Agreed that US travel is down, and down across the board. I was more referring to the lower summer prices.
Las Vegas is dying
- Thread starter Phil C. McNasty
- Start date
I went last summer and the summer before to play in WSOP events. Now there are WSOP events in Toronto and other cities, as well as easily accessible poker rooms (although the house rake for cash games here is too much).
Vegas has always been garish but yeah the prices are insane. And the notion of charging resort fees piss me off.
Vegas has always been garish but yeah the prices are insane. And the notion of charging resort fees piss me off.
Lol! Classy I don't know but it is a whole vibe! The Bellagios fountaines, the show girls, the weird touchy guy with a white snake, the copter adventure in the grand canyon, the looping coaster with no security belt, how it vibrates day and night and how quick the hotel doorman call a cab for that girl naked under her see-through dress.There is more wild life on the sidewalk than in Australia's back country!! kherg! Get out of your bush, lets go on an adventure!
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I still like it. Once a year in the cooler months (Jan/Feb) mostly. Not as much riff raff or college chaos. Granted, that means WAY less eye candy at the pool.
It’s definitely a convention/conference hub now and the properties depend on that. Meals, snacks, drinks and other treats are in the hundreds of thousands (depending on the conference). They charge like $6/cookie!!
F1 draws another crowd but fucks up traffic. They have the Raiders, Aviators and the Knights. They have the Sphere concerts and the other resident artists. Fine dining every 25 feet and 1000 different ways to spend/lose your money.
It’s less of a gambling town and more of an entertainment destination.
There was a BIG push to get Chinese players to come over… but the insults of tariffs surely kept them slumming it in Macau!
It’s definitely a convention/conference hub now and the properties depend on that. Meals, snacks, drinks and other treats are in the hundreds of thousands (depending on the conference). They charge like $6/cookie!!
F1 draws another crowd but fucks up traffic. They have the Raiders, Aviators and the Knights. They have the Sphere concerts and the other resident artists. Fine dining every 25 feet and 1000 different ways to spend/lose your money.
It’s less of a gambling town and more of an entertainment destination.
There was a BIG push to get Chinese players to come over… but the insults of tariffs surely kept them slumming it in Macau!
Have never understood the allure of "manufactured" fun, whether Disney or Vegas or wherever some kind of artifice/concept is created. Just step outdoors. Anywhere. Look around. Listen. Walk some. Breathe a little. All the fun for the asking.
Haven't been to Vegas since 2001 and have no desire to travel there again, unless it's to see its' destruction. City preys on the weak and the compulsive, and I'd rather travel a million other places than there.
Article in the NY Post today
nypost.com
Las Vegas’s tipped workers say their income has fallen by more than half as tourism plunges
Las Vegas workers have seen their income from tips plunge by as much as 50% — despite the recently passed no tax on tips law — as tourism to Sin City takes a hit from President Trump’s global trade war.
“No tax on tips, that’s a rad thing. But it doesn’t really do us much good if there isn’t any people to get tips from,” Charlie Mungo, a 36-year-old tattoo artist in downtown Las Vegas, told the Wall Street Journal.vMungo said he has made about $1,500 a month in recent months. He added that Canadian customers, who made up about 30% of his clientele, have vanished.
“We’re all starting to freak out,” he told the Journal.
Overall visitations to the city are down more than 6% through the first half of the year, with April 2025 recording just over 3.3 million visitors, representing a 5.1% drop from the previous April, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). Airport traffic has also decreased, with April passenger traffic at Harry Reid International Airport totaling 4.7 million, down 3.4% from April 2024. International visitor arrivals fell over 13% in June compared to the previous year, while domestic travel saw a 6.5% decline year-over-year, based on CoStar data.
The overall decline in tourism has hurt service sector workers who were expecting to benefit from Trump’s campaign pledge to eliminate taxes on tips. The legislation was included in the “Big Beautiful Bill,” signed earlier this month, and exempted up to $25,000 in annual tips from personal income taxes — retroactive to the start of the year. Jacob Soto, a 22-year-old supervisor at Pinkbox Doughnuts downtown, told the Journal that his weekly credit-card tips dropped from between $175 and $200 to anywhere from $100 to $150. With his $15-per-hour wage insufficient to cover basic expenses, Soto said: “I kinda rely on tips at the end of the day.”
The empty feeling is apparent on the usually buzzing Las Vegas Strip. Hotel occupancy rates have declined to approximately 66.7% in early July compared to the same period last year, according to the LVCVA. “Vegas is not fun anymore,” Amrita Bhasin, a retail-industry entrepreneur, told MarketWatch. She said that hotels in the city can charge as much as $50 in resort fees that make their stay even more expensive.
Rising prices affect both workers and tourists. Wally Weidner, a 67-year-old Wisconsin visitor, said he’s reconsidering his tipping practices. “Just because prices went up doesn’t mean I should pay more tip,” Weidner said. At Mon Ami Gabi restaurant on the Strip, a dinner-menu cheeseburger with fries now costs $30.95 plus tax and tip, compared to $16.95 four years ago.
Rory Kuykendall, a 41-year-old California native who moved to Las Vegas a decade ago, works as a graveyard-shift bellperson at the Flamingo hotel and casino. Tips constitute 25% to 70% of his income depending on weekly business levels, according to the Journal. Kuykendall described his recent tip income as “underwhelming” while facing increased costs for groceries and car insurance. He has reduced personal spending to manage finances.
“It really feels off,” he told the Journal.
