Lawsuit filed against MGM over resort fees

[Dan Druff]

https://www.reviewjournal.com/busine...-fees-2299475/

Travelers United, a nonprofit travel advocacy group, filed suit against MGM on February 18, accusing them of violating DC consumer law. The group claims that resort fees are deceptive, and violate the District of Columbia’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act.

The lawsuit is mostly about Las Vegas properties, focusing upon DC-based travelers who were charged the resort fees when visiting Las Vegas.

Interestingly, they are claiming that the elimination of certain "amenities" during COVID, yet keeping the resort fees the same, is proof that MGM's claim of the resort fee "paying for amenities" is a sham. Of course, it is a sham, since the resort fee is required, and you cannot simply turn down those amenities.

I have long said that resort fees are deceptive and should be illegal. The lawyer for Travelers United, Lauren Wolfe, appeared on my radio show a few years back.

Currently, resort fees are utilized in order to deceive customers using online search portals into believing that the nightly price is far lower than it is. Contrary to popular belief, resort fees don't usually make the stay more expensive overall. The properties tend to take the price they want to charge, and then move a portion of it to a "resort fee". Obviously this is deceptive and needs to stop.

[MisterV]

It's about time somebody took those deceptive bastards to court.

Please keep us updated.

[The Boz]

I believe too many people get upset over this and it isn’t a big deal. It more shows the overall stupidity of the average American and their inability to read details or easily fall for something too big to be true. Caesars was promoting $9 rooms a few months ago to try and get people to Vegas. Did anyone with common sense think not to read the details on it?

I understand people wanting to be a consumer advocate, but is this the hill to die on? Think about it, how many idiots are lined up at H&R Block or any other tax prep firm willingly paying 200%+ interest rates to get their refund faster? And paying a firm to file a simple 1040. You can’t fix it when they are too busy to get off their phone and learn basis finance.

As long as the Resort Fee is posted before you click to book the room, it’s on the buyer to do the math in my worthless opinion. And it’s not a Vegas issue anymore. Almost every decent hotel I stay at across the country charges a resort fee anymore, along with a parking fee in most larger cities.

[MisterV]

It would be easier to defend and live with the idea of resort fees if they only were only charged to and owed by patrons who actually used the service in question.

But charging a fee for a service someone never used or wanted to use is unfair: we should have the choice to opt out of fees at the time of booking or have them decucted at checkout if we never used the service in question.

For patrons like me the only service ostensibly paid for by resort fees that I'd use is parking, for example: why should I be charged for pool, phone, internet and boarding pass priniting if I never use it?

It's like a hooker charging for half and half when all you got was a blowjob.

[AndrewG]

Mr Boz says to read the details. But when I see low price ads I don't see the details. All I see is some phrase saying something about not including taxes and fees.

By the way, how much are the taxes on a Vegas hotel room?

[The Boz]

Mr BoSox says to read the details. But when I see low price ads I don't see the details. All I see is some phrase saying something about not including taxes and fees.

By the way, how much are the taxes on a Vegas hotel room?

Here is the answer from a simple booking on the Caesars website.



My point is while resort fees suck, they are clearly there if someone takes the time to look.

[AndrewG]

But that's not what shows on their ads. That makes the advertising deceptive.

What if I advertised a bedroom set for "$29 plus stocking fee" and the store's "stocking fee" was $1200?

[kewlJ]

I think the case has merit. I am surprised such a case wasn't brought years ago. If resort fees were really about add on services like wifi and such that would be fine, as long as the patron had the option. When you make it mandatory, it really isn't about those extra services, it is just a way of disguising the basic price. Really just a version of the old "bait and switch".

I find it interesting and smart that the case was filed in Washington DC. Had such a case been filed in Las Vegas/Nevada, with casino industry friendly judges, the outcome would have been predetermined, if the cases wasn't tossed before it ever got going.

[The Boz]

But that's not what shows on their ads. That makes the advertising deceptive.

What if I advertised a bedroom set for "$29 plus stocking fee" and the store's "stocking fee" was $1200?

