{"id":114470,"date":"2019-09-09T14:21:01","date_gmt":"2019-09-09T21:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=114470"},"modified":"2019-09-10T07:02:46","modified_gmt":"2019-09-10T14:02:46","slug":"las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/","title":{"rendered":"Las Vegas Outrage: Drink Fees Anger Locals and Visitors Alike, Casinos Mum on Latest Hidden Charge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Las Vegas drinks have recently become more expensive at certain Strip properties, with guests discovering mandatory “service charges” on their libations.<\/p>\n

\"Las
Drinks recently became more expensive at some Las Vegas casino bars by way of a venue fee. (Image: Wes Cantrell\/Facebook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Our Casino.org <\/i>article on the latest fees being discreetly attached to elevate the true cost generated a strong and passionate response from Las Vegas locals and visitors. The report has been shared in the UK by The<\/i> Sun<\/i><\/a>, and gained hundreds of comments on Reddit,<\/a>\u00a0TripAdvisor<\/a>, and YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The article<\/a> has garnered more than 100 comments on Casino.org<\/i>, making it one of our most-discussed reports in recent memory. The controversy sparked last week when two Las Vegas travelers shared their bar receipts from Park MGM and Sahara, showing a service charge on their cocktails.<\/p>\n

\n

MGM Resorts responded on social media, “This charge you’re seeing is a venue fee. It is not only applied for table service, but for bar service as well, and is being applied to every check in the venue.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“This fee is applied to all things that keep the venue operationally running, like the gaming maintenance for all bar top games, Wi-Fi, and lounge maintenance,” the casino explained.<\/p>\n

\n

But wait \u2013 we’ve long been told those pesky resort fees, which are now as high as $45 a day \u2013 were to cover such amenities as Wi-Fi. I reached out to MGM for clarification, but didn’t receive a response. The main question I have is whether the drink service fee, venue fee, whatever they want to call it, would be waived if one is staying at the casino resort and already paying the resort fee.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Resort fees are the subject of two lawsuits filed by the Nebraska and DC attorneys general. The complaints allege hotels and casino resorts are participating in “drip pricing,” a scheme where a company advertises one rate and then incrementally increases the cost through mandatory charges.<\/p>\n

Out-Of-Towner Opinions<\/b><\/h2>\n

The rollout of hidden fees on drinks will keep some visitors away.<\/p>\n

\n

Having been to the US over 30 times, I’m calling it a day,” UK resident Joe Colquhoun said. “The charges in Vegas and New York are crazy and the tipping culture is getting out of hand. Many people are staying in Europe to holiday.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“I go to Las Vegas three or four times a year, and every time things have gone up,” John Barlow declared. “I will most likely stop going, as it’s getting very expensive.”<\/p>\n

“Really appreciate this article and really disappointed to see them milking guests like that,” another commenter said. “I’ll have to ask about resort fees next time I go, and maybe stay around Fremont and Uber over to the Strip.”<\/p>\n

Locally Speaking<\/b><\/h2>\n

It’s not only the out-of-town guests \u2013 which Las Vegas greatly relies on \u2013 who are voicing their opposition to the new fees.<\/p>\n

Las Vegas resident Heidi Ennis told us, “I’m a local of 52 years and was employed as a cocktail waitress years ago. I would be mortified to work in the casinos now with all these <\/span>ridiculous fees<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

