The W Las Vegas hotel charges $16 for in-room coffee. On guest there ties this to the out of control trend in the city towards out of control costs and nickel and dime behavior by hotels that seems to be driving away so many visitors, writing,
Vegas has gone crazy. $16 to use the Keurig at the W.
Guests have been been complaining about this hotel charging for in-room coffee even since it was the Delano. My take is:
- This is outrageous, because in-room coffee is such a standard amenity.
- And it’s worse here, because the hotel adds a $50++ resort fee and still charges extra for the in-room coffee that’s standard even at non-resort hotels. Surely the resort fee should cover the coffee?
- The coffee itself isn’t going to be good! And the in-room machines themselves are often poorly cleaned (if at all).
- And it’s exactly what’s wrong with the hospitality model in Las Vegas. I’ve chronicled the $26 in-room bottle of water at the Aria hotel and the $50 charge for unplugging a cord to charge your laptop at Paris Las Vegas.
The online reaction to Las Vegas hotels charging for water is what you’d expect: “nickel-and-diming,” “hidden charges,” “scam,” “money grab,” “Vegas used to be free parking and free coffee.” The outrage isn’t really about the cost of the K-cups. Guests are already paying a room rate and resort fee, and discovering that basics have been turned into minibar inventory. There’s so little hospitality left in Las Vegas, and an abandoning of a business model that provided an experience to attract customers to casinos.
Other Vegas hotels have the same in-room coffee charge like Mandalay Bay and Harrah’s. Interestingly, the Trump Hotel and Gold Coast downtown both include the in-room coffee in their resort fee.
According to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Bureau, Las Vegas had 38.5 million visitors in 2025, down 7.5% from 2024 with hotel occupancy down 3.3 percentage points and average daily room rates down 5%.
It was the city’s biggest annual visitor decline outside the pandemic since recordkeeping began in 1970. Budget-aware travelers have been pulling back as hotels there have leaned into charging more. That’s not a surprising result. And they’re not recovering, either. Here’s a look at April year-to-date numbers over the past three years.
| Apr 2026 YTD | Apr 2025 YTD | Apr 2024 YTD | 2026 vs 2024 | |||||
| Visitor volume | 13.016M | 13.038M | 13.943M | -6.6% | ||||
| Hotel occupancy | 82.20% | 82.50% | 83.40% | -1.4% | ||||
| Room nights occupied | 14.820M | 14.911M | 15.718M | -5.7% |
$16 for in-room coffee is the perfect symbol of what’s gone wrong. Sure, you can go buy your own K-cups or bring them with you if you’re planning ahead. But you shouldn’t need to do this – you should feel cared for as a guest at the room rates the W charges.
The practice certainly isn’t illegal, these are optional charges, you don’t have to drink the in-room coffee. Of course comparison of in-room coffee prices isn’t something that’s part of hotel compraison shopping. Truthfully, though, the hotel would prefer you didn’t drink the in-room coffee. They’d rather have you outside of your room gambling (at the adjoining Mandalay Bay).
If you must go to Las Vegas, staying off-strip is practically required. And in 2026, the need to go to Las Vegas (for work at the very least) is just about nil.
I’ve been taking my own portable K-Cup maker to LV for years. But now I’m done with Vegas.
Vegas has completely lost the plot. I know all sorts of people, including me, who used to go multiple times per year and now don’t bother. People can now gamble and bet sports close to home. There needs to be an incentive to get people to go to the desert. Getting ripped off at every turn is not that incentive.
@Coolio — Close to home? More like from their phones! (For better and worse.)
Nevada voted for Trump in ’24
Tourism has been dropping since Trump took office.
Vacancy rates are increasing. The “no tax on tips” slogan would have been more accurately described as “no tax due to no tips”
So the hotels have chosen to squeeze every last dollar from the decreasing crowd that shows up anyway.
Not exactly a growth model
Las Vegas is fine. I’m here now playing in the World Series of Poker. FYI most hotels don’t even have coffee makers because they don’t want any reason for you to stay in the room. Go downstairs and order coffee (for $6-$7 a cup). I get all my stays and costs comped due to status so can’t compare to people that actually pay for anything here.
Also LV is drawing exactly who they want. Visitors are down but casino profits are up. They don’t want the low rollers anymore and that is fine w me. Any time the first thing anyone says about a place is that it is “cheap” or whines about how it isn’t anymore you know 2 things – the location has room to increase prices/profits and the visitor is some low budget once a year (if that) visitor.
