HET / PH milking the "no resort fee" angle
Started by erzeszut on Thursday, 29th July 2010 11:58 am
Planet Hollywood has been active today with their "no resort fees" gimmick. PH President Marilyn Winn and Peepshow's own Holly Madison unveiled a pile of cash on the casino floor. They claim it's 12.7 MILLION bucks, which is the amount spent on resort fees by Vegas visitors last month.
http://tweetphoto.com/35607816
Interesting if true. And I think HET is going "all in," so to speak, with their "no resort fees for us" angle. Since I'm normally comped at HET properties, I like this. With all this PR centered around their lack of resort fees, they won't be able to backtrack and implement them any time soon.
vespajet responded on Thursday, 29th July 2010
I'm beginning to think that Harrah's is overplaying the whole "no resort fees" thing. The amenities that many properties include in their daily resort fee are ala carte items at Harrah's properties. Sure not everyone is going to use the in-room WiFi or use the workout facilities or get a newspaper everyday, but for those that do, it's a not a bad deal at $20 a day. Not all resort fees are created equal, and some properties do have value for money when it comes to the resort fee.
erzeszut replied on Thursday, 29th July 2010
How are they overplaying it? If you want those amenities, great -- you have many, many properties on the Strip that are happy to take a resort fee from you.
As Chuck said, options are good. And I'm pleased that HET is remaining committed to no resort fees, so that those of us who think they are a colossal rip-off have somewhere to stay. :)
If I were paying for the room, the bottom line would be all that mattered. A $120/night room is equivalent to a $100/night + $20/night resort fee room, in my book. (Though for the operators, it's entirely different, as the resort fees aren't taxed.)
But most of my trips to Vegas involve comped rooms. A $20/night resort fee on a "free room" for things I'm not going to use really stinks.
If I need Internet for one or two days while I'm there, I'll pay for those days individually (and my workplace will likely reimburse me, something they will NOT do for a "resort fee.)
I'm not in Vegas to work out. And the last time I read a dead-tree newspaper was about 1997.
I was a fairly loyal customer of HET before all this resort fee hullabaloo, although I have branched out to MGM and Venetian in the past couple of years. But this might just bring me back, for good.
vespajet replied on Thursday, 29th July 2010
It appears that many resorts do collect tax on the resort fee.
To me, Harrah's is pushing the no resorts fee as a way to get those who would never in a million years stay at one of their properties (except maybe Caesars Palace) to stay there. They're trying to do something similar to what Southwest Airlines has done in regards to the checked baggage fees other airlines are charging. There are plenty of other Las Vegas resorts that aren't charging resort fees, in fact, none of the casinos Downtown do.
In some cases, the resort fees at some properties are a joke. Sahara's $6 resort fee includes use of the pool, as does Hooters' $7.50 and the Westin Casuarina's $15 resort fee. To me, that is an insult, as with the exception of the more upscale pool offerings within a pool complex, the pool should not be a charged for item. At least TI gives some of your resort fee back, as you do get a $20 resort credit for a future stay.
I bet that once the economy recovers and the room occupancies and the room rates are back up to earlier levels, the resort fees will stay in place.
Chuckmonster responded on Thursday, 29th July 2010
Competition is what makes the Vegas experience better for all of us. I'm all for flouting and shouting and calling your competitors out for being boobs by using boobs.
MinVegas responded on Thursday, 29th July 2010
It makes you look like a dope if you're a casino and accuse other casinos of bilking people's money. I mean, honestly. It's like watching a couple of gold diggers go at it. If you saw a stack of money in Aria that says "THIS IS WHAT HARRAH'S ENTERTAINMENT MAKES ON RAISING THE PRICE OF THE BUFFETS $5" it'd be just as asinine.
It's not the money that's the problem with resort fees, it's the hidden nature of it all. Most of those millions can be attached to people who wouldn't have minded spending it on their rooms if they had only known beforehand.
Whoever planned this stunt doesn't understand what people don't like about resort fees. It's not that people want to stay at the Wal-Mart of hotels and are looking for a "we sell for less!" motto. It's that even people who don't mind paying more don't like the intellectual dishonesty of the hidden charges.
