outdated, constitutes a deregulatory action. “The 10 for 1 is not going to impede our ability to continue to regulate as necessary.”
- Abandoned Chinese Hotel Is A Graveyard For Rolls-Royce Phantoms And Limousines (HT: Paul H)
- Why anonymous air travel is important. Anyone could fly under any name before 1996. Airlines hated it because it meant tickets were resellable and that undermined their price discrimination and revenue management strategies. But the move towards identifying everyone – biometrically! – has real costs.
- Canadian judge: it’s crucial for passengers to record interactions that show they’re being mistreated by airlines remember that if there hadn’t been passenger video of David Dao’s being dragged off a United flight and bloodied, airlines would never have changed their practices nor would DOT have changed its rules. (HT: Gary A.)
- Bilt partner GoPuff now delivers cash from Robinhood. Robinhood doesn’t have its own ATMs, but they’ll deliver you the cash. Just remember to link your Bilt account.
Robinhood $HOOD just announced its partnership with Gopuff
"to allow customers to withdraw cash from their Robinhood accounts and have it brought right to their door. For a $6.99 delivery fee—or $2.99 if they have more than $100,000 in assets across their Robinhood… pic.twitter.com/M03HdX8atw
— Evan (@StockMKTNewz) November 13, 2025
- Hyatt Cyber Sale ‘up to 30% off’ bookings made by December 11 for stays through April 30.
Imaginary discounts on the Hyatt properties check so far
For that usurious ATM fee: Does Schwab Debit still reimburse?
ATM fees are refunded for citigold and bofa honors, even a $45 fee.
I have zero sympathy for anyone that uses an ATM at a casino or a strip club. They deserve whatever fee is charged. Personally I take sufficient funds and also set up a casino line of credit (easy and no charge) to tap if I prefer. Been to hundreds, if not thousands, of casinos and never used an ATM (never will).
I’m glad I reached Lifetime Platinum with Marriott so now I can steer clear of them except where it’s convenient for me rather than working to hit 50 nights a year through card credits and stays. Marriott is just a shadow of what they were a half dozen years ago. @Gary’s post about that a few days back really hit the nail on the head.
On the Vegas front, I’m less surprised than I should be. I don’t mind gambling but want some value in exchange for my statistical losses through comps. Instead, hotel-casinos are trying to squeeze every last possible dime from visitors. Then those places wonder why less people are choosing to visit.
Good for the Canadian judge and good for the couple who preserved their evidence despite the illegal action of the airline. Too bad the law isn’t written to make getting compensation for such incidents easier.
This $45 fee is misleading. He chose use without pin. And it then requires you go to the cashier to get it. This is not a regular debit with pin. He already maxed out his daily atm withdrawal that only had like $4.95 fee.
Speaking of Marriott it’s 53000 points at an autograph hotel
Yet 132 dollars for a non refundable rate at Marriott.com
Incredible ripping off of Bonvoy members
When did they become crooks?
@jns — Good point! And, Gary’s right: Dr. Dao, UA3411, never forget.
@Dwondermeant:
Bonvoy!
Seriously – while there’s often a weird disconnect between cash rates and points rates (I suspect availability buckets don’t move in concert), there are some insanely bad deals out there.
So one of the things where the that picture is doing a disservice. Is that a ATM withdrawal or cash advance. You can do a cash advance to bypass atm withdrawal limits for which they charge a sizable amount. You can do charges to your credit card that look like hotel billing where they give you the cash. Should not be so foolish to fall for internet bait.
Marriott shows what’s wrong with deregulation.
It’s Vegas just finding yet another way to show the middle finger to its customers.
It’s great to see that the customers have finally decided to return the favor as well
The $45 is a fake story posted for rage clicks – please dont give into it. It is NOT an ATM fee – it is how people can “buy” money out of their account when they have reached their daily max. Please stop posting these clickbait stories.
@ba — “internet bait”… Hey! That’s half of this site!
There is absolutely no reason to travel to the desert and spend your hard-earned money anymore. Casinos price the city at high-end coastal resort prices, while providing an increasingly low-end experience in the undesirable desert. Why anybody voluntarily goes there anymore is one of life’s great mysteries.
