Confirmed: MGM Resorts Jacks Up Resort and Parking Fees

By Scott Roeben, on December 04 2024
2 min read 34 comments
Las Vegas

We told you this a month ago, but you don’t listen.

MGM Resorts has confirmed it’s increasing resort and parking fees as of today, Dec. 4, 2024. Just in time for Christmas!

This is the second time in 2024 these nuisance fees have been raised (“Double up to catch up!”), because, clearly, the fact gambling revenue has been down the last four months hasn’t quite sunk in at MGM Resorts just yet.

Sorry about the rough language, Mom. We used an asterisk, so it could be “fick,” the Swedish word for “watch.”

To casino resorts, resort fees and parking fees are what’s known as “found money.” It requires no investment to see an increase in revenue. When you increase revenue, you increase margins. Big public companies are all about the margins.

Here’s the Tweet where we tipped you off about the looming fee increases. The loveable goofballs at the Las Vegas Review-Journal got around to confirming our scoop, oh, yesterday.

Resort fees at Bellagio, Aria, Vdara and Cosmo have increased $5, to $55 a day. The resort fee at MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, Delano (now W), Park MGM and Nomad have been bumped up to $50.

New York-New York (up $3), Luxor and Excalibur (up $8) now charge a resort fee of $45 a night.

Oh, stop complaining, resort fees including boarding pass printing!

Everyone says parking fees are too low, so MGM Resorts has caved to the public demands for higher rates.

Confirmed.

Per the Review-Journal: “Self-park visitors will pay $20 Monday through Thursday (currently $18) and $25 on the weekends (Friday through Sunday; currently $23). Self-park hotel guests will be charged $20 on all days, up $2 from the current pricing. Valet parking for hotel guests and visitors will be $40 at all properties. Presently, valet parking charges range from $25 to $40, depending on the property and day of the week.”

On the bright side, locals can still park free for three hours at MGM Resorts casinos in Las Vegas.

We’ve droned on a lot about how casinos are stepping over dollars to pick up dimes, and these irksome fees are at the top of the list of ways these big companies are driving away customers, often for good. They’ve gotten in the habit of seeing months of record revenue, so they figure there’s no reason to pull back on fees.

Short-sighted policies are going to bite them in the ass, but for now, the sky’s the limit, apparently.

On the flip side of the coin, Las Vegas is still a solid value when compared to other destinations. Folks from other big cities have quite the chuckle when they see overnight parking at a mere $25 in Las Vegas. And a $55 resort fee on a $150 room isn’t an issue when a similar room in another tourist spot costs $500 a night.

Yes, we reserve to both criticize such fee hikes while putting such fee increases into perspective. It’s our town, we can do whatever we damn well want.