Which Major Vegas Strip Casino Is Eliminating Parking Fees?

ByEdward Pizzarello
a city with many buildings and a park

Parking fees have been all the “rage” in Las Vegas over the past couple of years.  Just a few years ago, pretty much no casinos charged customers for parking.  The general sentiment by casinos was that they wanted to remove barriers for people to come gamble, dine, see a show.

Fast forward to the past 2 years or so, and the tides have changed.  Virtually all strip casinos in Vegas charge for parking.  So do a number of other casinos in the Vegas area.  The parking fees started out nominal.  But, in some cases it can now cost you $30 to valet park your car.  My impression was that the matter of parking really should be one of supply and demand.  Vegas had plenty of supply, not enough demand.  But, the captive nature of what Vegas had to offer seemed to prove me wrong.

The first glimmer that parking fees might not be the right fit for Vegas came in the form of reduced tourism numbers recently.  With a booming economy, Vegas was seeing a slight drop in tourism dollars.  Most reports I saw dismissed a correlation between parking fees and the reduction in tourism.

Now, we have the first major resort rolling back parking fees.  According to this report, Wynn and Encore will eliminate their parking fees on July 1st.  The press release from Wynn notes that they don’t believe parking fees fit with their personalized service model they promote.  As Summer notes, Wynn already charges a $39 resort fee per night.  Going forward, parking will be included in the $39 resort fee for hotel guests.

a city with a green field and mountains in the background

The Final Two Pennies

I’m definitely glad to see this fee going away.  I’m also insanely interested to see what the next 6 months or so looks like for other casinos charging for parking.  Wynn is right next door to Palazzo and Venetian, who charge for parking.  Now, you can’t just park in the Wynn lot for free if you’re not a guest.  You’ll need to prove that you spent at least $50 during your visit to get free parking.  That should keep their parking garage from resembling Port Authority.  Is free parking a good trade-off for someone who decides to dine at the Wynn?

More importantly, is this enough to get other casinos to change their policies?

The post Which Major Vegas Strip Casino Is Eliminating Parking Fees? was published first on Pizza in Motion

My goal in life is to fill my family’s passports with stamps, creating buckets of memories along the way. You’ll find me writing about realistic ways for normal people to travel the world, whether you’re on a budget or enjoy luxury. I also enjoy taking us on the occasional detour to explore the inner workings of the travel industry.

7 Comments

  2. A few years ago, I looked into visiting Atlantic City, after attending the NYT travel show. It was January and my choices were motels a short distance from the few casinos. I found these motels wanted a resort fee. I can’t use the pool, maybe the WIFI does work properly and typically these non-chain places lack a transportation van.

    Yes, there is greed in the hospitality industry.

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  3. i hope vegas realizes that they aren’t a high demand destination and that adding more cost to their already high prices are a detriment to their tourism.

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