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- [Announcer] Yellow Productions presents
- [Chris] The 13 biggest tourist traps
on the Las Vegas Strip.
I'm Chris, this is the Yellow Productions
I do travel guides that are fun, informative
and entertaining.
This is part of my series on Las Vegas
and in this video I'm gonna be tellin you
the biggest tourist traps that are here
and you might be thinking,
well Chris, isn't all of Las Vegas a tourist trap?
Well, yes, all of Las Vegas
is certainly designed for tourists,
and is popular for tourists,
but the things I'm gonna be talkin about
that are tourist traps
are things that are specifically designed
to deceive or overcharge tourists. Things that
they're only ever gonna get somebody's money once,
because they're turning out new suckers every day.
The first Las Vegas tourist trap are the club promoters
on the Las Vegas strip.
If there's a rule of thumb
when it comes to Las Vegas nightlife
is you get what you pay for.
And so all these people that stand around the strip
that offer deals that sound too good to be true,
well chances they are.
And so you'll find these people, they'll be offering
bypass-the-line tickets, they'll be offering VIP tickets,
maybe two-for-one drink specials,
but usually the by-pass-the-line
is only good early in the night,
when there's actually no line at that club.
Two-for-one drinks usually have similar restrictions,
so you might find you get to the club,
and you can't actually use those things.
The really extra scam though, is some club promoters
will try to sell you VIP tickets, and frankly they aren't.
Those club promoters, they're already getting paid
to hand out these things to get you into the club.
Never buy a club pass from anybody
standing on the Las Vegas strip.
What does this second tourist trap
have to do with the Roman statue?
Well, it's inside the Caesar's Palace,
in the forum shops, it's the gelato stand.
What did the gelato stand do to you, Chris?
I'm calling the gelato stand out
because they charge $10 for a small scoop of ice cream.
That is crazy. Why is it $10?
It's because you'll never eat there again,
you'll have that ice cream once cuz you feel like it.
Also, the food court in the Caesar's Palace, huge rip-off.
They've got an Earl of Sandwich in there that charges about
30% more for the same sandwiches
that are sold at Planet Hollywood,
which is just, well, you can actually see Planet Hollywood
right back here two blocks away.
The third tourist trap on the Las Vegas strip
are the time-share salespeople.
Much like the club promoters,
you'll find the time-share salespeople all over.
They'll be walking on the strip.
They'll be inside the Hotels.
Behind booths.
They're come-on usually starts like this,
"Hey, how long are you in town for, or where are you from?"
Don't answer those people or your answer is,
"I'm leaving tonight."
or, "I live here."
And they'll generally offer you things
like free show tickets, free helicopter rides,
they are really not worth it,
for the amount of time that you have to spend
at their time-share presentation, right?
They're free as long as you come
to their hours long time-share presentation.
I mean they won't cost you money,
and maybe it's not a tourist trap,
but that's only if you don't value your time.
The fourth biggest tourist trap in Las Vegas
are the rides on the top of the Stratosphere.
Three rides on top of the Stratosphere
is gonna cost you $36.
Those same three rides at a county fair, no more than $10.
They're really not worth 36 bones.
The fifth biggest tourist trap on the Las Vegas strip
is posing for pictures with characters on the strip.
Whether it be Elvis, showgirls,
or a character from your favorite movie,
you'll be walking by and they'll say,
"Hey, why don't we get a picture?"
Actually, it just happened to me a moment ago.
Two showgirls were standing there and said,
"Hey, why don't we get a picture together?"
Well, it's only once you get there
and get your camera out that they then say,
"Well, that'll be five or 10 dollars for the picture."
Then by the time you've already set-up,
well you feel victim to it.
So, don't be victim to these people standing on the strip,
thinking that they're paid for by the hotels, they are not.
They are there to make money for themselves.
And I guess it works out as a business,
cause people want those pictures,
but I just don't want you to end up with a picture
and having to pay money that you didn't expect.
The sixth biggest tourist trap on the Las Vegas strip
are the resort fees. I hate them.
I probably hate this trap the most.
This is something that hotel's in Las Vegas
used to charge a room rate,
but they slowly started charging these resort fees.
And now Caesar's Palace and the Venetian
charge resort fees per night of $39 per night.
That goes straight to the hotel,
that is not tax, there's also a Las Vegas tax of 13%.
So, whatever that hotel room rate is per night,
add the resort fee plus the tax
to find out how much you're paying.
It can be more than the room rates at some hotels.
You can pay in the resort fee plus parking, too.
It's pretty crazy.
Las Vegas, please stop nickel-and-diming us.
How do you get away from your resort fees?
Well, you pretty much have to get off the strip.
Pretty much every hotel in the Las Vegas strip
charges a resort fee.
You can check out some of the Marriotts,
or Hyatt's or Hilton's, that are off the strip,
and not have to pay resort fees.
Another set of tourist traps on the Las Vegas strip
are the cheesy restaurants and bars that are strip-side.
They're greatly themed, but the food is often mediocre,
and the drinks are expensive.
I won't name any names but...
There's a few of them on the strip,
if you want cheaper food, cheaper drinks,
get right off the strip,
and get inside a little bit, into the hotels.
That's where you'll really find the better restaurants.
By the way, you can watch my video
on the best cheap-eats in Las Vegas,
you'll find the link in the description below.