Las Vegas’s tipped workers say their income has fallen by more than half as tourism plunges
Tourists have largely stayed away from Sin City due to inflated prices such as $9 for a cup of coffee, $100 per person for a buffet spread.
nypost.com
Las Vegas’s tipped workers say their income has fallen by more than half as tourism plunges
Las Vegas workers have seen their income from tips plunge by as much as 50% — despite the recently passed no tax on tips law — as tourism to Sin City takes a hit from President Trump’s global trade war.
“No tax on tips, that’s a rad thing. But it doesn’t really do us much good if there isn’t any people to get tips from,” Charlie Mungo, a 36-year-old tattoo artist in downtown Las Vegas, told the Wall Street Journal.vMungo said he has made about $1,500 a month in recent months. He added that Canadian customers, who made up about 30% of his clientele, have vanished.
“We’re all starting to freak out,” he told the Journal.
Overall visitations to the city are down more than 6% through the first half of the year, with April 2025 recording just over 3.3 million visitors, representing a 5.1% drop from the previous April, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). Airport traffic has also decreased, with April passenger traffic at Harry Reid International Airport totaling 4.7 million, down 3.4% from April 2024. International visitor arrivals fell over 13% in June compared to the previous year, while domestic travel saw a 6.5% decline year-over-year, based on CoStar data.
The overall decline in tourism has hurt service sector workers who were expecting to benefit from Trump’s campaign pledge to eliminate taxes on tips. The legislation was included in the “Big Beautiful Bill,” signed earlier this month, and exempted up to $25,000 in annual tips from personal income taxes — retroactive to the start of the year. Jacob Soto, a 22-year-old supervisor at Pinkbox Doughnuts downtown, told the Journal that his weekly credit-card tips dropped from between $175 and $200 to anywhere from $100 to $150. With his $15-per-hour wage insufficient to cover basic expenses, Soto said: “I kinda rely on tips at the end of the day.”
The empty feeling is apparent on the usually buzzing Las Vegas Strip. Hotel occupancy rates have declined to approximately 66.7% in early July compared to the same period last year, according to the LVCVA. “Vegas is not fun anymore,” Amrita Bhasin, a retail-industry entrepreneur, told MarketWatch. She said that hotels in the city can charge as much as $50 in resort fees that make their stay even more expensive.
Rising prices affect both workers and tourists. Wally Weidner, a 67-year-old Wisconsin visitor, said he’s reconsidering his tipping practices. “Just because prices went up doesn’t mean I should pay more tip,” Weidner said. At Mon Ami Gabi restaurant on the Strip, a dinner-menu cheeseburger with fries now costs $30.95 plus tax and tip, compared to $16.95 four years ago.
Rory Kuykendall, a 41-year-old California native who moved to Las Vegas a decade ago, works as a graveyard-shift bellperson at the Flamingo hotel and casino. Tips constitute 25% to 70% of his income depending on weekly business levels, according to the Journal. Kuykendall described his recent tip income as “underwhelming” while facing increased costs for groceries and car insurance. He has reduced personal spending to manage finances.
“It really feels off,” he told the Journal.
Canada has many beautiful casinos now too. People are afraid to enter the states.
Did someone mention BUSH?Lol! Classy I don't know but it is a whole vibe! The Bellagios fountaines, the show girls. The weird touchy guy with a white snake, the copter adventure in the grand canyon, the looping coaster with no security belt, how it vibrates day and night and how quick the hotel doorman call a cab for tha girl naked under her seethrough dress.Tthere is more wild life on the sidewalk than in Australia's back country!! kherg! Get out of your bush, lets go on an adventure!
Yes! I love Vegas! I recently posted that I miss my little Vegas vacations and I'm sad I won't go for a while... The oversized pizza slices, the larger-than-life shows, the pool and overpriced cocktails, the shopping, it's no different than resorts south, it's a fake world but I love the vibe, the sun, the gambling on electronic roulettes. No longer than 5 days, though.Lol! Classy I don't know but it is a whole vibe! The Bellagios fountaines, the show girls. The weird touchy guy with a white snake, the copter adventure in the grand canyon, the looping coaster with no security belt, how it vibrates day and night and how quick the hotel doorman call a cab for tha girl naked under her seethrough dress.Tthere is more wild life on the sidewalk than in Australia's back country!! kherg! Get out of your bush, lets go on an adventure!
the brunch by the pool at the Wynn! How you have to find the machine with the most cig in the hashtray to play and win. Glad i'm not alone! Vegas is special.
I was referring to the real one, but knowing Kherg, I think it my be the one you mentioned ahahDid someone mention BUSH?
Couple of major reasons why and its just not the cost.
1 - Culture change. Millennials and Gen Z aren't into gambling as much as their predecessors. Alcohol culture is also dying.
2 - The Vegas patron has become more and more retarded. From degenerate corporate funded stooges to shallow women, every one visiting there just becomes a special kind of stupid.
3 - Fun people are priced out. In Vegas the more you spend the more access to fun and convenience you have.
4 - Hype loss. The coolness and allure of Vegas is a sinking ship Back in the day, Vegas used to be the place to party and let loose. Now, your in a cramped (cess)pool with 400 other fucked up dudes.
1 - Culture change. Millennials and Gen Z aren't into gambling as much as their predecessors. Alcohol culture is also dying.
2 - The Vegas patron has become more and more retarded. From degenerate corporate funded stooges to shallow women, every one visiting there just becomes a special kind of stupid.
3 - Fun people are priced out. In Vegas the more you spend the more access to fun and convenience you have.
4 - Hype loss. The coolness and allure of Vegas is a sinking ship Back in the day, Vegas used to be the place to party and let loose. Now, your in a cramped (cess)pool with 400 other fucked up dudes.