Then you would still see the total price before purchasing and could make a decision. While yours is an extreme example, I think we agree many will fall for it if the stocking fee was “only” $50. Which car dealers do on every ad. They add delivery fees and other garbage in the fine print. I don’t see calls against that.

I understand your client, or one of them is a consumer advocate. But what is the difference here compared to an ad that says “plus tax”? It is still the consumers responsible to know exactly what they are paying for a purchase IF the information is not hidden in a 20 page contract. In the case I posted above it took 3 clicks from the start to pick a room and find out the exact breakdown.

I just don’t get this battle, if resort fees goes away, the room would be $99 a night before taxes. It’s not going to be $64 with an optional $35 resort fee for a bunch of stuff most of don’t want. It’s an advertising gimmick, period.

That said, it shows how bad things are still in Vegas when one can book a room for under $110 complete on a weekend with 1 days notice.

[mickeycrimm]

I think the hotel tax in Vegas is 12%. West Wendover is probably the highest in Nevada at 16%.

[The Boz]

Here is a 2 click from Chapman on a new Dodge.



Note all the qualifications to get the lowest price. Is it deceptive advertising to put the $16910 price out there? Or is it the customers responsibility to see what they qualify for before going to the dealership? In both cases, the hotel and the dealership, the details are clearly there for the consumer. You can’t hold their hand at every step.

More interesting to me is the extra $1500 and $750 you may qualify for if your FICO score is BELOW 620. Can you imagine the interest rate and bait & switch that goes on with this? This is exactly why the poor family guy who came in looking for a $17K new van walks away with a $25k used van with 80,000 miles on it at 19.9% for 84 months. And the dealers are high giving each other over fucking the guy under the guise of helping him. You talk about discrimination, this is a 1st for “rewarding” bad credit.

[tominnv]

Then you would still see the total price before purchasing and could make a decision. While yours is an extreme example, I think we agree many will fall for it if the stocking fee was “only” $50. Which car dealers do on every ad. They add delivery fees and other garbage in the fine print. I don’t see calls against that.

I understand your client, or one of them is a consumer advocate. But what is the difference here compared to an ad that says “plus tax”? It is still the consumers responsible to know exactly what they are paying for a purchase IF the information is not hidden in a 20 page contract. In the case I posted above it took 3 clicks from the start to pick a room and find out the exact breakdown.

I just don’t get this battle, if resort fees goes away, the room would be $99 a night before taxes. It’s not going to be $64 with an optional $35 resort fee for a bunch of stuff most of don’t want. It’s an advertising gimmick, period.

This is true if someone wants to book a hotel at Caesars. Go to their website and click on the dates and book the room. But that is not a typical visitor. A typical visitor might be willing to stay at any number of places on the strip or downtown or maybe even close enough, like Rio or Westgate. They don't care where they stay, so long as it is a good value for them. By hiding half the cost of the room as "resort fees" it changes nothing about the value of the hotel room, but makes it a pain to compare different places to try to find the most suitable one. It would be like if the box of cereal at the grocery store had a price of $1.00 or more, only when I get to the register do I find the actual cost and decide if I want to pay it.

I just don't get why anyone would fight to keep the practice of resort fees. If they were banned, no one would be worse off, because just like you said the room would be $99 instead of $64 + $35. Some people would be better off, as we could comparison shop a lot easier, instead of wasting time having to deal with a bullshit gimmick.

[MisterV]

Casino Royale is the only strip casino that does not charge a resort fee; this doesn't mean the rooms are cheap, it just means they choose not to mislead people.

Couple this to free parking at Wynn, Encore, Venetian and Palazzo and hey, just like the old days.

[accountinquestion]

Boz thinks that because at end of checkout process fees are always made known it is fine.

I don't know what the solution here is. I pay for a cloud phone system per line. They have this whole price listed and how much it'll cost and not until the actual check out moment do you see there are additional prices that are not taxes. Hate that shit. Taxes are different because they're necessary by the government. Whatever - but mixing the actual cost of something out in some overtly misleading manner is not something I'll ever get behind. Glad to see them sued. It is either that or more laws to prevent this. Not sure which is better. Tired of resort fees which are not optional.

