Cosmopolitan Among Las Vegas Strip Resorts Reinstating Paid Parking

Posted on: May 29, 2021, 12:38h. 

Last updated on: May 29, 2021, 10:21h.

Larry Henry Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Gaming Business, Legislation, Politics, Regulation.

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas is the latest resort on the Strip to begin charging again for parking.

Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas
The Cosmopolitan hotel-casino towers over other properties on the Las Vegas Strip. The resort opened in late 2010. (Image: Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Beginning June 1, non-hotel guests can park their own car for free for the first hour. After that, the cost for self-parking is $10 for up to four hours, and $15 for four to 24 hours, according to the Cosmopolitan website. Motorcycles are exempt from parking fees. 

Registered hotel guests are allowed to park for free. Local residents can park free for up to three hours, the Cosmopolitan website states. Locals are required to show a valid Nevada ID.

For valet parking, non-hotel guests will be charged $15 dollars for up to four hours. The valet fee is $20 for four to 24 hours. Registered hotel guests are permitted to use valet parking as a complimentary service.

The return to paid parking on June 1 is the result of an increase in travel to the area, the Cosmopolitan said in a statement to KSNV-TV. Starting on June 1, casinos across the state can operate at full capacity. Many resorts, including the Cosmopolitan, already are operating at 100 percent gaming floor capacity, based on employee COVID-19 vaccination policy.

The $4.1 billion Cosmopolitan first opened in December 2010 on the west side of the Strip. It towers over the older Jockey Club, just south of the Bellagio. 

MGM, Caesars Restore Fees

Other resorts on the Strip also are reinstating parking fees that were waived last year at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Also beginning June 1, paid self-parking is returning to the MGM Resorts properties. Most of these resorts are on the west side of the Strip, including some near T-Mobile Arena, home of the NHL’s Vegas Golden Knights. Special parking rates apply for Golden Knights games and other arena events. Payment for these events can be arranged ahead of time on the MGM Resorts website. 

At the Caesars Entertainment resorts on the Strip, self-parking is free for hotel guests and Nevada residents. The first hour is free for all guests. Fees for non-hotel guests range from $12 to $18, according to the company’s website. Many of the Caesars Entertainment properties are on the east side of the Strip.

‘Tone Deaf’ on Paid Parking

Parking fees are a sore spot for many visitors and Las Vegas residents, especially for those who remember decades of free parking.

Bob Coffin, a former Nevada legislator and Las Vegas City Council member, has written on his Facebook page that casinos need to “wake up and smell the Bermuda grass” on the paid parking issue. 

Lord, please save our city from hedge funds and their genius at making empty husks out of once-great properties,” he wrote on May 25.

Coffin also reacted to parking fees in a 2017 Facebook post.

“The CEO class on the Strip needs to hear something. Something they are either too young, too new, or too tone deaf to understand. Hear it from this 74-year-old resident of 66 years with 50 years of political experience,” he wrote four years ago. “Your gaming taxes are low because of your long, friendly connection to the citizens of Nevada. … Now, that connection is becoming tenuous because of changes like this.”