How much will you be charged for that hotel stay? The answer, of course, should be obvious: You’ll pay the published rate, plus government-imposed taxes and fees. Whatever that total turns out to be is your price.
27.07.2023 - 18:36 / smartertravel.com / Tim Winship
At a time when the distaste of consumers and the scrutiny of lawmakers would seem sufficient to shame hotels into ending their widely derided resort fees, Caesars Entertainment is doing the opposite.
Last week, the company upped resort fees at five of its Las Vegas properties, from $29 to $32 a night. And yes, the resort fee as well as the base rate are subject to 12 percent tax.
The affected hotels:
Caesars Palace Nobu The Cromwell Paris Planet HollywoodRELATED: New Starwood Credit Card Offer May Be Best and Last
There was no rationale given for upping the fees at those hotels but not at Caesars’ other five Las Vegas properties.
The higher resort fees aren’t the only assault on Vegas visitors’ wallets. As we reported in January, parking fees will soon be imposed by MGM Resorts International properties, likely leading to the end of the city’s longstanding practice of providing hotel visitors with free parking.
Good value for your travel dollar in Las Vegas? Don’t bet on it.
Reader Reality Check
Is Vegas the bargain it used to be?
More from SmarterTravel: InterContinental Puts the Kibosh on In-Room Porn Lawmaker Targets ‘Deceptive Hotel Fees’ Hyatt’s Newest Brand: The Unbound CollectionAfter 20 years working in the travel industry, and 15 years writing about it, Tim Winship knows a thing or two about travel. Follow him on Twitter @twinship.
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How much will you be charged for that hotel stay? The answer, of course, should be obvious: You’ll pay the published rate, plus government-imposed taxes and fees. Whatever that total turns out to be is your price.
Today’s announcement that Southwest has a new marketing relationship with a rideshare company was no surprise. As rideshare services have become an ever-larger part of the travel landscape, such tie-ups have proliferated. It won’t be long before every airline and hotel loyalty program has a rideshare company on its roster of points-earning partners.
Vegas has come a long way, baby. No longer a Mecca for gambling and other less licit activities, the city has become synonymous with family fun, world-class dining, and big-name entertainment.
Planning a road trip this summer? For the sake of safety and peace of mind, your own and others’, add this to the pre-departure to-do list: a review of your driving habits. After all, while there’s nothing you can do to change other drivers’ bad habits, you are at least in control of your own.
It’s a fact of loyalty-program life: Airline and hotel programs periodically adjust their award prices. Of course, those adjustments amount to price hikes more often than not. And, all things being equal, higher award prices amount to an overall devaluation of the program.
As changes to hotel-program award prices go, the latest for InterContinental’s IHG Rewards are decidedly modest: Prices for award nights at 400 hotels will change by either 5,000 or 10,000 points, half moving up, half moving down. If it were just that 50-50 split, Rewards members might dismiss it as a wash and count their blessings. After all, “It could have been worse.”
Likely in response to JetBlue’s systemwide double-points promotion, in effect through February 29, Virgin America is also offering double points, but only on select routes.
Following is our regular summary of the latest travel news and best frequent traveler promotions reviewed during the past week.
Enter the Liberty Richter “Kitchens of India” sweepstakes by June 15, 2016, for a chance to win the grand prize: a six-day trip for two to New Delhi, India, including air, transfers, and hotel.
For U.S. News & World Report, the road from weekly news magazine to publisher of company rankings has been a long and winding one. The key, though, to its shift toward data-driven ratings of companies and institutions was its 1983 publication of “America’s Best Colleges.”
By traditional measures, Alaska Airlines is a carrier of decidedly modest size, even after its acquisition of Virgin America. Its own flight network is small, compared to those of American, Delta, and United. And it’s not a member of one of the three global airline alliances.
I’m not a fan of flash sales or flash promotions. I understand the motivation from the travel suppliers’ standpoint, but snooze-you-lose offers are manipulative and disrespectful.