Whenever you take a trip, you’re subjected to dynamic pricing (whereby the cost of a product or service varies based on supply, demand, willingness to pay, etc.). This applies to flights, hotel rooms, rental cars, concerts, and more.
Continue reading: Las Vegas Hotel Sundry Stores Add Dynamic Pricing: Sneaky Or Smart?
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*At least* there should be price tags. The technology exists for e-ink shelf tags that can be changed wirelessly. I think everyone knows Vegas is a ripoff, and dynamic pricing isn’t actually that unexpected… but its the lack of transparency that angers people the most.
Coming from Europe, I was surprised to find Dallas last year had much less transparency on pricing:
- restaurants (except fast food) did not post menus outside, and often not on website
- laundries did not have a pricelist in the window (or even what they services they offered)
- tailors for alterations did not have a pricelist in the window (or even what services they offered).
- many small businesses had no website
And higher memberships of Arts Organisations were all "call (for pricing)" without showing prices (which is pretty common on the UK equivalent websites)
Is that lack of transparency general to the US, general in non-pedestrian cities in the US, or only in some cities (including Las Vegas clearly!)
The Journal has done us all a service by drawing this to our attention.
The city is off my list.
Right, so now we've got dynamic pricing on bottles of water - because apparently fleecing punters at the blackjack tables wasn't quite profitable enough for these Vegas vultures. This is exactly the sort of algorithmic price manipulation that transforms basic commerce into a bloody lottery where you need a PhD in behavioral economics just to buy a packet of crisps without getting absolutely mugged.
What's particularly galling is the complete absence of price transparency - at least when Ryanair shafts you on baggage fees, they have the decency to tell you about it upfront! But no, these casino carpetbaggers want you to play price roulette at the checkout.
It's anti-competitive sharp practice dressed up as "market innovation," and it's precisely why US consumers need proper consumer protection frameworks that don't treat shopping like some sort of financial derivatives market. Margaret Thatcher believed in free markets, not rigged ones where customers can't even see the bloody prices!
Posting menus outside a restaurant is just much less universal in the US, yeah. I suspect that more of our restaurants have most of their customers drive to them, rather than walk up.
I don't think it's transparency, exactly--restaurant prices are generally fixed, and menus are nearly always available in the entry. Restaurants (outside of Vegas...) aren't trying to pull anything shady. Just different customs.
Soaking people for every bit more is exactly what’s wrong with Las Vegas. It’s not like the lower prices are any bargain either.
nobody is surprised that a city built to exploit visitors is actually exploiting visitors.
Just wanted to say that Las Vegas isn’t losing any business! The conferences and concerts and boxing matches are plenty so that it is usually sold out on weekends starting with Thursdays. People are getting smart on their spending but the business is booming.
I visit often whether to play or as a conference attendee and every time the flights are filled to the gills or sold out. The major casino hotels are almost at full occupancy! Perhaps the lower hotels without casinos are not doing well as there is no shortage of rooms in Vegas.
At this rate I don’t think Vegas is gonna stop their rip off tactics.
BTW I’m writing this from the Vegas Strip where tonite there is major boxing match up and several other events. The flights are completely sold out and the whole place is like a zoo. It’s become difficult to believe legacy news channels as they BS everything!
The more annoying thing to me is that vegas has a history of price hike policies like this over the years. But the real issue for me is that multiple hotels implements them concurrently. That tells me the hotels regularly meet to collude on prices and they get away with it.
That may just be a big city vs small city thing then. Because it's rare that I see restaurant menus without prices other than in touristy areas of cities where the restaurant is absolutely being shady and I travel A LOT and I question restaurants with no visible prices. In my experience when they omit it from their website then it's either a very small restaurant where they have no idea how to maintain a website or a Michelin start restaurant.
Well $6 for a bottle of water should already clue you in when it cost 17 cents at Costco. Not that anyone buys 1 bottle of water at costco.
They probably figure half of Americans are fat and lazy cbs would be more willing to pay $42 than to walk in the heat for 30 minutes to Walgreens.
I'm down for requiring stores to post prices with the goods.
Of course, if you post the price and then it changes while you're in the store (e.g. e-ink)...
...I expect a lot of stories for NotAlwaysRight/NotAlwaysWorking.
We just got back from a trip to Vegas. Can confirm that at the ParkMGM there was no pricing at the sundry shop, or at the grab and go store by the Dolby Theater.
