Biden-flation has arrived in Las Vegas in a big way.
Many Americans complained about mask mandates and restrictive lockdowns during a deadly pandemic in the spring of 2020.
The same Americans will whine about economic conditions as we emerge from the pandemic in the summer of 2021.
And that's their prerogative.
What started as a 15-day plan to "slow the spread" of coronavirus under President Donald Trump is now at 497 days under President Joe Biden's administration.
With so much government money on the street in the form of stimulus payments and unemployment benefits, the purchasing power of the American dollar has declined noticeably and short-term inflation is the order of the day.
Nevada casinos are eager to recoup losses after an unprecedented 78-day closure from mid-March to early June of last year.
Smartly, the large casino companies did not reopen their entire inventory of Las Vegas properties initially, choosing instead to open select properties until demand exceeded supply.
As the pandemic wanes, the demand for a weekend getaway to Las Vegas is rising and so, too, are the consumer prices.
Airfares to and from the gambling capitol in Nevada are soaring, car rental prices are climbing and restaurant tabs are outrageously high.
Companies like Eldorado Resorts and MGM Resorts International are counting on -- and thus courting -- tourists from Arizona and California until business travel and convention trade return later this year.
International tourism, the final piece of the Las Vegas travel pie, is expected to return sometime in 2022.
It's not an industry secret that the farther a customer travels to arrive in Las Vegas, the more valuable they are to a casino's bottom line.
Cue the middle-aged lady sitting in the race and sports book at the MGM Grand talking on her phone to a friend in southern California:
Las Vegas is no longer a bargain.
The weekend room rates are sky-high.
We paid over $500 to stay at Caesars Palace last Saturday night.
We booked through Expedia.
The taxes alone were more than $75.
The resort fees, what a rip-off, were $45.
The frustrated tourist was complaining about the pricey room rates at the city's most iconic property, but it did not stop her from booking the room in the end.
Until high prices influence travel behavior, Las Vegas will continue to charge whatever the market will bear.
Las Vegas tourists are also paying for the construction of Allegiant Stadium, whether they know it or not.
Allegiant Stadium is the domed-home of the recently-relocated Las Vegas Raiders and UNLV Rebels, a long-struggling college football program.
(Gambling sidenote: The Raiders and Rebels play at the same stadium on different playing surfaces.
The Raiders play on a grass field, a roll-in natural Bermuda grass field, similar to the one employed by the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium in Glendale.
The tray holding the natural grass is rolled over the concrete floor of the stadium which doesn't disrupt the artificial turf used by the Rebels.)
The stadium is located at 3333 Al Davis Way to honor the renegade owner of the Raiders, who died in 2011 at the age of 82.
Mark Davis inherited the team from his late father.
Papa would have been proud of his son's lucrative deal with Clark County to build a $2 billion stadium.
About $750 million (or about 37.5%) of the building costs will come from public funding, a.k.a. taxpayers.
The crafty Davis, with a net worth estimated at $500 million, convinced local authorities to add 0.88% to the hotel room tax in Clark County, or about $1.50 to every room on the Strip, to defray the cost of the 65,000-seat stadium.
Critics of the new stadium in Las Vegas point to the stark contrast between the untold wealth of 32 team owners in the National Football League and the financial struggles of the education system in Nevada.
Instead of raising taxes to provide corporate welfare for an NFL team, concerned citizens would prefer any tax hikes benefit a state educational system that ranked dead last -- 51st out of 50 states and the District of Columbia -- in a 2018 survey published by Education Week.
Nevada's scanty funding of its educational system was cited in the report as a major downfall, along with low amounts of college-educated parents in Nevada and high rates of non-English speaking students here.
Let's enjoy one last bit of eavesdropping dialogue from our conflicted friend at the MGM Grand:
We bought tickets to see Shin Lim at The Mirage.
My husband told me Shin Lim is hotter right now than David Copperfield.
Shin Lim won "America's Got Talent" three years ago.
Our son is going to the show, too.
Three tickets cost us over $500.
I looked closer at the receipt.
Each ticket came with a $50 surcharge for taxes, fees and some other shit.
Her profanity was powerful.
I respected her spontaneous show of emotion despite her lack of refinement.
However, there was an obvious conflict at play.
She was describing her situation in negative terms while still attending the popular show and enjoying the fabulous city.
Until customers change their spending habits, the high prices in Las Vegas will continue to climb.
Tourists have swallowed ubiquitous resort fees, they've absorbed senseless parking rates and now the question becomes: Will they eat "some other shit"?
