[clutchcargo777]

Mmmmm... Corn dogs.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by Katie the heartbreaker

If somebody could clear this up for me, it would be great. If you stay at a MGM hotel they are a going to validate your parking for the length of your hotel stay, right? The parking garages charges will be for locals and non-guests, correct?

Nope.


Guests staying have to pay. That is where it is really a low blow, IMO. Even downtown lets you park free if you are a guest. No validation by MGM, period.


I am attending a concert at Mandalay Bay this summer. I considered just staying there, but I have decided to take my business elsewhere as far as accommodations and dining. No MGM properties.


$10 could be just the beginning. Who is to say that if $10 is paid by most people that it won't become $15, then $20? Why not $25 or $30?

[shellymdnv]

Originally Posted by ElleTea

Nope.


Guests staying have to pay. That is where it is really a low blow, IMO. Even downtown lets you park free if you are a guest. No validation by MGM, period.


I am attending a concert at Mandalay Bay this summer. I considered just staying there, but I have decided to take my business elsewhere as far as accommodations and dining. No MGM properties.


$10 could be just the beginning. Who is to say that if $10 is paid by most people that it won't become $15, then $20? Why not $25 or $30?

Exactly. I think if there was some kind of validation for overnight guest and people going to the restaurants and shops at the property then it would be annoying but understandable. But knowing that they want to add $10 on top of their resort fee is what is harder to take. I'm planning on going to Vegas with a group a friends for a concert at the end of April, and this fee will affect where we choose to stay.

[BBMW]

Then when is MGM Resorts going to close the half of it's properties that don't cater to the high end crowd? What percentage of their players constitute top tier? If top tier means whales, your talking .1% or less. Even if you're talking black chip non-whales, that's probably 10% or less. I'd like Willie to chime in on this one, because he probably knows these numbers.

This was specifically NOT the business plan the resorts that line the strip no were built for. They were built for mass and volume. You don't build 3-5,000 room resorts and 2,500 slot machines just for the high end, because there just aren't enough of them to keep the hotels and casinos full.

In point of fact, slot play is what keeps the casinos in business. And while there is high level slot play, most of the big gamblers I've known play tables. So whose playing all those quarter slots out in the field in the strip casinos? It isn't the high rollers.

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

That isn't the point. More whales are obviously better. But the suits' goals are increased dollars per square foot and increased dollars per guest.

They're not going to improve those numbers by going after people who identify with Larry the Cable Guy. That's why most of the new restaurants sell $100 steaks and not corn dogs.

[BBMW]

They said the overnights would have to pay. The didn't say anything out short term parkers.

Really it's what they do with the short termers that will make this interesting. It's one thing to stick hotel guests with this. Then it just becomes another tack on to the hotel bill, and you just have to remember to tack it on like the resort fee.

All the resort fee did was camouflage the the true room price when they advertise it. When shopping around, just have to work off the total, not the advertised price. If the parking fee is just another element of this, it's annoying but doesn't change the dynamic of the strip.

If they start charging transient (someone coming in for a few hours for gambling, a restaurant, as show, etc.), it will change the dynamic significantly. I always rent a car when I'm in Vegas, and I think nothing about driving around, bouncing between casinos, and dropping the car wherever I want to go. It's (or at least it was) free, easy, and quick. But if someplace wants me to pay for parking, that just isn't going to happen. Unless I have a very good reason to be there, I'm not going to pay them to park. I'll just go somewhere else. I experience this here in NY. Some malls now have pay for parking, so don't. Guess where I do most of my shopping, even if I have to drive farther to get there. This is especially true because there are the same stores in both settings. I suspect I'm FAR from alone in this behavior. I think it's going to have a big impact on MGM when they implement their plan.

Originally Posted by ElleTea

Nope.


Guests staying have to pay. That is where it is really a low blow, IMO. Even downtown lets you park free if you are a guest. No validation by MGM, period.


I am attending a concert at Mandalay Bay this summer. I considered just staying there, but I have decided to take my business elsewhere as far as accommodations and dining. No MGM properties.


$10 could be just the beginning. Who is to say that if $10 is paid by most people that it won't become $15, then $20? Why not $25 or $30?

[fvansan]

I wonder how many tourist coming to LV with their cars. The parking fee doesn't impact those who fly in and use their feet to get around. Obviously, this fee is directed at locals. "Screw them all" is the MGM word for 2016. Of course, the locals will use non-MGM parking garages until those properties are forced to assume a fee to protect parking spaces for their now full garages for their paid guests. I suspect this fee is here to stay.

[ElleTea]

Originally Posted by fvansan

I wonder how many tourist coming to LV with their cars. The parking fee doesn't impact those who fly in and use their feet to get around. Obviously, this fee is directed at locals. "Screw them all" is the MGM word for 2016. Of course, the locals will use non-MGM parking garages until those properties are forced to assume a fee to protect parking spaces for their now full garages for their paid guests. I suspect this fee is here to stay.

A lot of people fly in and rent a car, especially the ones who have been there before and understand that it is a farther walk than you might think to get around the strip or beyond. They would also be stuck with the fee.

[BBMW]

There are a lot that drive in from LA. A long time back I heard that 30% of the visitors to Vegas casinos were from LA.

And there are also a lot like me that rent a car when it town.

Originally Posted by fvansan

I wonder how many tourist coming to LV with their cars. The parking fee doesn't impact those who fly in and use their feet to get around. Obviously, this fee is directed at locals. "Screw them all" is the MGM word for 2016. Of course, the locals will use non-MGM parking garages until those properties are forced to assume a fee to protect parking spaces for their now full garages for their paid guests. I suspect this fee is here to stay.

[shellymdnv]

Originally Posted by fvansan

I wonder how many tourist coming to LV with their cars. The parking fee doesn't impact those who fly in and use their feet to get around. Obviously, this fee is directed at locals. "Screw them all" is the MGM word for 2016. Of course, the locals will use non-MGM parking garages until those properties are forced to assume a fee to protect parking spaces for their now full garages for their paid guests. I suspect this fee is here to stay.

Almost 50% of visitors come to Vegas in their own car and of those that fly in 18% rent a car. Based on the wording of the fee, I think that it will be variable based on the amount of time that you are parked up to a max of $10 so locals may be paying a fraction of the fee whereas hotel guests will pay the max fee.

[Caltovegas]

Now would be a good time for people to demand a valid tram service extended to the airport. Operated for 24/7/365. That will never happen.