President Joe Biden has made taking on junk fees a key part of his financial platform. And many Americans support this effort, even if they don't sit on the president's side of the political aisle.
On the surface, it's hard to see why anyone would oppose an effort to get rid of hidden fees and provide transparency for consumers. Nobody wants to buy a ticket for a flight, concert or anything else, only to find that the advertised price isn't anywhere close to the price you actually pay.
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The same logic applies to cable bills, smartphone plans, and banking fees. Biden cast a wide net in remarks he made on his efforts to kill hidden fees.
One of the key things I’ve asked the [Competition Council] to take on was the unfair hidden fees known as “junk fees” that are taking real money — real money out of your pockets — real money out of the pockets of American families. Things like, as been mentioned, surprise banking overdraft fees, excessive credit card late fees, hidden hotel booking fees, or those huge termination charges to stop you from switching cable and Internet plans to a better deal. Surprise charges that companies sneak into bills because they can.
Biden has also targeted the so-called resort fees many hotels tack onto customers' bills to cover things like WiFi, pool access, parking, and other amenities. He wants those fees to be clearly disclosed or rolled into advertised room prices.
That area puts Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Strip clearly in the president's crosshairs.
And now, Nevada's congressional delegation has fired back at Biden on behalf of Las Vegas's resort operators ,including Caesars Entertainment (CZR) and MGM Resorts International (MGM).
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Consumers Don't Like Hidden Fees
While anything Biden says will be construed as political, it's hard, at least in concept, for consumers to oppose requiring companies to disclose fees up front. The problem is at least partly in the words the president used and what that implies about Las Vegas's resorts.
"We're going to ban surprise resort fees that hotels charge on your bill. Those fees can cost you up to $90 a night at hotels that aren't even resorts," Biden said during his State of the Union address.
Nevada's congressional delegation -- which includes two senators and three of its four House members from Biden's Democratic Party -- fired back at the president's remarks, Casino.org reported.
"I’m sure the president knows Las Vegas resorts really are resorts,” commented Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nevada). “I commend and share President Biden’s view that customers need to be protected from exorbitant ‘junk fees,’ and I applaud efforts by the Federal Trade Commission and hotel operators to ensure transparency in pricing.”
“I’ll make sure this administration’s proposals stay focused on eliminating surprise fees,” added Nevada’s Democratic US Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto. “Not punishing our world-class hotels and casinos for charges they already disclose up front.”
Las Vegas's Resort Fees Are an Issue
You can't argue that the properties Caesars and MGM operate in Las Vegas are not resorts. That's true of all the major resort casinos on the Strip and downtown.
The issue in this case isn't what Nevada's members of Congress are alleging; it's in how these fees are presented.
If, for example, you begin to book a room at Harrah's through Caesars's website, it shows you an average room rate up front. That rate is the average of what the room costs per night, But only when you actually go to book the room that you see that the company charges a $39.95 resort fee per night.
In the case of a test booking made for March 1-3, the resort fees nearly equal the $43 average cost of the room per night. Caesars uses the same pricing method across all its Strip hotels, as does rival MGM. They show the room rate up front, but disclose the resort fee only when it's time to check out.
So, while the president would almost certainly agree that most Las Vegas hotels are truly resorts, he also wants nonnegotiable resort fees disclosed earlier in the process.
