Posted on: August 23, 2024, 12:01h.
Last updated on: August 23, 2024, 12:09h.
Booking directly from a casino resort on the Las Vegas Strip may sometimes still get you a better rate than an online travel agency. But if you try to do it over the phone, beware of a new fee that’s recently come to light.
MGM Resorts is apparently charging $15 extra per room, per night, if the room was reserved through a human. The charge will show up on your final receipt upon checkout, where it’s called an “ICE Contact Center Fee.”
One recent visitor — who shared their bill, and their displeasure, with Twitter user @HeatherBenson75 — paid MGM $15 for each night of a three-day stay booked through a live agent. Including the $6.03 tax charged on the fee, the total charge for not booking online was $51.03.
That’s 1,020 nickels, or 510 dimes.
“@MGMResortsIntl trying to phase out their Reservations department by slapping a $15 per night fee on every booking you make with a live agent in their call center is disgusting,” @HeatherBenson75 tweeted. “They do NOT care about their employees!”
“For seniors or those who prefer to speak to an actual person, this is obscene,” noted @702YankeeBabe in the tweet’s comments. “People shouldn’t have to pay to book a stay. Hit with parking and resort fees, what’s next? Fees for toilet paper?”
“Charging a booking fee per night is highway robbery,” added @buffalodazzler. “Not a good look.”
Junk Heaping
The push for full transparency in hotel fees — which can add hundreds of extra dollars to a final bill — resulted in the No Hidden FEES Act of 2023 (H.R. 6543). Introduced by Young Kim (R-CA) and Kathy Castor (D-Fla.) last December, the bill would require hotel operators to include all mandatory fees when displaying or advertising the price for a reservation.
The bill passed by a whopping 384-25 vote in the GOP-controlled US House of Representatives on June 11, and is now under consideration by the Senate, where the similar Hotel Fees Transparency Act – introduced by Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Jerry Moran (R-Kans.) in July 2023 — also awaits a full Senate vote.
If MGM Resorts responds to Casino.org’s request for a comment on this policy, we will update this story with that comment.
