Merry Vegas Christmas!

Christmas is truly the most wonderful time of the year in Vegas! The Hubz went to Vegas a couple of weeks ago to soak up the Christmas spirit and graciously took some pictures for me. Enjoy!

The Christmas theme at the Bellagio was amazing as usual:

The flower "picture" had a samurai theme, corresponding to the exhibit at the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art.

Smaller in scale, but still impressive was the display at Wynn.

 At Linq . . .

Up next . . . miscellaneous pictures from various casinos/places . . .

MGM Grand.

The Park. This would have been a pretty night picture.

Penguins at the Mirage.

Main Street.

Rolling Stone "tongue." Does anyone know what it's supposed to be called?

Las Vegas Club was in the process of being demolished. Looking forward to what's coming next in this prime Downtown Las Vegas spot!

White Castle is the newest addition to Fremont Street Experience corridor, as is . . .

The Walking Dead Survival.

On our last trip, we stayed in the West Tower at the Cal. On this trip, the Hubz stayed in the East Tower (aka the Buddha Tower). The rooms were renovated in this Tower, but we do prefer the West Tower since the rooms, especially the bathroom, are slightly bigger.

The Hubz had a little bit of luck at video poker, hitting four-of-a-kind several times. Maybe next time he'll hit some flushes!

That's all for this trip! Hope you had a wonderful 2017 and here's to a great 2018! Thanks for reading!

Strip Casinos Raise Resort Fees

I just read an article about Caesars Entertainment and MGM Resorts International raising resort fees for its Strip Casinos. Properties affected are Caesars Palace, Paris and Rio (Caesars), and MGM Grand, Bellagio and Mandalay Bay (MGM). Resort fees now range from about $30-$45 per night.

I don't think I've stayed on the Strip since they started charging a daily resort fee; and the last few trips I took to Vegas was via Vacations Hawaii, which doesn't include one.

I have mixed feelings about resort fees. The fee should already be included in the room rate vs. a separate charge. Or, if you're not going to use the amenities covered in the fee, you should be given the option of declining the fee. Otherwise, it seems like properties are just nickel and dime-ing you. I assume the fee also include parking at the property you're staying at, or else you'll also be paying the daily parking fee that was implemented last year! It would be really nice if the fee included parking for all casinos owned by the same entity, but I guess that would be asking for too much, right?

I don't play enough to get any hotel comps at these properties, but if you get your rooms comped, do you still have to pay the fee? I've used Starwood Points to stay at Hawaii properties, and I do know that the fee applies if you are using points, and you need to pay that separately (you can't use points to pay for the fee). Since I'm already getting the room for free, I didn't mind paying the $25 daily fee because $25 for a room in Hawaii is quite the deal.

I suppose I could apply that logic to Vegas prices as well. If you plan your trip accordingly, you can get a really good rate at one of the properties, and even with the fee, the room could cost less than $100/night.

What are your thoughts on resort fees? Is it just part of your vacation costs? Or does it bug you?