Vegas Bright Looks Back: The Worst Vegas Trend of 2016

Vegas Bright writers look back on the year and give their picks for the Worst Vegas Trends of 2016

Editor’s note: We’ve asked our writers and contributors for their opinions on the best/worst and noteworthy of all things Vegas for 2016 if they had time. Unlike other sites, a list of options to choose from was not given. Instead, a list of categories was presented letting our staff write their answers freely. With that, here are their answers for Vegas’ Worst Vegas Trends of 2016

Fees, fees, fees! From higher resort fees to early check-in, late checkout, pool chairs, umbrellas, parking, room views, yadda, yadda, yadda…..I feel like I’m constantly being upsold to. I do not love the a la carte resort experience trend. -Michele Di Palma

The continuing standardization of all casinos/hotels so that everything is BLAH! -Fisherman

Parking fees! -Matty Ice

Being overcharged for ridiculous things, such as paying a separate WIFI fee for every appliance and strange “franchise fees” at certain restaurants. I hate that. -Blonde4ever

Add on fee’s, paid parking, paid valet parking, resort fee’s, CNF fee’s and any other fee that really isn’t a thing but because management wants to reduce that room rate on Expedia and then back bill it through mysterious sounding items that you don’t notice until too late. It’s a variation on bait and switch, and it just sucks. -BigAzMarty

Price gouging on everything imaginable. -Sammasseur

The unending rise of hidden (and not-so-hidden) fees and surcharges. It seems the corporate bean counters are the ones calling the shots nowadays. Old Vegas was about providing the customers a unique quality experience that one could only find in Vegas. Not so today……get them in here and start vacuuming out their wallets. -Greg C

Along the same lines as Resort Fees, parking fees, and any other MGM Profit Growth Plan ideas is the fact that Caesars properties are devaluing their Rewards Credits at some of their restaurants. With Total Rewards, each point is equal to one cent, so 10000 points are worth $100. However, at some newer restaurants (like Seersucker at Caesars Palace and Beer Park at Paris) the value of a point is one-half cent, costing the player 20000 points to use like $100. There are currently only less than a dozen restaurants devaluing the Rewards Credits like this, but like Resort Fees and parking fees, it’s just a matter of time. -Michael James

Increasing Holds for Casino Games on The Strip – Some of this may be anecdotal, but some of it stems from some information that is publicly available regarding investor conferences and other similar types of statements. This seems to be a trend that is very much in the realm of cutting off your nose to spite your face. -Gennadius

There isn’t anything else I can add to the fees mess, so I’m going with increasing rent costs for establishments. Each year the rent goes up and not every place can afford to, or will agree to the new rental fees. When established eateries close, it isn’t always because of bad business, sometimes it’s because of good business. When a business is renting a space and they have a great year,  the total income of the establishment for that year is taken into consideration when deciding the rent increase for the following year. Sometimes, it can be a very greedy increase. As a result, we lose out on some great places that would have been around much longer. -Michael Movestro

“Play video poker, drink free” was a phrase that derived its power from simplicity. How Vegas. All these provisos and asterisks are messing it up, and no explanation is good enough. -Kelly Lamrock

Charging for parking and not giving table player points on the player’s cards for status only slot players. Basically, they make table players second class citizens -paperposter

[Photos: Michael Movestro]

Michael Movestro

Michael Movestro founded Vegas Bright to continue the tradition when Vegas Chatter cashed out. Michael pays the bills, maintains the site, writes articles, hosts VBN – Vegas Bright Newscast.