Many Americans complained about mask mandates and restrictive lockdowns during a deadly pandemic in the spring of 2020.
The same Americans will whine about economic conditions as we emerge from the pandemic in the summer of 2021.
And that's their prerogative.
What started as a 15-day plan to "slow the spread" of coronavirus under President Donald Trump is now at 497 days under President Joe Biden's administration.
With so much government money on the street in the form of stimulus payments and unemployment benefits, the purchasing power of the American dollar has declined noticeably and short-term inflation is the order of the day.
Nevada casinos are eager to recoup losses after an unprecedented 78-day closure from mid-March to early June of last year.
Smartly, the large casino companies did not reopen their entire inventory of Las Vegas properties initially, choosing instead to open select properties until demand exceeded supply.
As the pandemic wanes, the demand for a weekend getaway to Las Vegas is rising and so, too, are the consumer prices.
Airfares to and from the gambling capitol in Nevada are soaring, car rental prices are climbing and restaurant tabs are outrageously high.
Companies like Eldorado Resorts and MGM Resorts International are counting on -- and thus courting -- tourists from Arizona and California until business travel and convention trade return later this year.
International tourism, the final piece of the Las Vegas travel pie, is expected to return sometime in 2022.
It's not an industry secret that the farther a customer travels to arrive in Las Vegas, the more valuable they are to a casino's bottom line.
Cue the middle-aged lady sitting in the race and sports book at the MGM Grand talking on her phone to a friend in southern California:
Las Vegas is no longer a bargain.
The weekend room rates are sky-high.
We paid over $500 to stay at Caesars Palace last Saturday night.
We booked through Expedia.
The taxes alone were more than $75.
The resort fees, what a rip-off, were $45.
The frustrated tourist was complaining about the pricey room rates at the city's most iconic property, but it did not stop her from booking the room in the end.
Until high prices influence travel behavior, Las Vegas will continue to charge whatever the market will bear.
Las Vegas tourists are also paying for the construction of Allegiant Stadium, whether they know it or not.
Allegiant Stadium is the domed-home of the recently-relocated Las Vegas Raiders and UNLV Rebels, a long-struggling college football program.
(Gambling sidenote: The Raiders and Rebels play at the same stadium on different playing surfaces.
The Raiders play on a grass field, a roll-in natural Bermuda grass field, similar to the one employed by the Arizona Cardinals at State Farm Stadium in Glendale.
The tray holding the natural grass is rolled over the concrete floor of the stadium which doesn't disrupt the artificial turf used by the Rebels.)
The stadium is located at 3333 Al Davis Way to honor the renegade owner of the Raiders, who died in 2011 at the age of 82.
Mark Davis inherited the team from his late father.
Papa would have been proud of his son's lucrative deal with Clark County to build a $2 billion stadium.
About $750 million (or about 37.5%) of the building costs will come from public funding, a.k.a. taxpayers.
The crafty Davis, with a net worth estimated at $500 million, convinced local authorities to add 0.88% to the hotel room tax in Clark County, or about $1.50 to every room on the Strip, to defray the cost of the 65,000-seat stadium.
Critics of the new stadium in Las Vegas point to the stark contrast between the untold wealth of 32 team owners in the National Football League and the financial struggles of the education system in Nevada.
Instead of raising taxes to provide corporate welfare for an NFL team, concerned citizens would prefer any tax hikes benefit a state educational system that ranked dead last -- 51st out of 50 states and the District of Columbia -- in a 2018 survey published by Education Week.
Nevada's scanty funding of its educational system was cited in the report as a major downfall, along with low amounts of college-educated parents in Nevada and high rates of non-English speaking students here.
Let's enjoy one last bit of eavesdropping dialogue from our conflicted friend at the MGM Grand:
We bought tickets to see Shin Lim at The Mirage.
My husband told me Shin Lim is hotter right now than David Copperfield.
Shin Lim won "America's Got Talent" three years ago.
Our son is going to the show, too.
Three tickets cost us over $500.
I looked closer at the receipt.
Each ticket came with a $50 surcharge for taxes, fees and some other shit.
Her profanity was powerful.
I respected her spontaneous show of emotion despite her lack of refinement.
However, there was an obvious conflict at play.
She was describing her situation in negative terms while still attending the popular show and enjoying the fabulous city.
Until customers change their spending habits, the high prices in Las Vegas will continue to climb.
Tourists have swallowed ubiquitous resort fees, they've absorbed senseless parking rates and now the question becomes: Will they eat "some other shit"?
Last edited: