summer league next weekend
summer league next weekend
Stop the gouge. Most people could go two-three + trips a year to Vegas. Now, many go once as it is no longer affordable. Resort fees, parking fees, $30 breakfast, $20 cocktails in a plastic cup, venue fees, concession fees, classic room service vs standard, lounge chair rental, on and on and on...Originally Posted by desertrunner
American tourism to Canada is down 30% this year. We are bitchslapping canucks back into reality. You need us more than we need you.
POKER FAG ALERT! FOR BLOW JOBS SEE SLOPPY JOE, SONATINE AND BCR.
American tourism to Canada is down 30% this year. We are bitchslapping canucks back into reality. You need us more than we need you.
Where are you getting 30% from?
Tourists Shun Las Vegas Over Ridiculous Prices:
https://www.thetimes.com/us/news-tod...osed-jhf5dx8zr
I have been to Vegas at least once a year, sometimes twice since 9/11. 9/11 trip was practically free, thinknthe whole thing cost me $400 and most of it was for two shows of front row seats to cirque.
I haven't been going on two years.
I think a major key is for the hotels to get together with the airlines and make sure flights are abundant and cheap. Few years back I could do Spirit airlines big seat up front roundtrip nonstop for less than $300 per. Now cant get there for less than $450 in coach. The first thing people look at is mostly hotel. When they find something they like...... they find out it's a Grand to get there and the trip is off.
Airline miles are your friend. It’s never been easier to earn miles (not counting the Mint sale of SBA dollars years ago) and fly for next to nothing.
Just one shipment from Hello Fresh or the other meal services is good enough for a one way trip on American through their shopping portal. Get the initial shipment, skip next 5 weeks and the miles are yours.
And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Sites are dedicated to this game.
But doesn’t help with the shitty prices in Vegas at most places but again, still deals out there.
Las Vegas Is Really Feeling the Heat: What Happens When the Magic Melts (Please share, we’d love to hear your voice)
When Magic Was Real
There was a time when Las Vegas felt like a secret shared between strangers. You'd walk into any casino and the cocktail waitress would remember your drink from three nights ago. The buffet man would slip you an extra dinner roll with a wink. The dealers knew your name, your hometown, your lucky numbers. It wasn't just hospitality; it was something warmer, more human. Vegas wrapped you in velvet ropes and made you feel like the most important person in the world, even if you'd only brought fifty dollars and a dream. That Vegas believed in magic. Real magic. The kind that made a school teacher from Ohio feel like Sinatra for a weekend. Where slot machines sang their mechanical lullabies and every spin held the promise of transformation. Where the neon didn't just light up the desert; it lit up possibilities.
The Slow Goodbye
I remember the exact moment I realized Vegas was saying goodbye to itself. It was 2009, standing at the Forum Shops watching tourists pose for Instagram photos in front of the fake Roman statues. The magic wasn't in the statues anymore; it was in the angles for the perfect selfie. The wonder had become a backdrop.
The old Vegas didn't need to explain itself. It was pure theater, unapologetic in its excess and generous with its dreams. Every corner promised an adventure. Every dealer's smile suggested you were in on something special. The city hummed with an energy that said, "Anything can happen here. Anything." But then the accountants arrived.
When Wonder Became Inventory
Somewhere along the way, Vegas stopped believing in its own magic and started believing in spreadsheets. The slot machines that once paid the electric bills became square footage to be maximized. The showrooms that once hosted legends became rental properties. The restaurants that once served comfort food at comfort prices became celebrity chef real estate ventures.
I watched it happen slowly, then all at once. The Forum Shops at Caesars turned the casino into a mall. The Venetian built canals that felt more like theme park rides than romantic escapes. CityCenter rose like a monument to everything Vegas used to mock cold, calculated, corporate. They called it evolution. I called it heartbreak.
The Death of Generosity
Vegas used to give before it took. Free drinks while you played. Free shows to keep you happy. Free parking because you were a guest, not a transaction. The city's generosity wasn't just marketing; it was philosophy. Vegas believed that if you treated people like royalty, they'd feel royal enough to take royal risks.
Then came the fees. Resort fees that appeared like fine print lies. Parking fees that made you pay for the privilege of giving them your money. The free pirate show at Treasure Island sailed away forever, leaving behind a decorative ship and a metaphor too painful to ignore. Each fee was a small betrayal, a crack in the promise that Vegas was a place where ordinary people could feel extraordinary. The city that once made millionaires out of dishwashers now made dishwashers out of millionaires.
