FEE & LOATHING: The Most Maddening Examples of Vegas Nickel & Diming (So Far)
Posted on: September 4, 2025, 07:30h.
Last updated on: September 4, 2025, 09:58h.
- A variety of hidden fees and charges at Strip casinos and restaurants are making Vegas too expensive and uninviting, according to many visitors
- The upcharges are being blamed — at least in part — for Vegas’ year-over-year tourism decline
- Some properties are reportedly decreasing some of their fees in an effort to reverse the trend
According to a poll taken last month by the X news account @LasVegasLocally, 88% of 15,500 respondents believe Las Vegas has gotten too expensive. Once the land of $1.99 shrimp cocktails and comped everything, Sin City has evolved into a masterclass in microcharges.
It’s not just resort fees anymore. The list of excessive fees seems to grow with every visit, and they consistently rank among the top reasons most Americans no longer consider Las Vegas to be an affordable getaway.
Things finally seem to be getting better, as resort companies offer more deals to try and stem Las Vegas’ year-over-year tourism decline. As Casino.org‘s own Vital Vegas reported Wednesday: “MGM Resorts quietly reduced the price of its in-room bottled water by 40%, a substantial financial hit (about $3 million a year), but all in service of affirming that the company is listening and acting upon the concerns of travelers.”
Still, Las Vegas has its work cut out if it expects to fully reverse the perception.
Below are the most egregious examples of Vegas nickel-and-diming from this year so far.
$25 Silverware Fee
Bellagio, Cosmopolitan, Mandalay Bay
In May, Vital Vegas revealed that the Bellagio charges room-service customers for the luxury of receiving real plates, silverware, glassware, and linen napkins. They call it an “operation charge” for “Classic Service.”
Even worse, eating with takeout utensils out of boxes served with paper napkins, and drinking from plastic cups with lids, isn’t free. This option is called “Takeout Service” and costs $10.
Since then, guests of other MGM Resorts properties have reported on social media the same options at the Cosmopolitan and Mandalay Bay.
$26 Bottle of Water
Aria
On June 8, a guest at the Aria in Las Vegas was charged $26 for a bottle of minibar water.
It all began after the unidentified guest emailed his frustration, and the receipt to prove it, to the travel website View From the Wing.
“It was the perfect example of the kind of costs that make people feel cheated on a Las Vegas trip,” author Gary Leff wrote. “Vegas is suffering, and executives there can’t seem to figure out why.”
There was no price listed on the bottles or near the minibar for the 500 ml bottles of Eska water, which retail for a little over $2 each plus tax at Walmart. So, the guest reported refusing to open one until he knew for sure.
However, he waited so long for an overworked hotel worker to restock his minibar and answer his question that he “had already (out of thirst, in the desert) consumed (fortunately only one) bottle of water.
“Fortunately, the Starbucks downstairs sold water for only $7.45,” he wrote.
$60 Early Check-In Charge
Flamingo
On May 31, X user @wonderousATX attempted to check into the Flamingo. But, as he was informed by the Strip hotel’s digital check-in kiosk, check-in time wasn’t for another two hours. However, the machine could accommodate him if he coughed up half the average weekend room rate to do so.
Most Strip hotels already charge for early check-in, but the fee is typically $20 to $50. Wynn and Encore, two of the highest-end properties on the Strip, charge $75. But $60 is unusual for a resort that nobody has called luxurious since the 1960s.
In addition, early check-in fees are frequently waived upon arrival by check-in agents who either feel sympathy for a guest’s plight or are angling for a tip.
They’re never waived by the machines that corporate casino owners are slowly replacing those agents with in an industrywide cost-cutting spree.
A Caesars Entertainment representative responded by stating that the fee it charges for early check-in fluctuates along with demand.
“We offer guests the opportunity to guarantee early check-in via a paid upgrade,” the rep told Casino.org. “The upgrade cost associated with an early check-in guarantee varies based on availability.”
5% Concession Fee
Various Restaurants
According to this report on X by Vegas vlogger Jacob Orth, many Vegas restaurants now add a 4.85% fee to your check, hoping you pay it without noticing.
Called either a concession and franchise (CNF) fee, a venue fee, or a service fee, it ostensibly serves to offset operational costs such as high rent for prime casino locations, labor expenses, and franchise fees paid to parent companies.
This is a junk fee providing no additional value to customers. Unlike resort fees, which at least pretend to cover amenities such as Wi-Fi and pool access, this is a blatant attempt to pass along the cost of doing business to consumers as a hidden price increase.
Your server won’t tell you about the fee upfront. Restaurants will only place a warning about it in the finest print possible at the very bottom of their menus.
According to Orth, servers are currently willing to take the fee off if you ask politely — just as front-desk clerks once were with resort fees. (Orth demonstrated this at Chayo at the Linq Promenade.)
$50 Cord Unplugging Fee
Paris Las Vegas
View From the Wing recently documented what may be the most outrageous Vegas fee yet.
According to an email from a Paris Las Vegas guest, her daughter needed a place to work on her laptop. The small desk and chair that also housed the minibar seemed like the best option, but there were no sockets available in the outlet next to the lamp.
So she pulled out one of the plugs and replaced it with her laptop power supply.
Upon checkout, the guest was charged a $50 fee that wasn’t explained. When she inquired with a front desk agent, she was told that she had unplugged the tray displaying (and possibly chilling) some food and beverage items offered for sale. She was informed that a sign clearly warned her that doing so would incur a $50 fee.
The agent even had a photo of the sign at her fingertips. (This guest was clearly not the first person ensnared in this cash trap.)