In fairness, all three hotels mentioned in the article are owned by MGM Resorts. You can’t technically collude with yourself.
ResortsWorld doesn’t post prices. While it isn’t a supply issue, it is absolutely a DEMAND issue.
If the principle of dynamic pricing applies, pricing based on demand, in theory we could see very cheap prices on certain products on certain days or time, like 25 cents for a bottle or water on a cold day for example, but we don’t. The problem is when opportunity comes or demand comes, the merchants do not hesitate to raise prices, when there’s little demand, they do not lower prices. My conclusion is they used dynamic pricing to justify the high prices and said it’s good for everyone, no it’s not
This makes me think of a very interesting comparison that I think most Americans are aware of or have experienced but never give a second thought.
Restaurants have been doing this for decades.. You can go to [insert restaurant here] and order let’s say a roasted chicken entree at lunch and pay $16 from 1100-1600 and the exact same chicken prepared the same way with the same two side dishes might be $19 at dinner. Some places will even include a pop or iced tea or other beverage with lunch, but charge for it at dinner. This obviously has absolutely nothing to do with the cost of procuring or preparing the food - I guarantee the chef doesn’t get an hourly pay bump for working dinner service, and the restaurant has already paid Sysco for that case of chicken chunkertons.
This simply reflects that more people go out to eat dinner than go out to eat lunch. The lower lunch price is a way to get more people in the door for a typically slower meal. (Also, some restaurants offer smaller portions at lunch, and will sometimes let you order the lunch size meal at dinner for the lunch price, provided the meals are materially different from each other.)
For some reason, I don’t think it’s slimy to charge more for the same food later in the day. Do I think it’s slimy to charge more for sunscreen on Friday? Totally. I guess the thought problem is why am I, and apparently others, intrinsically bothered by only one of these practices? They’re basically the same.
This is another way of Vegas, asking people to stay from Vegas . I’ll take that advice.
Ah..... but what should one expect from a place fondly called 'Sin City' ? ....
I can only hope this BS 'stays in 'Lost Wages' .... But it won't... 🙁
I guess you can trust your own miniscule experience in Vegas, or your gut feeling about events, or whatever youtuber tells you what you want to hear, then.
The difference is legacy news interviews and reports on factual data. Like an interview I watched recently with a few local business owners. Or with reporting on the city's own mayor acknowledging the decline and begging for international tourists to return.
A great way to fight back is to bring a bunch of items to the cash register and ask them to tell you the price of each item. After they do so, just leave the items at the front and walk out of the store.
"Clearly the pricing isn’t driven by supply and demand (since I don’t think Dasani water is in short supply, or has a short shelf life), but instead, it’s about willingness to pay."
That's exactly what "supply and demand" means... you've addressed that it's not supply causing the pricing changes, but demand. Willingness of a consumer to pay for a product is the very definition of demand.
That’s a brilliant idea, the underpaid staff who had nothing to do with the pricing get additional work dumped on them by frustrated customers. … just don’t buy anything there. Stay clear of Vegas .
Wait, there's no obligation to post prices in Las Vegas?
I know better than buy from those rip-off stores, so didn't realize this (CVS and Walgreens post prices as you would expect).
That awful place is truly awful! I just can't fathom why people would choose to go there for vacationing (it's a hardship enough to have to go there on business)>
This is EXACTLY what American voters voted for - deregulation. Just let businesses do what they want.
Elections have consequences. Your vote has consequences. This is the consequence of what America voted for.
Correction: This is what a plurality (49.8%) of Americans voted for. I am a part of the 48.3% of Americans who did not vote for this. It is inaccurate to make the blanket statement that "America" voted for this.
The costs for the establishment remain the same. I would agree with the guy and avoid such establishments even if it is out of the way. Restaurants may have been doing this for decades by having different pricing at lunch for example but they have posted menus and signs.
Timtamtrak's restaurant analogy fails empirically. Research shows only 25-30% of restaurants practice identical-item time-based pricing, while 68% use completely different menus between lunch and dinner - exactly like Metropolitan Grill, where Caesar salads and steaks cost the same regardless of meal period.
When restaurants do differentiate pricing, they offer genuine value distinctions: smaller portions, bundled combos, or different preparations. The Vegas model is algorithmic price manipulation with zero transparency - you discover the variable cost only at checkout, with no service or product differences whatsoever.
