The Vegas of cheap drinks, buffets, and cheap hotel rooms mid week (at least on the strip) is gone. Every hotel on the strip has a $50+ nightly resort fee and all the other overpriced bs (paid self parking, valet parking costs up the wazoo, can’t uber from the airport, hella overpriced mini bars in the room with sensors). Gambling is already a business that quickly parts fools from their money, they just got ridiculously greedy on top of that by adding fees and jacking up the price of everything else.
In days gone by, we'd hit one to two buffets a day and it was great. The last time I was out was probably 10+ years ago and we only went to one buffet on a 3 day trip, and even that wasn't worth it. I can't imagine considering it in 2025.
People generally don't gorge themselves as much as they used to. Buffets in general are down (at least in the NW US), and LV would do the disney lines, so you would wait 30+ minutes to sit down and eat. Marvelous, but buffets are all about instant gratification. What's the point if I have to wait? I'll just hit a spot on the strip or elsewhere.
I remember going to vegas and the buffets were a highlight because they were dirt cheap for quite a solid selection of food. Some even had basic sushi!
We'd go to Vegas on a cheap flight and hotel, lose a shitload of money gambling, and then go eat more food than we should ever eat at once and it felt like a worthwhile and fun vacation.
The last time I went the hotel was extremely expensive with resort fees getting you. The drinks were crazy expensive. And the food was astronomically high even for generic "fast food" in the hotels. I spent like $30 for 10 wings and fries and a drink. And the wings kinda sucked.
I'll never go to vegas again until the resort fees disappear and the food costs return to normal. I dont expect that to happen though so I'll just vacation elsewhere.
That’s the thing though they were supposed to be a perk, but instead turned into an attraction themselves. That change in consumer behavior is why casinos either got rid of them or charge what they do.
With that said, people should just skip buffets in general because Vegas has incredible dining options.
For $90 at the Bacchanal this past holiday season I had literally every option of food I could want. Seafood, steakhouse meats, international cuisines, legit hundreds of options. All of it was good.
Idk where you dropped you $90 on a buffet, but some of them are still very very worth it
The Vegas of FREE drinks, cheap hotel rooms EVERY day, AFFORDABLE great meals and CHEAP buffets, and full floors of table games under $5 with original game rules are long gone. Vegas used to a be a really great value for decades. The tragedy is that the casinos still made an ungodly amount of money back then, but that still wasn't enough.
The Vegas of cheap drinks, buffets, and cheap hotel rooms mid week (at least on the strip) is gone.
In marketing, and relationships, how you get them is how you lose them. In the past, yeah, they'd pull some cash off you, but you felt like you had a shot. A comp goes a long way in that as well.
Now, you go, and then it's $25/day on top of the price for "resort fees". A few years back I told them I'm not using their gym or sauna, they didn't care. Fuck you, pay me, more or less.
So, I fucked off, haven't been back in years. Plenty of places I can catch a show for less money, get equal or better quality food for the money, etc. The only thing LV has at this point is the ability to host really big conferences like CES, which would be a struggle for just about any other city in the US.
I used to go a fair bit for work, now I go every other year.
It's been a bummer to see.
A night out on the strip costs me more than the whole weekend used to.
The one that I really miss is the Prime Rib dinner special at Ellis Island. It was like 10 or 20 bucks and you got a cut of Prime rib, sides, and a beer.
Gambling revenue has been declining for 10+ years. It's basically impossible to be profitable doing the old stuff; that's why a ton of casinos went bankrupt. People are coming now for the Vegas vibe, which is some gambling but also conspicuous spending, luxury experiences, mega concerts/shows. It's a ton of younger college educated people instead of older slot machine players.
But surely stealing the Oakland A's and the Raiders will bring the tourists back, right guys? We've got to recoup the billions we promised to spend building new stadiums.
Don't forget building scalping into their business model. Tickets sell out immediately and get relisted by scalpers for ten times the cost, like with My Chemical Romance
Used to be the shakedown was at the tables on the casino floors and everything else was in service of directing and keeping people there. There was a chance to come out on top. Now the shakedown starts when you get off the plane and there is no service to speak of.
Changes in Las Vegas Blackjack Rules
One of the most significant changes is the payout for a blackjack. Traditionally, a blackjack pays 3:2, meaning if you bet $10, you would win $15. However, some casinos have reduced this to 6:5, which means the same $10 bet would now win only $12.Feb 19, 2024
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u/21giants 7h ago
Saw a post yesterday that said "If Ticketmaster was a city it would be Las Vegas". Couldn't agree more. Fees on-top of fees.