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 - 18:12 / smartertravel.com / Monte Carlo / Tim Winship
Less than two years after beginning what has become a wholesale change from free to paid hotel parking in Las Vegas, MGM is already charging hotel visitors even more to park.
Related:InterContinental Hotels Raises Prices on Popular PointBreaks RatesThis week, the company raised parking rates at its 12 Las Vegas properties, as follows:
Aria, Bellagio, Vdara – Self-parking is free for the first hour, $9 for one to two hours, $15 for two to four hours, and $18 for four to 24 hours. Valet: $21 for up to two hours, $24 for two to four hours, and $30 for four to 24 hours. Circus Circus – Self-parking is free, but valet starts at $12 for up to two hours, and rises from there. Delano, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, The Mirage, Monte Carlo, New York-New York – Free self-parking for the first hour, $9 for one to two hours, $12 for two to four hours, and $15 for four to 24 hours. Valet: $16 for up to two hours, $18 for two to four hours, and $24 for four to 24 hours. Excalibur and Luxor – Free self-parking for the first hour, then $6 for one to two hours, $8 for two to four hours, and $10 for four to 24 hours. Valet: $12 for up to two hours, $14 for two to four hours, and $16 for four to 24 hours.MGM also raised its parking rates in April, so this is the second increase in just two years.
Free self-parking is available to members of MGM’s M life Rewards program who achieved Pearl, Gold, Platinum, or NOIR status. Free valet is offered to Gold, Platinum, and NOIR Members.
Just as they followed MGM’s initial move into charging for parking, other area hotels can now be expected to follow MGM’s lead in pushing those fees even higher.
Reader Reality Check
At what point do these new and ever-rising fees push Las Vegas off your visit list?
More from SmarterTravel: Tip Your Uber Driver, or Else Delta Warns: No More Comfort Hedgehogs on Flights You Can Thank United for the Next Airfare WarAfter 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.
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.”
Could you justify spending $35,000 for a year’s worth of unlimited business-class flights between New York and London or Paris? Probably not. But if so, La Compagnie has a deal for you.
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.