Restaurant pricing remains posted, predictable, and typically justified by operational differences. Vegas water bottles represent pure demand exploitation. The practices aren't "basically the same" - the data suggests most restaurants specifically avoid the pricing strategy Timtamtrak described because it generates exactly the consumer antipathy we see toward dynamic bottled water pricing.
Why are some saying there is not obligation to post prices? Posting of prices is a law passed by most states and jurisdictions. Now it is possible that Vegas does not have such a statue, but this absence is a law suit waiting to happen. It is also bumping up to the line with the credit card networks.
I don't play the games with these a-holes anymore. I haven't been to Vegas in 4 years. I take whatever money I was planning on blowing and go somewhere in Europe for a long weekend and stay at the finest places and eat the best food. On the plane home, I feel like I just had a wonderfully meaningful and relaxing time instead of feeling like I've been screwed at every turn. It's been liberating having not gone to Vegas.
I dread ever going near Las Vegas and have for years. Its the unfortunate location for many larger trade shows I've attended in the past 30 odd years, and I hate going there more and more each year.
Its not just the expense, which has exploded in the past few years. Its how vapid and empty the entire city experience is. Its become a giant yield management exercise, and only the most naive travelers seem to delight in actually going to this town voluntarily and spending their own money. Whatever "romance" this city may have had ages ago, has been replaced with a generic technocracy....
NOT ONLY in Las Vegas!
… entire US tourism destinations, also airline bookings … just look around and compare ANY US tourism destination with any other international tourism destination, value for money and the offered Service is a HUGE difference!
I guess most here (Hopefully) know why it is that way?
No matter if you go to New York, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Waikiki, San Francisco, Waikoloa!
Compare it with Napoli, Santorini, Bali, Cancun, Barbados … (just from my experience) NON of those destinations have gone as crazy as any of those mentioned US destinations.
The old saying, you get what you pay for, does NOT count in the US anymore! (long gone!) started with mysterious Resorts fees, then crazy devaluation at Covid times, phantasy taxes and especially Las Vegas, outrageous parking fees that used to be free, even Valet!
The payback will come, i bet you!
If you try to rip off customers, they will ruin your reputation (it might take a bit longer in the US due to the masses, but it will work the same way as everywhere)
We will all see.
Well it's a craft price for 7 or 8 dollars for an energy drink. I don't think the one dollar variation is the problem.
Well it's a craft price for 7 or 8 dollars for an energy drink. I don't think the one dollar variation is the problem.
@Incorrect is it inaccurate to say America voted for this? Depends on how you look at it.
I did not vote for that man. That said, I also believe we are one community and in this together. So, while “I” didn’t vote for this, “WE” did and, therefore America did. That’s just my take but you are right to mount out that as many people oppose what ls happening as support it.
Vegas is a great case study on marketing psychology done wrong. They used to do it right, because they had to. It's not about prices or even value per se. After all, their primary product, gambling was guaranteed (statistically) to lose you money. And yet people loved to come back time after time. Why? Because in LV, the statistics for each game were posted and well known and you could trust (thanks to Nevada Gaming Commission enforcement) that the dealer or the machine wasn't secretly ripping you off. Additionally what "surprises" there were were largely positive. The pit manager would sometimes give you a free meal, or comp a hotel night. The dealer might genuinely help you to place a better bet than you were originally going to place. So Vegas was a master of offering a crappy product but had people enjoying it by making it transparent and "fair" while any surprises were largely positive.
Now, Vegas has done the reverse. It's taking what should be good products at face value, like hotel rooms and stuff in their shops, and getting people upset at buying them because it's not transparent nor fair, and any surprises are always to the negative.
Take resort fees. Often, the total price of a hotel room midweek is still substantially cheaper than anything you can get in any other major city. But by pricing it at $20 and tacking on $60 of junk fees, you've made your customer feel ripped off, even though the total price of $80 is still not a bad deal. If they just priced it at $80, people would be happier because the price was transparent and "fair" (ie you don't feel like they hid something from you or that part of the price was for BS stuff like it usually is in a resort fee).
Same thing here. Everyone expects to get ripped off at the hotel store. You're paying for convenience. But throw in hidden dynamic pricing, and you take a guy who was willing to pay $8 for a water and motivate him to walk to CVS and buy his water there (still overpriced but less egregiously) just to spite you. Oh yeah, and during that extra hour he spends walking the strip to and from CVS he might be tempted to wander into another casino and play the slots there, losing you far more than the extra dollar you were trying to fleece him for.
