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Subscribe to RSSNow, this is a protest we can get behind.
On Thursday morning, nearly 50 scantily clad showgirls — really, are there any other kind? — and a handful of headline entertainers took over the Las Vegas Strip to protest the city’s ongoing love affair with mandatory resort fees.
In truth, the event was more marketing effort than protest march — an oh-so-Las Vegas stunt put on by Caesars Entertainment to highlight the fact that the company doesn’t charge such fees at its Las Vegas properties.
In that regard, the company, which owns Caesars Palace, Bally’s Las Vegas and five other Sin City casinos, stands in marked contrast to local competitors that charge anywhere from $5 to $25 per day for newspapers, bottled water and other amenities whether guests use them or not.
The protesters, um, performers included nearly 50 dancers from the Jubilee! show at Bally’s Las Vegas, who strutted down the Strip carrying placards and chanting, “1, 2, 3, 4, resort fees are no more; 5, 6, 7, 8, hidden fees I truly hate.”
They were joined by local headliners, including Marie Osmond and illusionists Penn & Teller, who also expressed righteous outrage over resort fees. The fact that they all perform in Caesars properties was presumably just a coincidence.
The rally wrapped up at Bally’s, where Osmond unveiled a “No Resort Fees” countdown clock claiming that visitors could save up to $1.16 per second, $100,000 per day and $3 million a month by staying at Caesars resorts and not paying resort fees.
According to Osmond, a three-day trip to Vegas costs the average visitor an extra $60 in resort fees. Instead of paying those fees, said the Flamingo star, “You should choose what that money goes to.”
Like, perhaps, a show, suggested Penn Gillette, who clearly knows a marketing opportunity when one not-so-magically appears: “You’re going to save a lot of money ... and with that extra money, you can come see our show, which is very reasonably priced.”
Teller had no comment.
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Rob Lovitt is a longtime travel writer who still believes the journey is as important as the destination. Follow him at Twitter.
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I like them to show up at a congressional hearing... oughtta bring everybody back to D.C. eh.
Gotta love those scantily clad protests. Seems they are getting more popular. Looks like Caesar's is cashing in on the action now.
That darn Teller... so opinionated! My wife and I visited Las Vegas in 2006 and we dream of returning again one day, very soon! It saddens me to think that these resort fees may be in place - I know governments need money for doing the things that they do -- and these are important things, don't get me wrong. But surely there must be some other methods of generating State income without making visitors to the State bear the burden.
Respectfully submitted,
John
Caesars Entertainment Corp (formerly known as Harrah's Entertainment Corp) owns 10 Las Vegas Casinos. MGM International owns 11 LV casinos. The two corporations own most of the big casino hotels on the LV strip.
Moral of the story? Pick Caesars.
interquel
That darn Teller... so opinionated! My wife and I visited Las Vegas in 2006 and we dream of returning again one day, very soon! It saddens me to think that these resort fees may be in place - I know governments need money for doing the things that they do -- and these are important things, don't get me wrong. But surely there must be some other methods of generating State income without making visitors to the State bear the burden.
That's not the Nevada way. "Locals" insist that tourists subsidize the state. There is no individual or corporate income tax in Nevada. Practically everything in Nevada has a posted price and a much lower "locals" price. Other than gambling, mining is the state's major source of revenue and the mining companies have negligible taxes on mining written into the state's constitution.
I wouldn't say "practically everything" has a locals price, though there are definitely numerous "locals discounts" to be had - more of a marketing scheme by the casinos to draw in local business than a conspiracy to keep locals from contributing anything at all in taxes. While sales tax is higher here than my previous state of residence, it is very nice to not have to pay state income tax. It also keeps me from getting too frustrated at particularly annoying tourists - I just think to myself, "They're paying my taxes, they're paying my taxes... Not to mention my salary!"
I also don't think that the resort fees are there to generate state income - rather, company income. Since Caesars Entertainment owns a good chunk of Vegas hotels (in a wide range of price/quality), there are lots of places to stay without the hidden fees... and maybe the other hotels will reduce them while Caesars is keeping up this marketing campaign? (PS, nice error in the article: Caesars owns 9 Vegas hotels, 8 of which operate under the same marketing umbrella.)
1) Bally's, 2) Bill's Gamblin Hall, 3) Caesar's Palace, 4) Flamingo Las Vegas, 5) Harrah's Las Vegas, 6) Imperial Palace, 7) O'Sheas Casino Las Vegas, 8) Paris Las Vegas, 9) Planet Hollywood Resort, 10) Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino, 11) Circus Circus
You're half right. I neglected Circus Circus. BTW i notice monorail tickets cost tourists $5 vs $1 for locals.
Circus Circus is not owned by Caesars. O'Sheas is, but it pretty much lumps with Flamingo, and it does not have a hotel. And yeah, Monorail tickets are crazy - I would never pay $5, not even as a tourist. The bus is less expensive, and there are free alternatives on the south/middle of the strip on the west side. The Monorail is failing for good reason.
OK, that time I was wrong. Circus Circus belongs to MGM international.
i can save you even more money than them! don't go to vegas. how's that for a money saver?