Chuckmonster replied on Friday, 30th July 2010
good points.
harrah's is demonstrating the intellectual dishonesty by stacking up gigantic piles of cold hard cash.
personally, i'm a resort fee agnostic... in the case of free internet, extra towels, spa access and a coupla bottles of complimentary bottled water in my freeze dried room, i'm all for it. in the case of free covered parking, free faxes and local phone calls... i'm not.
vespajet responded on Thursday, 29th July 2010
I guess that in some ways, Harrah's is trying to educate consumers, even if they end up not staying at a HET property. It may sway some to stay at a Harrah's property, just enough to make the costs of such a campaign worth it.
jinx73 responded on Friday, 30th July 2010
To me HET's a bit ridiculous with the newest publicity stunt. After staying at both MGM and HET properties over the last 2 years, I can tell you emphatically that I'm easily willing to pay $15/night to stay at an MGM place even when comped as opposed to free for HET. There are at least two MGM resorts that are not applying resort fees for comped guests (Luxor for comped guests, and Bellagio not at all). Plus none of MGM's resort fees are past $15, which is standard 1 day internet at HET.
Here are some of the reasons I find HET's promotion silly based on my experience.
1. HET's nickel and dime tactics are far more prevalent then what I see at MGM. For example, an equivalent pool cocktail at Flamingo and Bellagio, $2 more at Flamingo. This is across the board too for other things on the properties, heck just take a look for spa service pricing, where HET was first to weekend/weekday tiered pricing. $135 for a 50 minute massage at Harrahs Spa, compared to $140 standard at Caesars is plain old gouging as Harrahs spa is a dump. That's just a comparison for internal pricing, take it in comparison to MGM and you'll easily find $15 to $20 per day of 'extra' pricing compared to MGM in other amentities that are likely to be used during a trip.
2. Staffing at HET properties is noticeably down, maintenance, service, and other areas are suffering for it compared to what I see at MGM. I'd rather see them put in a resort fee and keep their properties clean and at appropriate service levels, then for them to continue to work under less then optimal staffing levels.
3. While I think some of the resort fees are way too high (Wynn, LVS) or ridiculous (sahara, trop). The fact is, I like some of what MGM is doing with them. For example at Monte Carlo, your resort fee of $12/day allows you to upgrade to full spa access for $5 more, at $17 a day it's a savings over one day pricing at any HET spa. Plus for those that want to work out in Vegas, having it included in the resort fee, is a far better option then what HET has to offer in most cases. Again this gets back to the nickel and diming, and I realize everyone doesn't use all that's included in a resort fee, but if I add up what HET has to offer for price compared to a resort fee, the resort fee easily winds up being 50% less.
Just my two cents, I like that HET's not charging them, but the pulbicity side of it irritates me, as it feels dishonest to a certain degree, because HET's 'experience' isn't 'better' depending on how you are approaching it.
vespajet replied on Friday, 30th July 2010
TI's $20 a day (plus tax) resort fee is on the high end, but there definitely is value for money if you take advantage of most of what it covers. The $20 resort credit for a future stay is a nice touch.
To me, charging for WiFi is becoming less and less of an since more and more folks are using smartphones to access the internet and don't need WiFi. My last two trips, I took my WiMax modem with me, as the hotel's daily WiFi cost would have totaled more than what I'm paying a month for WiMax service. While many smartphones do have the ability to use WiFi, many folks don't use that function.
The printing of boarding passes is good if you're flying Southwest and you're wanting one of their A boarding group passes. With more and more airlines giving the mobile boarding pass option at many airports (McCarran is one of the airports in the US that is currently setup to handle mobile boarding passes downloaded to one's smartphone.), one doesn't necessarily need to print a boarding pass.
jinx73 responded on Friday, 30th July 2010
vespa, you may want to see if SW has an app for your style of phone, it's one of my favorite apps on the iphone, saves the checkin hassle and ding push notifications are great tools.
Also you make some good points on TI's fee, the future credit is a nice twist, although I think $20 is too high period for resort fees, since they are daily fees. In my opinion the sweet spot is $10, that's fitness center, a couple bottles of water and internet. Excal is at this amount although the internet is hard wired, which does me no good for phone access.
donnymac66 responded on Monday, 2nd August 2010
Maybe they should post how much money they have fleeced off players paying 6:5 instead of 3:2 on blackjack. How much money do you think that equates to?
LAvegasphile responded on Monday, 2nd August 2010
Bottom line, I think you get what you pay for! Harrah's properties are a joke (except Paris and PH). Outdated, smelly rooms, rude staff, lousy food...the WalMart of Vegas! If you are the type that just wants a place to pass out after a night of gambling, fine. Harrah's will do the trick. But if you want atmosphere, good food, great shows and a resort that just feels cooler, I'll pay a little extra to stay at a property I'm not embarrassed to say I stayed at. I agree the hidden charges are BS, but it sounds like most people on this website are getting comped and/or probably bringing hundreds or thousands to play with...so what's an extra 10 or 20 bucks? For me personally I'll happily bend over and take it for $20, I'll loose that in 30 seconds at a craps table anyway lol.
I'm staying at the new Trop in 2 weeks. I love that their resort fee now includes internet. Hopefully this is well received and other resorts follow suit!