I am currently involved with two clients that have significant businesses in Las Vegas. As a result, I have visited Vegas six times this year. I have usually stayed on the Strip, either at the W or Caesar’s Palace, but I have been to many hotels and restaurants.

Vegas is down in terms of visitors, spending, and engagement. This is not new news, even The New York Times has run articles about it. There are serious metrics that demonstrate this (more on that later), but I also found a striking level of concern and frustration among workers, local customers, and tourists alike.

Out of this, I have discovered that Vegas has a massive problem: en masse, the hotels and related businesses are engaged in the most aggressive price gouging I have ever witnessed.

I first noticed it at Mandalay Bay, where I went for a light breakfast to a restaurant called Citizens. I had a cup of coffee, a yogurt parfait, and a small orange juice box—for $25. When I checked out of the W, I learned that a single Keurig coffee in the room was nearly $10. But the clear winner was Caesar’s last night. In my room were two small (8oz) bottles of Fiji water, and I drank one. It was $15.90 for that privilege.

I could go on... the $50 “resort fee,” the $30 taxi ride to the airport (three miles), the $25 order of French fries, the $75 “fee” if I had used the mini-bar refrigerator to “store your own.” It’s a long list. But why?

There are a number of reasons:

• The ongoing construction boom has driven costs sky-high. Labor shortages and union leverage have pushed construction costs well above $1,000 per square foot.
• The steady rise in tourism from 2008–2019 gave operators extraordinary pricing power—and they’ve continued using (and perhaps abusing) it.
• Financing needs have grown, and the cost of that capital has risen, too.
• And, simply, because they could.

The hotels don’t bother defending these practices. In fact, it’s been difficult for journalists to get a comment when questioned. But that may be about to change.

Resort fees get the most attention. They exist for two reasons: to make the headline room rate look lower than it is and to short-pay the booking aggregators. Social media has been merciless in its response, particularly on Reddit and TripAdvisor. It’s become common knowledge and the public mood is shifting.

Is this going to change? The answer, though complex, is probably. With supporting data from various sources, here’s why:

When you connect these data points, a clearer picture emerges: visitor spending is falling even as prices rise.

Inflation-driven fatigue and tighter discretionary income likely play a role—travelers and locals alike are thinking twice before ordering that $25 side of fries. The mismatch between price and perceived value is beginning to bite.

Guests are voting with their feet. They’re coming less often, staying shorter, and spending less when they do. Another year like 2025 could trigger real failures among operators. Once that happens, the impact will ripple outward—fewer tourists, lower restaurant foot traffic, and pressure on already-thin margins.

Las Vegas has shrugged off “Vegas is done” predictions before, and it might again. But this time feels different. The city’s economics are shifting, and not necessarily for the better. If the current trajectory holds, we could see recalibration across hospitality, especially in restaurants, where pricing elasticity is already near its limit.

In one of my many Uber rides this year—about ten in total—I heard the same comment from three long-time drivers, each with more than twenty years in Vegas. Unprompted, each said the same thing:

“I liked it better when the mob ran it.”