@Jake – I have been to Las Vegas well over a hundred times and enjoy every trip. Only go 2-3 times a year now since there are so many other casino options. You wonder why anyone goes well let me tell you a few in my case:
1. I gamble enough (mainly with Caesars) that I typically am comped the entire stay in the hotel, have additional free bar drinks (plus what I get while playing) and have enough credits in my account for anything I want to eat.
2. The entertainment options are second to none
3. Likewise, the food options (and I’m not just talking about celebrity chef restaurants on the strip) rival any other city
4. Golf, hiking and other outdoor activities are amazing
5. I play poker and the games available, especially during the World Series of Poker, can’t be beat
I realize Las Vegas (and gambling in general) isn’t for everyone but there is absolutely a reason to keep going back. The city has changed to focus more on upper middle and higher end gamblers so the days of “cheap” Las Vegas are over. The good news it they are getting a better class of visitors.
@Retired: I lived there for almost a decade sir/ma’am, and work still requires me to visit several times a year. If you are a regular gambler, there might be an appeal or benefit, but everything else you stated seems to be describing a fantastical alternate universe.
Equal entertainment options and even better golf courses can be found elsewhere, so the “second-to-none” descriptor feels like it is coming directly from their marketing people. Those comments seemed accurate 30+ years ago, but they haven’t been true for quite a long time. When I lived in Vegas, I was able to get free tickets to the ongoing shows on the Strip, and they were universally meh. I walked out of every show thankful that I hadn’t paid to see it.
The food options are easily among the most overrated in America, and not this fictional smorgasbord of quality, unless you think a celebrity’s name on a sign lends any credence. There are really good places to eat there for sure, but far fewer than you seem to believe. Certainly far fewer than you would expect for a city of their size, much less any place even remotely considered “high end”. Vegas restaurants are Exhibit A to disprove the old saying, “you get what you pay for.” In Vegas, too often you pay a lot, but don’t receive a product or service commensurate with the price.
Outdoor options? Hiking in the desert, at the lake (Vegas’s toilet bowl), or in the small forest up at Mt. Charleston is far from amazing activities. Any mention of the outdoors for a desert city that spends a significant portion of the year in the 100s is unusual and would require modifying the definition of “amazing”.
What You Left Out:
Take a step outside the casino and you’ll find the riff raff peddling their wares, harassing you to take a picture with people wearing costumes, the least attractive women you will see wearing showgirl costumes, pathetically expecting $ for conversation or a pic, a less clean environment than you would expect from a “high end” location, and the disgusting smell of weed (not against people using it privately, but the smell is revolting) that is pervasive on this supposedly “high end” Strip.
You miss entirely the absurd pricing. Perhaps you assume high costs mean high-end. I invested heavily in Bitcoin years ago when it was $12k-15k and currently own my own AI company (Blessed with incredible timing on both) that is having a banner year. Thankfully, I’m not hurting for finances, but that DOES NOT equate to overlooking a corporation in the hospitality industry in a less-than-attractive geographic location ripping me off. You put that city on the southern coast of Florida or South Padre Island, and it seems less absurd, but the middle of the desert?!? No thanks. They need to incentivize people to visit.
Again, it is bewildering why anybody goes to Vegas voluntarily anymore, but to each his/her own. IMO, history will look back at the late 1990s to the early 2000s as the peak of Vegas. Too much competition elsewhere and an upside-down value proposition will lead to a downward trend in visitors as we progress, unless there is a significant shift in the industry’s approach. If you haven’t visited Macao yet, I encourage you to do so. Only then will you see the stark difference between the future and the past. Only then will you realize just how far Vegas has fallen while others stepped up their game.
The ATM fee at Cheetahs is cheaper than that
That is not a standard ATM fee. That is the fee that is a percentage of the transaction once you choose not to use a PIN or use a credit card as opposed to a debit card. I’m in Vegas every month. Use the ATMs all the time (bank reimburses) and even the most exorbitant Strip casino fees top out around $11. Surely not cheap, but also not $45.