Its entertaining watching the hotels tell the world the reason Vegas occupancy is down is because of BAD ORANGE man, without even *acknowledging* the slightest hint of their own doing. I don’t know of ANYONE that is in love with going to Vegas – ever since Covid.
-> Once free parking is now paid
-> $30-$50 “resort” fees
-> yet the “resort” pools ALL CLOSE AT 4PM!!
-> Stand in line up to 3 hours to check-in at a KIOSK, which then tells you at 2:58PM that Check-in begins and 3PM and you can pay to check-in early ($50 – $300) or you need to come back at 3:00 PM (standing in that long ass line again) to get your keys. Nevermind the line to speak to a human is an extra 2 hours deep.
-> Slimeball upgrades – eg: “better view” starting at $100 when all it is a different view of the roof of the casino or dumpster. Wanna look at the strip? that will cost you $300+++ a night.
-> Automation of all the games. No more clackity-clack of the coins coming out as you win
-> have to walk 1 mile to get from the curb to the front desk, then backtrack thru the casino to the elevators
-> Have to walk ANOTHER mile to get to your car. Or walk thru a sister company’s casino.
-> housekeeping now every 3 days
-> 1+ hour wait for any service item
Did I miss any items?
When I go to Vegas, I stay at the Gold Spike Oasis and STILL beat friends to the convention floor @ Caesars (when they are staying AT Caesars, haha!).
@Retired Gambler … So much for “retired” (Oh! Wait! So you are ‘retired’ AND you are a ‘gambler’… ahh, here I was thinkin’ you ‘quit’ blackjack or something, like, for good. Bah!)
Went to Vegas 2 – 3 times a year for 20 years. After my last trip, I’m done. High resort fees that offer no appreciable benefit. Fees for everything. High prices for marginal experiences and services. If I want to get my craps on I’ll just go to the local casino.
Vegas is a good time, but I’m tired of being fleeced.
I’ll believe that when demolition of lower-tier properties (i.e. everything on the west side of the Strip south of Aria/Vdara and everything on the east side of the Strip south of The Venetian) starts in earnest.
If you want to pay $115 for a $45 dollar steak, then go to Vegas.
The goofy high prices have turned most away.
Convenient 40 minute flight or 4.5 hour drive from here, used to go to Vegas 3-4 times per year and played enough table games to get rooms and the occasional meal comped. I like the golf (as over priced as it is) the shows are great, food is good pretty much everywhere, but I’m just plain over Vegas or at least the strip. When I go now, I will stay at a resort like Red Rock or others way off the strip and the stays are far more enjoyable. I only head into the strip if I’m going to a show or sporting event. Yes, post pandemic Vegas is not the same as it was 10 years ago and it does feel like you are being squeezed for every bit of juice you bring with you. I recognize that and chalk it up to the cost of entertainment and just know I’m going to pay to play. All that being said, I have not gone to Vegas more than one time a year for the past two.
Is the fleecing due to a decline in gambling profits? Gambling is available everywhere now, including from your home, so that would make sense.
@haolenate said “Did I miss anything?”
With passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill in July 2025, beginning in 2026, deduction for gambling losses is limited to 90% of qualified losses (formerly 100%). While threshold for W-2G was raised from $1,200 to $2,000 jackpots, it has had mixed reviews. Slot attendants report they are getting far fewer tips now. And “no tax on tips” comes with a lot of fine print; it’s a deduction, not an exemption, capped at $25K, and phased out with higher incomes.
@nsx at FlyerTalk – As a general rule, “Millennials” and “Gen-Z” don’t gamble. The few that do use online sports-betting or prediction-market sites.
@Denver Refugee — H’yup.. ‘Kids these days…’ (Now, I’mm’a sound like @George Romey) ‘Back in my day’… if you wanted to lose your shirt, you had the decency to do it in-person at Atlantic City. They donno h’what they’re missin’… starin’ at their phones all day doin’ parlays! It’s a DAMN shame. /s
Las Vegas has a ton of stuff where the consumer is fleeced, but the W Hotel actually offers complimentary coffee downstairs to Hotel Guests. You just show your room card, otherwise it’s like $5.49.
@1990 – And don’t get me started on conferences and business meetings in general. The last couple of conferences I went to, that keynote could easily have been a white paper. Any given conference talk should have been a blog post and GitHub repo.
(Yes, I’m well aware of the notion of the “hallway track” and that the real business at most conferences takes place elsewhere – coffee shops, cafes, casino bars, etc. But that takes a certain critical mass of attendees to make work. Not to mention that many companies now require vendor/partner meetings to be exclusively online with the session recorded for review by legal or compliance if needed. Which puts quite the damper on in-person business events. And explains why I’m already on my fourth Teams call of the morning…)
@1990 – yep you get it! I’m a retired 40 year IT executive (Partner, CTO and CIO) spending my retirement gambling, traveling, playing golf and drinking. Kids are set and they will get a bunch from me when I pass so might as well indulge anything I want.
@Denver Refugee — And here I was thinkin’ these conferences were just to give executives and their families a little vacation. Why else have them in Orlando or Phoenix…
@Retired Gambler — We may not always agree rhetoric or approach, but that does sound nice! (And, if you teach the next generation how to travel-hack, like Gary, they’ll really be set…)
Vital Vegas has an article today referencing 81.2% decline gaming income for Strip Casinos in FY2025 compared to FY2024, referencing Nevada Gaming Control Board data. Actual gaming revenue has not dropped off much so the authors speculate it is labor, rent, and interest on debt that are decreasing net income.
https://www.casino.org/vitalvegas/shocker-downtown-more-profitable-than-the-strip-strip-casino-profits-take-81-nose-dive-last-year/
Tom K, not every single bad thing in life is related to President Trump. In fact, a rational person realizes that 99% of your problems are in no way whatsoever related to him.
I get comped in Vegas so all of this is transparent to myself but I feel for people that do have to pay for it all. Im in Reno and none of this exists. Tahoe/Reno profits are way up it’s a much better value. Even the parking is free at large resorts like Peppermill in Reno.
>Did I miss any items?
Get hit with a fee if you place anything *in* the room fridge, let alone take something out which costs an arm and a leg.
@Tom Esq — I doubt @Tom K from Seattle blames the president when/if he stubs his toe, but… WH policies do have real-world consequences. The administration’s tariffs and new wars caused more inflation. When the price of groceries, gas, and everyday goods goes up, most people reduce discretionary spending. And, the WH’s rhetoric has been fairly unwelcoming for foreign visitors, too, some of whom used to frequent the Strip. It’s undeniable that Las Vegas tourism is down; whether that’s because of those policies, the proliferation of online gambling, or other reasons, Tom K wasn’t wrong to bring up one of the likely causes. Obviously, it triggered you. How fun!
Vegas is there to rape guest pockets not do charity.
Monopolies exist on the strip for a reason.
They want to wash away the bargain hunter from the strip and keep them at Circus Circus or Excalibur.Its worked short term the airport is still packed and the excess volume riff raff low spenders some of them has moved on headed Downtown or to Rio or if they keep their promise aren’t returning .
They keep closing the buffets as they don’t want that customer typically anymore.
The reality sucks for some but it is what it is.We aren’t in Kansas anymore Dorothy 😉
The 70s through 2000 was a different era.Its over
Less guests now but higher spending more profitable guests on and off the tables.
Spending a fortune @ Carbone Bavettes Peter Luger etc
When business is down you see more package inclusive rates
Marriott Bonvoys screws folks in or out of Vegas and I predict it will only get worse as hotel owners revolt.We have lost 7% of valuable desirable International guest traffic in Vegas and that may likely not recover until Trump and his administration are out of office for good.The folks that visit aren’t to pro Trump and many of the low income less educated supported him here that live here.Unless reasonably wealthy this is a better city to visit then to live here in my overview.
The reality is when you look at sports,entertainment dining choices,shopping,the Sphere etc name another city that can compare? Its still a great deal of fun and I’ve invested in luxury property here as I believe in its future.Love it or hate it historically Vegas always comes back and reinvents itself even if it isn’t always for the better in some folks eyes.I do miss its past but its future looks bright despite the nay sayers.And when you come from living in San Diego or New York or other high priced city it feels like a half price sale to own or rent! You can live like a rockstar here.
1990 – Go have a doctor examine you for TDS
@ John L better to be thought of as a fool…
Ummmmmm – lets not forget that Canadian foot traffic is pretty much non-existant due to the current administration. Even with horrible exchange rates they still came to spend their money but no more.
Just not drink coffee. That will show them.