They’re at it again. Back in January we reported that MGM resort fees has been raised by quite a bit across all of their properties in Las Vegas. That increase saw the daily fee at their most expensive resorts rise to $50 per night, but apparently they were not done. Now, less than a year removed from the last rate increase, the resort fees have gone up again. This time, they’ve hit $55 per night at their flagship properties in Sin City.
While MGM resort fees at Bellagio, Aria, Vdara, and The Cosmopolitan, have increased to $55 per night, other properties they own have also seen a rise. The MGM Grand, Park MGM, Mandalay Bay, Nomad, The “W”, and The Signature have all seen their fees hit $50, which is about $5 to $8 more per night. Meanwhile at Luxor, New York-New York, and Excalibur the fees went up by $3 to $8 per night to $45. But MGM wasn’t done sticking it to their customers.
Parking fees at MGM resorts have also gone up. Rates for parking your own car will increase to $20 on weekdays (up from $18) and $25 on weekends (up from $23). Hotel guests using self-parking will be charged a flat rate of $20 per day, an increase of $2. Valet parking rates will be standardized at $40 across all MGM properties, replacing the current variable pricing, which ranged from $25 to $40 depending on location and time.
The ridiculousness of these ever increasing MGM resort fees game are now moving away from simply irritating into the more ridiculous area. They are supposed to pay for the Wi-Fi in your room, which many people use, to things like the fitness center access, digital newspaper downloads, and local phone calls… whether you use these services or not. MGM stated that pricing decisions consider ‘both local and national marketplace standards’.
Whatever, MGM… whatever. Maybe there is an ounce of truth to that statement so they can sleep better at night. And while we are not in the business of running Las Vegas resorts, there is one thing we absolutely know for sure: Businesses are run to make profit, and raising the resort fees are just another way to squeeze some extra cash out of customers and pad the bottom line for share holders. There is no way MGM is losing money on these fees… or even simply breaking even.