Las Vegas Sands raises daily resort fees at its Sin City casinos

Over a three-year period, the Paradise-headquartered company led by 84-year-old billionaire business magnate Sheldon Adelson has increased its daily Sin City report fees by a hefty 80 percent, according to Deutsche Bank and Las Vegas Review-Journal data.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that in an email to the news agency, Sands spokeswoman Alyssa Anderson said, “As of March 6, The Venetian and The Palazzo increased our resort fee to $45.”

Las Vegas Sands, however, still offers free parking at its properties, unlike the majority of its Strip competitors. With MGM Resorts International leading the charge, it announced in 2016 that it intended to eliminate free parking on most of its Las Vegas Strip properties since then most other Sin City casinos have followed suit.

The $45 fee places both Las Vegas Sands Corp. properties at the very top of the fee scale among its Strip competitors but it is not alone in raising resort fees. So far in this year, resort fees have been raised by between $2 and $5 to between $30 and $39 by The Blackstone Group-owned, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, along with MGM Resorts International and Caesars Entertainment Corp. Las Vegas properties, according to the Review-Journal report.

Wynn Resorts, now led by the company’s new CEO Matt Maddox, has not raised its resort fee. Michael Weaver, spokesman for Wynn, reportedly said that the company has not planned to increase resort fees and does not raise them on an annual schedule. The Wynn Resorts’ fee is still $39.

Hotel amenities including but not limited to the use of fitness centers, swimming pools and business centers along with high-speed internet, are all covered under resort fees. Hotel guests are charged the fees regardless if they take advantage of the amenities or not.

Currently, daily resort fees in Las Vegas range from $39 to $14.95, with only Sands’ two properties at the former and El Cortez at 600 Freemont the sole property at the latter. The majority of the Las Vegas casinos are in the $39 to $35 range, according to the report.