“They don’t even make sense. What happened to being grateful that a visitor chose your establishment to visit out of all the others?” she asked. “What are you all thinking? Or are you?”\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Another TripAdvisor comment noted that,”One would think that the Sahara, which is attempting to get some new legs underneath itself through a current rebranding\/ownership change, would offer a discount or promo to draw folks into their establishment rather than adding another fee. I don’t understand that at all.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Las Vegas drinks have recently become more expensive at certain Strip properties, with guests discovering mandatory “service charges” on their libations. Our Casino.org article on the latest fees being discreetly attached to elevate the true cost generated a strong and passionate response from Las Vegas locals and visitors. The report has been shared in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":114474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[62,10],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLas Vegas Outrage: Drink Service Fees Anger Locals and Visitors Alike<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Las Vegas drinks have become more expensive at certain Strip properties, with guests discovering mandatory "service charge" costs on their libations.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Las Vegas Outrage: Drink Service Fees Anger Locals and Visitors Alike\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Las Vegas drinks have become more expensive at certain Strip properties, with guests discovering mandatory "service charge" costs on their libations.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-09T21:21:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-09-10T14:02:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/60364173_872644249752167_1679401112601362432_o.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CasinoorgDevinO\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Devin O'Connor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/\",\"name\":\"Las Vegas Outrage: Drink Service Fees Anger Locals and Visitors Alike\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/60364173_872644249752167_1679401112601362432_o.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-09T21:21:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-09-10T14:02:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\"},\"description\":\"Las Vegas drinks have become more expensive at certain Strip properties, with guests discovering mandatory \\\"service charge\\\" costs on their libations.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/60364173_872644249752167_1679401112601362432_o.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/60364173_872644249752167_1679401112601362432_o.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Drinks recently became more expensive at some Las Vegas casino bars by way of a venue fee. (Image: Wes Cantrell\/Facebook)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Commercial Gaming\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Las Vegas Outrage: Drink Fees Anger Locals and Visitors Alike, Casinos Mum on Latest Hidden Charge\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf\",\"name\":\"Devin O'Connor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Devin O'Connor\"},\"description\":\"Devin O'Connor is a senior reporter for Casino.org, covering politics, casino business, entertainment and gaming news on the East Coast. Devin's passion for politics and background in the world of pop culture television gives him insight into the gaming industry backstories that often drive news these days. After graduating from Penn State University with a theater arts degree, he worked at MTV Networks\/Viacom from 2005 to 2010 as a writer and producer. His credits included Total Request Live, New Year's Eve specials, and a special featuring poker superstar Daniel Negreanu. He later moved on to the HGTV\/DIY Network, where he created, wrote, and produced three series specials: That's So House Hunters, That's So 80s, and That's So 90s. Devin came on board with Casino.org in 2014. He lives in Pennsylvania and is an avid marathoner, having completed 15 races. Contact Devin at devin.oconnor@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/devinoconnor\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/CasinoorgDevinO\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/devin-oconnor\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Las Vegas Outrage: Drink Service Fees Anger Locals and Visitors Alike","description":"Las Vegas drinks have become more expensive at certain Strip properties, with guests discovering mandatory \"service charge\" costs on their libations.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Las Vegas Outrage: Drink Service Fees Anger Locals and Visitors Alike","og_description":"Las Vegas drinks have become more expensive at certain Strip properties, with guests discovering mandatory \"service charge\" costs on their libations.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2019-09-09T21:21:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-09-10T14:02:46+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/60364173_872644249752167_1679401112601362432_o.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Devin O'Connor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CasinoorgDevinO","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Devin O'Connor","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/","name":"Las Vegas Outrage: Drink Service Fees Anger Locals and Visitors Alike","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/60364173_872644249752167_1679401112601362432_o.jpg","datePublished":"2019-09-09T21:21:01+00:00","dateModified":"2019-09-10T14:02:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf"},"description":"Las Vegas drinks have become more expensive at certain Strip properties, with guests discovering mandatory \"service charge\" costs on their libations.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/60364173_872644249752167_1679401112601362432_o.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/60364173_872644249752167_1679401112601362432_o.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Drinks recently became more expensive at some Las Vegas casino bars by way of a venue fee. (Image: Wes Cantrell\/Facebook)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/las-vegas-outrage-drink-service-fees-anger-locals-and-visitors-alike\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Commercial Gaming","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/commercial-gaming\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Las Vegas Outrage: Drink Fees Anger Locals and Visitors Alike, Casinos Mum on Latest Hidden Charge"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/02b4fee8814a4003903b0021bffb4ebf","name":"Devin O'Connor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-4-1-96x96.png","caption":"Devin O'Connor"},"description":"Devin O'Connor is a senior reporter for Casino.org, covering politics, casino business, entertainment and gaming news on the East Coast. Devin's passion for politics and background in the world of pop culture television gives him insight into the gaming industry backstories that often drive news these days. After graduating from Penn State University with a theater arts degree, he worked at MTV Networks\/Viacom from 2005 to 2010 as a writer and producer. His credits included Total Request Live, New Year's Eve specials, and a special featuring poker superstar Daniel Negreanu. He later moved on to the HGTV\/DIY Network, where he created, wrote, and produced three series specials: That's So House Hunters, That's So 80s, and That's So 90s. Devin came on board with Casino.org in 2014. He lives in Pennsylvania and is an avid marathoner, having completed 15 races. Contact Devin at devin.oconnor@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/devinoconnor\/","https:\/\/x.com\/CasinoorgDevinO"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/devin-oconnor\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114470"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}