I was just looking at room rates for an upcoming Vegas trip. If you shun the weekends and don't want anything too Hefneresque, you can stay in that town for very low rates…but in some cases, not as low as they might appear. Many hotels have been cranking up these things called "resort fees." These are little mandatory add-ons to your bill that can run from a buck or two to $25 extra per night.
What do you get for them? Sometimes, not much. Unlimited local and 800 number calls are pretty standard, as is access to the hotel's fitness center. Those of us who use cell phones when outta town and who shun exercise are thus paying for that which we do not use. Most hotels give you a free newspaper in the morning and some give you a couple of free drink tickets and/or a few bottles of drinking water.
The annoying thing is that you often don't find out until check-in that your $50 room is really $65 a night. This is especially the case when you book through a separate travel site (like Expedia or Orbitz) instead of through the hotel's own system. Such sites often save you a seeming bundle but they give the hotel the opportunity to say, "We always inform customers in advance of the fee. We're not responsible because Travelocity didn't tell you."
Standing at the desk with your luggage, what are you going to do? Storm out of there and go look for a room in some other hotel that may or may not be cheaper…or may or may not charge a resort fee? Great way to kick off a vacation. I once walked out of a Vegas hotel where I had a reservation because they refused to honor the price I'd been quoted. It felt very good to stand on principle like that…but I wound up at a not-as-convenient hotel that cost me more than the price I'd refused to pay. I also lost two hours of my trip and paid for two extra cab rides.
Then there's this possible complication: You probably put down a deposit…already had the first night's room charge billed to your AmEx card. Several folks have reported online that when they declined to pay the surprise surcharge, they were told, "Fine…but if you choose to go elsewhere, we can't refund your deposit." This is why you need to ask in advance if there's a hidden fee.
Just as an experiment, I filled out the online reservation forms at a couple of Vegas hotels. One I've stayed at a couple times has an online special for $17.99 a night. That's a darn cheap room…but there's a little line on the site in a teensy font that you could easily miss. It says, "Total does not include Hotel Amenity Fee." I went as far as I could go without actually booking the room and wasn't told how much that fee is. Another site informs me it's $16.99 and that, of course, is per night. I was not able to find out if they charge the Vegas hotel tax (12%) on the "Hotel Amenity Fee" but some hotels there do. So your room might more than double in cost.
Now, for some of us, it's not as bad a deal as it might appear. The fee in this case covers wired and wireless high-speed in-room internet, unlimited local and domestic long distance and 800 calls, fitness center access, a daily local newspaper, an unspecified discount at the gift shop, some sort of "copy and fax services" (presumably not unlimited) and airport shuttle service. Since I usually figure on paying $10-$14 bucks a day in a hotel for high-speed web access, that's a good chunk of it. The airport shuttle, depending on when it goes, might be of value to me. I always buy loads of bottled water in a hotel and if the gift shop discount can help me with that, I might even come out ahead on this resort fee thing.
But it's sure a sleazy way to do business.
There are hotels there that do not charge resort fees. The Harrah's chain has announced that they're dropping all of theirs. Many others do not have them. You should probably ask about this any time you book a room anywhere…but you should especially ask if you book a room in Las Vegas. You're going to lose enough money gambling there without gambling on the price of your hotel room.