- The latest, crazy fee to hit Las Vegas.
I'm Chris, this is 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 telling you everything
you need to know about the latest, sneaky fee
that's appearing in Las Vegas bars and clubs, the venue fee.
(suspenseful music)
What's a venue fee?
Well, it's a fee on top of all the other fees
that they charge in Vegas, resort fees, parking fees.
If they couldn't get you on those fees,
they're gonna get you with this one.
This fee was recently reported by the Vital Vegas blog,
where recent guests to the Park MGM,
questioned their drink bill that was originally $38,
but was added with about $3 of taxes,
and a $1.90 service charge.
What's that service charge?
It's the venue fee.
There was another recent guest at Park MGM
that went to Twitter to ask Park MGM
about it and complain about this fee.
This Twitter user, that goes by the handle
of @NotFromConcentrate, reached out to Park MGM
for an explanation on this fee,
and Park MGM said,
"The 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."
Park MGM went on to say that, "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."
@NotFromConcentrate pointed out that the venue fee
is paying for Wi-Fi, but if you're staying at the hotel,
and you're paying a resort fee,
well, you're also paying for Wi-Fi.
So does that mean that they're actually
double charging guests for the same thing?
It was also recently reported on Twitter
that the Sahara hotel, which recently returned
to the Las Vegas Strip, it used to be called the SLS,
now it's the Sahara again.
They are charging mandatory service fees on drinks as well.
A guest from the Foundry at the Sahara,
reported that a recent drink bill that was for $14
of cocktails, ballooned to $16.80
after a mandatory 15% gratuity,
and a 5% mandatory service fee.
When I looked up venue fees in Las Vegas,
these actually aren't new this year.
They've been around since 2018.
Vital Vegas also reported, that at that point in time,
the XS Nightclub at the Wynn, was charging a 7% venue fee
on top of its already pretty expensive drinks.
By the way, those prices, they are in U.S. dollars.
All of these fees in Las Vegas,
they're getting truly ridiculous,
and this is just continuing that ridiculous
nickel-and-diming that everybody who goes
to Las Vegas hates.
I think the theory behind the executives
dreaming this one up, is that,
"Well, you know, we need to make sure everybody pays a fee,
"and if they're staying with us, they'll pay a resort fee.
"If they're parking with us, they're paying a parking fee.
"But what if they just walked in to our hotel
"from The Strip?
"In that case, we're gonna get them with a venue fee."
There were also some great comments on Twitter.
One user said, "What's next, a toilet flush fee?
"An air conditioning fee?
"A housekeeping fee?
"A towel fee?
"Quadruple zero roulette fee?
"Pool lounge chair fee?"
Wait a minute, they actually already do charge that one.
If you go to the swimming pool and you wanna stay
in a cabana, guess what, they're gonna charge you for those.
Another Twitter user said,
"When I put $20 into a slot machine,
"pretty soon, I'm only gonna get $17.50 in credit,
"because $2.50 will be taken out
"as a slot machine maintenance fee."
If any Las Vegas executives are watching this,
and need ideas for other fees, I've got a few.
How 'bout an oxygen fee, or a sun fee?
Who says those things have to be free?
You know what, in Las Vegas, you're already charged fees
for sitting at the tables and bars.
Why don't you be like Europe, and you can charge a table fee
for sitting down at restaurants, too.
I really haven't had enough fees going to Vegas.
I could use a few more.
What about you?
Are you guys fed up with these fees?
Let me know.
Well, hey, if you're going to Las Vegas
and you wanna see more of my videos on Vegas,
you can click right here to watch
my entire playlist of Las Vegas videos,
or if you wanna know more about resort fees
and maybe how to avoid them,
click right here to watch my video, All About Resort Fees,
the Other Fees in Las Vegas, that yes, I really hate.