Fine Print Dept: Mirage Adds Resort Fee

Boooooooo.

Major Boo!!

Well, the rooms ARE a lot cheaper than they used to be even after the fee, though this just continues the trend of the insurance and cell phone industries where the consumer is expected to do a cost-benefit analysis of gotchas in their head anything they try to buy something.

So yeah, boo.

This trend seems like a dumb PR move for Vegas resorts. Everyone who buys tickets via Ticketmaster hates the company because of their add-on fees (two tickets for the price of two!), and airlines aren't winning any fans with their recently added fees. Mirage would be much better off simply raising prices by $15 and promoting the hell out of providing guests with free fitness center access, phone calls, etc.

The insert graphic says that the resort fee begins October 1st. I wonder if it will apply to only those reservations that were booked after the fee was announced or if everyone, regardless of when they booked the room will be charged the fee.

If it was me, and they tried to charge me the fee and I had booked prior to the fee being announced, I would raise holy hell and refuse to pay it.

Wasn't it Station Casinos that got in a whole bunch of trouble for springing a resort fee on guests at checkout, with no announcement of it before checkin?

Even the airlines when they announce new junk fees make them effective only on reservations made after the fees were announced.

I did a search and found this handy list on Vegas.com:

http://www.vegas.com/incl/resortfees.html

I'm shocked at how many hotels have a resort fee that I didn't even know about. Interesting how many features (such as valet parking) are available for free to non-hotel guests. And I love how some hotels include "use of pool" as a feature. Have you ever been to a hotel ANYWHERE that charges a guest to use the regular pool?

Hopefully some of these places will wise up like the M Resort before it's too late for business sake.

"Booooo" is considerably milder than the phrases that come to my mind.

Needless to say, if the internet was included, sure...

MGM should just sell the Mirage to Harrah's and finally get on with destroying what was once a very nice place to stay and play.

They could rename it the "Mir-Har 6:5 continuous shuffle emporium..."

Here's what will happen: Resort fees work from the perspective of some suit with an MBA because it's an extra revunue stream from basically nothing. Most customers aren't savvy enough to notice the fees beforehand and take them into consideration while looking for places to stay. In time, the message from lower management will reach upper management, and the message will be... "geez, we spend all morning arguing with customers over this fee and they all leave pissed off." Suit with MBA: "Hey! I learned this in 4 years at Wharton... how about we charge people an honest amount to keep them happy?"

Ah, another reason not to stay at the Mirage. It is a small amount to be charged but if I am staying my usual five days then that's 75 bucks i am losing for something that I do not need. I do not need 2 bottles of water sent to my room when I can walk down the strip and get my own. I also may not want to visit any of their attractions. Since it is listed in the fine print few will notice but it comes off as tacky and insulting.

We see that Wynn and Encore do not charge resort fees. We were going to stay at the Venetian again but they seem to think they can get away overcharging their loyal customers. Guess we'll be taking a close look at the neighborhood competition.