Thanks to corporate greed to squeeze every last penny without thought to long-term consequences, LV is unlearning its own lessons. People used to enjoy losing a thousand dollars at the tables because they got comped a hundred dollar ticket to the show that night. Now, people hate LV because they feel they've been "cheated" a dollar off an $8 water or because $50 of a $100 hotel room was random garbage fees rather than the price of the room itself.
Of course, this is happening everywhere (FF loyalty programs that used to surprise you with little things to keep you buying more expensive tickets, now hammering you with surprise devaluations and phantom availability and numerous "gotcha" rules and restrictions such that even if the ticket is the best value you'd rather buy something else).
Ass Vegas introducing anti-consumer pricing? Wow, who wouldve possibly have thought that.
Anyone who buys something without knowing the price first tho.. lol, they sure didnt put their skill points in intelligence!
Things are already spiraling down for Vegas. The predatory pricing on anything on the strip is ridiculous and does not make for repeat business which is the mainstay for any city, business or enterprise. Also Nevada being a red state does not help with price gouging.
So Ben, I respectfully disagree with your commentary on demand pricing when they have captive "custtomers". Have you seen the price of transportation in Vegas on the strip. Why don't you take a survey of conditions of hotels on the strip? Luxor, Mandalay Bay (and all other properties now owned/operated under MGM hotels). Abhorrent reviews over the past 18 months. I know because much niece still insisted on getting married in Las Vegas and the price with taxes, resort fees and parking are so ridiculous on top of the super bad reviews. I ended booking Holiday Inn Express in Henderson and it was also crazy expensive.
Things are already spiraling down for Vegas. The predatory pricing on anything on the strip is ridiculous and does not make for repeat business which is the mainstay for any city, business or enterprise. Also Nevada being a red state does not help with price gouging.
So Ben, I respectfully disagree with your commentary on demand pricing when they have captive "custtomers". Have you seen the price of transportation in Vegas on the strip. Why don't you take a survey of conditions of hotels on the strip? Luxor, Mandalay Bay (and all other properties now owned/operated under MGM hotels). Abhorrent reviews over the past 18 months. I know because much niece still insisted on getting married in Las Vegas and the price with taxes, resort fees and parking are so ridiculous on top of the super bad reviews. I ended booking Holiday Inn Express in Henderson and it was also crazy expensive.
Made me giggle. As the late Jackie Mason said, Vegas is for schmucks and idiots. People pay thousands of dollars for the privilege to then lose hundreds of dollars.
That being said, I have never, and will never, buy anything in a luxury hotel sundry store. If I'm at the Moxy near the airport, and the yoghurt is 50c above what it would cost at a normal store, then sure, but $42 for sunscreen? I honestly don't get how so many people have so much money they don't care about! It's almost they we are being indoctrinated to enjoy spending it...
It's smart if you think the purpose of a hotel is pure revenue extraction from the guest with little to no thought of genuine hospitality. Anyone who stays at these hotels now is basically admitting to a BDSM fetish, with the hotels being the doms and the guests being the pay pigs, glorying in being humiliated and exploited and coming back for more.
It's neither sneaky no smart - it's vile.
Parker, a plurality win does not equal unanimous or majority consent, and saying “America voted for this” erases millions who opposed it. I am not part of any “we” that voted for the short-fingered vulgarian currently occupying the White House. Collective responsibility cannot be imposed on those who actively opposed the candidate, nor does plurality equate to unified consent. Precision in language is essential to uphold the integrity of political discourse.
A lot of negativity and complaining. I go to the Wynn and have a great time. The service and experience is top notch. I understand that the cost for everything will be 50% more than off property, but that is the cost of the experience. If you want cheap, you can go to McDonalds. If you want a great pool, room, service, restaurants, weather,... its tough to beat the Wynn Tower Suites.
It has nothing to do with voting for President Trump---It is local government and taxes in a liberal city.. scamming the tourists!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Does it really matter if the prices are displayed or not? In the USA (and Canada), the display price is inevitably less than what you pay, thanks to taxes being added at the cash register.
And further, the sundry stores are leased to an outside vendor (Essentials/WHSmith), who also have the same contracts with Caesars, Circa, Penn National, and Venetian, so they are able t control that pricing channel pretty much all over town.