The Hollow Crown
The worst part isn’t that Vegas changed. Cities change. The worst part is how Vegas changed while pretending to still be itself. The neon still glows, but it illuminates different dreams now. Rich dreams. Exclusive dreams. Dreams that cost three hundred dollars for dinner and thiry dollars just to park. Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants replaced the places where locals ate. Nobu replaced the corner diners where stories were shared over coffee and pie. The buffets that once fed families for twenty dollars now cost eighty and require reservations. Vegas didn’t just raise its prices it raised its expectations of who deserved to be there. The new Vegas visitors arrive with platinum cards and leave with Instagram memories. They experience the city through restaurant reservations and VIP packages. They’re tourists in the truest sense they observe Vegas without ever really entering it.
When the Lights Went Out
COVID gave Vegas the excuse it had been looking for. When the city reopened, it reopened smaller, colder, more efficient. Fewer workers meant fewer familiar faces. More automation meant fewer human moments. The virus didn’t just close casinos; it closed the last chapter of a Vegas that believed in people over profits.
The bean counters emerged from the shutdown with clipboards and calculators, trimming every expense that didn’t directly correlate to revenue. They didn’t just cut costs they cut the soul. The magic that couldn’t be measured became the magic that couldn’t be justified.
The Sports Mirage
Now Vegas sells itself as a sports city. The Golden Knights, the Raiders, the endless parade of visiting teams and traveling fans. It’s smart business, bringing in crowds that spend fast and leave faster. But sports fans aren’t Vegas fans. They come for the game, not the dream. They want efficiency, not mystery. The new Vegas gives them exactly what they want quick transactions, predictable experiences, Instagram moments. But it’s given up what made Vegas irreplaceable: the sense that anything could happen, that you could be anyone, that the city itself was rooting for you to win.
The Restaurant That Forgot Its Recipe
I think about Vegas like a restaurant I used to love. For decades, you could count on it. The food wasn’t just good; it was exactly what you needed. The atmosphere felt like home, if home were a little more magical and a lot more generous. Then new management took over. They kept the name, kept the location, even kept a few of the old dishes. But everything else changed. The prices doubled. The portions shrank. The waitstaff smiled but didn’t remember your order. The warmth became professional courtesy. You still go sometimes, hoping to recapture what you once felt. But you leave disappointed not just because it’s different, but because it’s forgotten what made it special in the first place.
What We Lost
We lost the Vegas that believed in second chances and long shots. We lost the Vegas that treated a grocery store clerk like a high roller if they played with heart. We lost the Vegas that understood that magic isn’t about how much you spend it’s about how much you believe. The old Vegas was built on a beautiful lie: that everyone deserves to feel special, that everyone deserves a chance to win, that everyone deserves to be treated like they matter. It was a lie worth believing because it made it true, if only for a weekend.
The new Vegas tells a different story. It’s honest about its priorities profit margins, efficiency ratings, demographic targeting. It’s successful in ways the old Vegas never was. But success and magic aren’t the same thing.
The Gamble We Lost
Vegas is still magnificent in its way. The architecture still astounds. The energy still pulses. The lights still pierce the desert darkness. But it’s the magnificence of a museum now, not a living dream.
The real gamble isn’t at the tables anymore. It’s whether Vegas can remember what it was while becoming what it thinks it needs to be. Whether it can serve both the tourists with platinum cards and the dreamers with twenty-dollar bills. Whether it can be profitable without forgetting to be magical. I still love Vegas. I always will. But I love it the way you love someone who’s forgotten how to love you back. The lights are still on, but the warmth has gone out of them. The show still goes on, but the heart has left the building.
And sometimes, late at night when the crowds thin and the neon reflects off empty streets, I swear I can still hear the ghost of the old Vegas whispering
Remember when anything was possible here
Remember when everyone was welcome
Remember when we believed in magic
I remember. I just wish Vegas did too.
Clint C. Carvalho
Las Vegas Entertainer & Attraction Creator
Over 3 Decades in Entertainment
www.topbird.com
702-379-3057
2025 Clint C. Carvalho. All rights reserved
Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants replaced the places where locals ate. When they took out the Oyster Bar at Harrah’s (the 3rd best in town) for another one of his mediocre steak houses, I was not happy.
Im in the middle on this. I hate the food and beverage pricing but I also see this constant crying by a few writers over and over as overkill.
They are jumping on the “down 4.1% in tourists” type stuff constantly. The numbers may be real but I still don’t believe the casino owners are concerned.
Any business owner would gladly accept a 4% decrease in customers when retails are up 10-15%. Room rates are higher than a year ago and by offering less services they are making more money. Which in the end is all that matters.
I’ve heard this stuff for decades now, the 80’s guys bitching about the 00’s, etc. Deals are still there if you look and care about them but the reality is most grin and bear it with the pricing.
My guess is Vegas will adjust and still be fine. As for those that expect everything for free, the town will do just fine without them.
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