It's not about the cheapest eats,
but it's about cheap and tasty eats that are on the strip.
And, of course, one of my favorites is In-and-Out Burger,
and they've got a location in the link,
which is right behind me on the sign.
You can't actually see it,
or me anymore cuz it's too bright,
but trust me, they're down in there,
behind this green construction fence.
It's right across from Caesar's Palace,
next to the Ferris Wheel.
- [Chris] The eighth tourist trap on the Las Vegas strip
it's also restaurants,
but this time it's celebrity chef restaurants.
There's many restaurants in Las Vegas
that have a celebrity chef's name,
and why is it a tourist trap?
Well, because this place is gonna cost you more money,
because it's got that celebrity's name on it.
You can get just as good food plenty of places around,
but you won't pay the premium
cuz it doesn't have that stars name on it.
This tourist trap amazes me that people still fall for it,
but people do, so it's in here.
It's called three-card monte. You'll see these people
set up underneath bridges or in dark corners of the strip,
just on the sidewalk someplace.
They'll bring a table or a cardboard box,
they'll put three cards on it, they'll say you can bet,
they show you the cards, and you bet where the card ends up.
If it turns over and it's the card you picked, then you win.
But it never will be, because the game is frankly rigged.
They switch the cards out as you're playing,
so, don't bother with three-card monte.
The 10th tourist trap on the Las Vegas strip
is back at Caesar's Palace.
It's the Bacchanal, Bashunal buffet,
not exactly sure how to pronounce it, but that's OK,
because I won't be eating there again.
The dinner at that buffet on a weekend is gonna run you
$64.99 but the lines are crazy long.
So, if you want to make a reservation to skip the line,
book the VIP package. It is only $94.99.
That is crazy for a buffet.
You want a buffet that's pretty tasty
and won't cost you an arm and a leg,
check out the buffet at the Aria Hotel, it's about 40 bucks.
For these next two tourist traps, I'm joined by safety man.
I met him on the strip as I was shooting this video,
and he wants to share what he thinks a couple of the biggest
tourist traps from a safety man's perspective are.
So, safety man, what do you think
the biggest tourist traps are on the Las Vegas strip?
- [Safety Man] I think slot machines
are the biggest tourist trap, honestly.
You know, you sit down at a slot machine, and you but a--
let's say you put in $1,000,
and you know you hit that max bet button,
and you win, and these lights go off, everything flashes,
the dopamine rush in your brain. You're like,
Yay, I'm a winner, but what really happens
is you just won a little bit.
You actually lost money, but you feel like you're winning,
so you're like, yeah, I want another dopamine rush,
you keep hittin it like a rat at a feeder.
Just like I want more dopamine, more dopamine,
more dopamine, and then they give you free drinks.
So, they make you less likely to understand what's goin on.
And then, before you know it,
some people will sell everything in their house
so they can get that dopamine rush.
They think that's gonna fill what's empty in their soul.
This slot machine
just kind of becomes-- - Yeah.
- you get in a relationship with the slot machine,
and that dopamine rush.
You love it.
It's the same thing that happens when you meet a woman
and you fall in love.
You get these chemicals in your brain that just go off,
and fire, that's what we call love.
And so it's all kind of related,
relationships, slot machines, it's addiction.
They're... - Addiction's what this place
lives on, right?
- Absolutely. - Vegas is the city
of addiction.
- Absolutely. It's sin city. It's sin city for a reason.
- So, you were also mentioning shows.
You thought shows were a big tourist trap.
- Well, what they do is, - Why?
look behind us.
They have Donnie and Marie.
So, let's say you wanna go to the Donnie and Marie show
at the Flamingo.
If you buy the tickets for this,
you're gonna go, you're gonna have to walk through
every single slot machine saying play me, play me,
as you make your way to the back.
And they're gonna try to pull you into every bar,
and get you to spend as much money and time as you can.
And they make it confusing so you get lost on the way.
And by the time you get to the Donnie and Marie show,
you're waitin around. They make you get there early.
Now, you're waitin around, you're gonna buy drinks,
or you're gonna play the slot machines
that are right there saying play me, play me.
And when you get in the show, they have a two-drink minimum,
so, now you're spending probably like 50 dollars a person
on top of what you paid for the show.
- So, what you thought it was a $50 show,
is now 100 dollars.
- Absolutely. And that's not counting
the time you're playing the slot machine,
waiting for the doors to open.
- Right. Safety man, thank you very much.
- Thank you.
- [Chris] And the final tourist trap I'm gonna mention
on the Las Vegas strip, well it's actually two combined
into one number.
The first one is the roller coaster
at the New York, New York Hotel.
I actually like this roller coaster.
I think it's fun, but a lot of people online
said they felt robbed by paying $15 for a pretty short ride.
Also, there's the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum,
over at the Venetian.
It's $30 to go in to the wax museum
and people just have the principle of
why are you going to see this in Vegas?
When the wax museum's exist all across the country.
But, hey, now many places can you take a selfie
with Lady Gaga?
If you enjoyed this video, you'll enjoy watching
some other video's from my Las Vegas series.
You can click here, here, to watch them.
Find links in the description below
to my entire Las Vegas series playlist,
including classics like the best cheap-eats
on the Las Vegas strip, and the worst cheap hotels.
I won't say good-bye because I'll see you over there.