Maybe the solution is to make places liable for the first price offered by statute.

[Tasha]

Boz thinks that because at end of checkout process fees are always made known it is fine.

I don't know what the solution here is. I pay for a cloud phone system per line. They have this whole price listed and how much it'll cost and not until the actual check out moment do you see there are additional prices that are not taxes. Hate that shit. Taxes are different because they're necessary by the government. Whatever - but mixing the actual cost of something out in some overtly misleading manner is not something I'll ever get behind. Glad to see them sued. It is either that or more laws to prevent this. Not sure which is better. Tired of resort fees which are not optional.

Maybe the solution is to make places liable for the first price offered by statute.

The thing is,Resort fees used to not exist at all and then ONE Casino decided out of the blue to charge Resort Fees and soon other Casinos decided to follow the Leader and
play Monkey see Monkey do and add them too...

[The Boz]

Boz thinks that because at end of checkout process fees are always made known it is fine.

I don't know what the solution here is. I pay for a cloud phone system per line. They have this whole price listed and how much it'll cost and not until the actual check out moment do you see there are additional prices that are not taxes. Hate that shit. Taxes are different because they're necessary by the government. Whatever - but mixing the actual cost of something out in some overtly misleading manner is not something I'll ever get behind. Glad to see them sued. It is either that or more laws to prevent this. Not sure which is better. Tired of resort fees which are not optional.

Maybe the solution is to make places liable for the first price offered by statute.

Nice reply, AQ, I think some are misunderstanding my stance on this. I agree it’s a waste for most people and isn’t “fair”, but what is? And why is this the one that pisses people off so much?

The cell phone or cable bill is a perfect example and we just accept it.

Ever try to buy a mattress? Perhaps the greatest example out there. The companies do everything possible to NOT allow you to compare prices including not selling the same named mattress to 2 different retailers. Comparing hotel room costs in Vegas is simple compared to this.

Look at the current craze with food delivery like Doordash and Grubhub. People end up paying $20 for a $7.99 burger combo when all the fees are added. They just don’t care. To me it comes down to life not being fair, but in the end we all have choices.

I’m just not sure I want government and the courts wasting time trying to fix laziness and stupidity. If there is legitimate criminal activity going on by hiding fees and then overcharging a customer, different story. But from what I see, the true and final numbers are there if you take the time to look.

And again, this isn’t just a Vegas thing, just booked a trip to Wyoming to a private hotel. And of course resort fees are part of the deal. And include nothing I’ll use other than maybe 2 bottles of water per day. Again, my choice to accept it, find another resort without them or sit home. Life goes on.

[pepe]

it should be the law that all posted or advertised prices ANYWHERE include FINAL price INCLUDING all taxes and fees, period. call it the Pricing Transparency Act. this has been my opinion since I was 8 years old buying my first candy bar with my own money only to find out that a dollar wasn't enough to buy a 99 cent candy bar and it hasn't changed.

[AndrewG]

Mr Boz not everyone is as smart as you or is as observant as you when it comes to fine print. Sometimes small print is enough. Other times we need bold lettering or even bold print in a black box.

One other point. Resorts diverted some pricing to resort fees to reduce the commissions paid to travel agents. It's not just consumers who were targeted by resort fees.

[redietz]

I have an off the wall question for AndrewG and resident lawyers. Is there some expense deducting advantage for casinos if they can contractually categorize all patrons as having used fitness centers, the parking garage, bought newspapers, and so on? In other words, if you have 500 rooms and everybody is locked into the resort fee contract, does that mean you get to pad expenses in some way? Does a fitness center servicing 500 total people in 24 hours get to look like a bigger expense on a ledger than one that services 50? Does a parking garage that ostensibly services 500 people get to claim more expenses than one that services 250? Or is there no real way to advantage that?

[Garnabby]

Jesus Christ, people, stay at home and w4tch the p4r4de of "internuts". --->

The Leaf's destruction starts! (Naruto episode)

https://anagram-solver.net/Jesus%20C....?partial=true

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