The warning was in fine print, and the sign and tray were located on the opposite side of the desk from the outlet.
Oh, and she was forced to pay tax on the $50.
Last Comments ( 5 )
The internet is filled with stories about price-gouging and nickel-and-diming in Las Vegas. Since pretty much all of these stories are from experiences at Strip properties, I naively thought that the price-gouging and nickel-and-diming was limited to the Strip. Nope. Prior to a recent stay at the Suncoast (a Boyd property in Summerlin) I received the usual "upgrade your stay" email. In the past these offers were generally limited to rooms (a larger room, a more premium room, mini-suites, full suites, etc). Here's a quick recap of the upgrades I could now indulge myself with: two 12-ounce bottles of Aquafina water for $15 (and in large highlighted letters it specifies that this is two bottles for the entire stay, NOT two bottles per day), $35 for early check-in, $40 for late check-out, $10 to be on a higher floor, $15 for a pool-view room, and $20 for a room closer to the elevator. Every one of those upgrades (excluding the check-in and check-out options), were the stated price FOR EACH NIGHT OF YOUR STAY. Only an extra $100 for my 5-night stay to be closer to the elevator. The Suncoast is a relatively small hotel. Even the rooms at the ends of the halls aren't very much of a walk from the elevators. I'll do the walk and keep that extra hundred in my pocket, to use for the fee charges I have no control over. I'm in my 60's now. Encore Boston Harbor is a 30-minute drive away. Mohegan and Foxwoods are about two-hours away (great for staying two or three nights). The body can't bounce back from two full days trapped in a confining seat in a giant metal tube, quite like it could in my younger days. Now, instead of the anonymity of a pick-pocketer, every casino in Las Vegas is essentially robbing you by "gunpoint" in broad daylight. The "gun" being "if you don't like it here, go somewhere else, and good luck finding a place that won't hit you up for obscene charges, because we all conspired to make sure every last property will do very bad things to your wallet, all without the courtesy of lubricant or a condom".
Everybody knows Vegas hotel-room mini-bar items are a rip-off but get THIS: I recently stayed at Caesars Palace and upon checking in to my room I took a peek into the minibar just to see what was offered. Although I neither touched nor removed anything evidently just opening the door jiggled the electronic sensors and, when I got home I went online to look over my bill and there was a $69 minibar charge. Well I immediately called and told the Caesars accounting dept about the error and when I next checked my credit card statement the $69 was gone, but a new $100 charge appeared! Calling again I was informed the incredible fact that yes this was for "the investigation". I didn't even have time to express disbelief before being hung up on. Unbelievable, this huge shyster "hospitality" corporation thinks THIS is the way to pad their bottom line, it makes you wonder if this same level of dishonesty is going on, uh maybe just maybe, down in the casino -
I recently stayed at Aria for a work conference. They have a fee for just USING the mini fridge. I’m sure the hotel has some kind of ridiculous reason, but it’s something like $50 per night if you place items in the mini fridge. Las Vegas has gotten out of control with the add-on fees.
Thanks Corey. My wife and I are celebrating 50 years in 2025 & first began taking junkets to Nevada in the 70s, eventually moving to Las Vegas, in the 90s. So much has changed since then as you know and that casino grab for every dime has gotten crazy...so crazy that even with all the bogus fees they still have the gall to put a soda machine in the valet area to get your last $3-$4. It used to be fun...free nickels, 2 for 1 tickets, buffet or meal comps.
The folks at casino.org should pass this post along to their colleague over at VitalVegas, Scott Roeben. He recently authored a post (https://www.casino.org/vitalvegas/lvcva-to-unveil-fabulous-image-campaign-casinos-roll-out-new-deals-and-perks/) touting a new sleight-of-hand, distracting, promotional campaign from the LVCVA - basically a "look over here at this shiny object so you won't realize how much Las Vegas is currently screwing you over". If you don't want to take the time to read it (I know some of the folks here are most certainly NOT fans of Scott, and that's putting it mildly), Scott's argument is essentially that excessively abusive fess aren't going away any time soon, and that all of us should just deal with it and move on. To illustrate the newly found generosity of the casino overlords, he mentions that the Bellagio is now giving away free popsicles to pool guests and MGM properties has reduced the cost of in-room bottled water from $6 to $3, and that's a $3 million dollar hit to their bottom line (the horrors). I'd shake Scott's hand to congratulate him for his post, but then I'd have to find a Men's Room in order to wash the newly attached grease off my palms. Scott goes on to argue that casinos have bills to pay (unlike the rest of us peons) and that the fees are just a way for the casinos to get the money they need to pay the bills. This could be a valid point if casinos had fairly routine expenses, but in reality they're charging extortion-level fees in order to pay off the BILLIONS of dollars in debt that they VOLUNTARILY took on. Why? GREED. They had to have more; they had to get bigger; they had to eliminate the competition; and they took on billions of dollars in debt to do so. And now, in order to pay for all of this debt, they're eliminating staff, charging $50 for parking, sticking it to you for $50+ a night in resort fees. Charging $50 for a plate of pasta that cost them about $5 to prepare. Forgive me for not shedding a tear for these poor, poor, poor, casinos and all of their stockholders. Perhaps these casino executives could save some money by reducing their million-dollar salaries and bonuses (that should more than offset the $3 million loss on that bottled water). Nah, it easier to royally piss off your paying customers by nickel-and-diming them for every last fricking thing, and pretty much ensure that they won't be back for a return visit very soon (and badmouthing the entire experience to every person they know). Sorry (not sorry) but every last property on the Strip can go self-fornicate.