Tag Archives for las vegas.
As properties re-open in Las Vegas it looks like there’s a new opportunity for a surprise ‘gotcha,’ a COVID-19 surcharge. When destinations around the world that have re-opened, or that are looking to, are practically paying you to come, we’re starting to see extra charges not listed on the menu show up on bills in Las Vegas.
And yes – it’s identified as a “COVID-19 crisis” surcharge.
With Las Vegas preparing to re-open, American Express is making a bet on the future of travel and the gaming resort city. They’ve announced this morning that they’re expanding their Las Vegas airport Centurion lounge by approximately 50%. The lounge, once it re-opens, will stay open throughout most of the construction periods with only brief closures.
With golf courses deserted and no customers, $69 tee times are the new $13 cross country airfares
In August the CEO of Caesars declared that resort fees could be the straw that breaks the camel’s back for Las Vegas lodging. Yet just two months later Caesars raised resort fees at Caesar’s Palace, Nobu and Rio.
Now with visitor arrivals to the U.S. under pressure from coronavirus – and the entire Chinese market large cut off from travel to Las Vegas – you’d expect prices to be reduced, not raised. Yet effective March 3 Caesars is raising resort fees at Harrah’s, Flamingo, Linq and Bally’s.
UNLV’s Professor Stephen Miller, who runs their Center for Business and Economic Research, finds that resort and parking fees are driving Southern California visitors from Las Vegas.
There are actually some very basic propositions here, each one of which is completely obvious.
“Resort fees” are extra charges, on top of a room rate, that aren’t optional. In other words they’re part of the price of a room, but the hotel advertises a lower price instead. That’s deceptive.
Now some hotels that already charge resort fees have introduced venue fees.
This past weekend a Ural Airlines Airbus A321 landed in a field after a double bird strike drawing comparisons to the ‘Miracle on the Hudson’ US Airways flight 1549 ten years earlier.
Captain ‘Sully’ Sullenberger became an American hero as the captain of that US Airways flight, and Tom Hanks played him wonderfully on the big screen. Now he’s being ‘honored’ in a different way.
Earlier in the week I wrote about rapper Meek Mill being denied entry to the Cosmopolitan hotel in Las Vegas. He claimed he hadn’t ever had any altercations at the property and that he’s only ever been there one time — “with Nicki Minaj for a Jay-Z event 5 years ago.”
The Philadelphia-born musician’s attorney sent a demand letter to the hotel which claimed “that the Cosmopolitan maintains a list of African American recording artists who should be denied access for no other reason than than their culture and skin color.” They asked only for an apology and access to the property.
If this is true it’s monumentally stupid on the hotel’s part. If the rapper believes it’s true then he shouldn’t settle for an apology, he should sue the hotel for no other reason than to be able to subpoena documents and emails and depose witnesses. And assuming the subpoenas aren’t quashed the hotel would be in a position of having to pay out in a significant way to avoid embarrassment (and then presumably make copies of emails and documents disappear so to avoid a rinse, repeat scenario).
Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel -- a topic he has covered since 2002.
Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »
