[Katie the heartbreaker]

If somebody could clear this up for me, it would be great. If you stay at a MGM hotel they are a going to validate your parking for the length of your hotel stay, right? The parking garages charges will be for locals and non-guests, correct?

[Packrat1]

Actually as it stands now $10 for overnight parking. Looks like it's targeting overnight hotel guests specifically.

[timothyaw]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

Everyone was equally livid when they rolled out the resort fees -- the tourists eventually rolled over. It will be the exact same thing with the parking fees. People will grumble. Some of them will actually make good on their promise to boycott. But most won't. The casino suits know this. And that's why you don't see them backpedaling.

If this was actually going to decrease their bottom line, they would have caved in by now.

This is how I expect it to be. I will be one of those ones that will make good on my promise not to use any of their facilities. But there are so few of us that will, that it won't matter. I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a budget conscious consumer. I know they don't won't what little business I provide, so no loss on either side. I predict that pretty much the entire strip will be paid parking when it's all said and done.

[BBMW]

They won't know until they try it. They're, um, gambling that what you're saying is true. They're also gambling that the other big players will fall into line. If they don't, it will get interesting.

[Willy702]

Originally Posted by BBMW

I never said they weren't doing well at least on an operating basis. And given the debt they're carrying, they need to be. But everything is relative.

But what happens if they start the parking charge, and their occupancy rate does down to 89-90%? Then they have to start running promotions to get it back up. And if traffic through the casino drops, that's even more lost revenue.

I think they're counting on the other big players to fall in line. But if they don't, those players will be stealing a chunk of MGM's business.

Nonsense. Occupancy has little chance of going to those levels, everyone is heading up due to increasing visitors and no new supply. MGM has little trouble paying their debt now, time for you to keep up with your knowledge of the industry. Your ideas are about 5 years old now.

[stevek64]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

It's not about hunting whales. It's about jettisoning the riff-raff. Cheapskates who balk at $10 parking, a decent meal, and are only there for the free show or the free attraction aren't just not contributing -- they're sucking away revenue by lowering the bar. THEY AREN'T WANTED.


I foresee a future where most locals simply cannot afford to spend any time on the Strip. (Just like they cannot blend in on Rodeo Drive or mid-town Manhattan.)

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

I know what the casino execs tell me. Circus Circus is an outlier. I don't know why you can't wrap your head around the fact that the casinos don't want cheapskates -- when they do everything they can to prove it day after day with resort fees, parking fees, $20 shots of mid-tier bourbon, $100 steaks and similar.

Seriously, what's it going to take before the moochers start taking the hint?

I question this observation from the angle that many casinos on the strip seem to be catering to the "cheapskates" with many types of restaurants and entertainment options offered beyond the high end bars and restaurants. This demographic indeed spends a good deal of money at such places beyond the free attractions and I think this is where this parking fee could sting business. Look at some of the most popular strip properties and the numerous amount of food options that pack in this demographic that I think could potentially balk. These type of food options have existed for years and if they didn't pull in money/weren't profitable, they would have been gone a long time ago. While there are indeed whales and people who want a high end 5 star experience and just spend at high end restaurants, it's clear via my observation that the vast majority of people I see walking around are middle class and below, often with their kids, dining at the basic middle class chain type dine in/take out places on the strip and inside of many of the big casinos. If the casinos looking to impose a parking fee indeed are not looking to cater to this demographic anymore, we should see the myriad of these types of restaurants to close down and be replaced with high end restaurants. Somehow I can't see this happening as there's money to be made at these types of food establishments/shows that cater to the middle class and lower demographic.

[Willy702]

Originally Posted by stevek64

I question this observation from the angle that many casinos on the strip seem to be catering to the "cheapskates" with many types of restaurants and entertainment options offered beyond the high end bars and restaurants. This demographic indeed spends a good deal of money at such places beyond the free attractions and I think this is where this parking fee could sting business. Look at some of the most popular strip properties and the numerous amount of food options that pack in this demographic that I think could potentially balk. These type of food options have existed for years and if they didn't pull in money/weren't profitable, they would have been gone a long time ago. While there are indeed whales and people who want a high end 5 star experience and just spend at high end restaurants, it's clear via my observation that the vast majority of people I see walking around are middle class and below, often with their kids, dining at the basic middle class chain type dine in/take out places on the strip and inside of many of the big casinos. If the casinos looking to impose a parking fee indeed are not looking to cater to this demographic anymore, we should see the myriad of these types of restaurants to close down and be replaced with high end restaurants. Somehow I can't see this happening as there's money to be made at these types of food establishments/shows that cater to the middle class and lower demographic.

Those middle class people are staying in the hotels. Maybe not the highest end places, but its an easy walk from the cheaper spots mid-Strip. Many of them don't get a car and walk up and down the Strip looking for something interesting to eat, see and do. They bring a decent budget and most of it gets spent during their stay. On the other hand the whining locals who are making almost all the noise on this bring a small budget with them and then act aghast that they can't get a great deal and leave with their money still in their pockets. MGM would just as well these people didn't bother coming in the first place.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by stevek64

I question this observation from the angle that many casinos on the strip seem to be catering to the "cheapskates" with many types of restaurants and entertainment options offered beyond the high end bars and restaurants. This demographic indeed spends a good deal of money at such places beyond the free attractions and I think this is where this parking fee could sting business.

One of the suits told me that their top-tier players account for 80% of gaming revenue. That's just the handful of people with a black card in their wallet. (I think that's an utter waste of time and resources. But that's another thread.)

There is no money to be made chasing the bottom. Just because the average local wants to lower the bar doesn't mean casino execs share their worldview.

[clutchcargo777]

Think how empty these resorts would be if they jacked all rates to the point only whales showed up.

Obviously you can make a profit with us cheapskates. You just need a lot of us.

[ScoopLV]

That isn't the point. More whales are obviously better. But the suits' goals are increased dollars per square foot and increased dollars per guest.

They're not going to improve those numbers by going after people who identify with Larry the Cable Guy. That's why most of the new restaurants sell $100 steaks and not corn dogs.