Price-gouging charged by some over New Year’s room rates

Gary Thompson

Wednesday, Dec. 29, 1999 | 11:12 a.m.

Fears the millennium bash will be a big bust are apparently prompting some Las Vegas hotel operators to refuse discounts for customers who booked New Year's weekend rooms at high prices.

Several local resorts that have cut prices sharply in recent weeks are refusing to give rebates to customers who, eager to avoid getting shut out, reserved rooms months ago.

Some other hotels are demanding customers pay the higher rates, but offering free nights in the next millennium to those who booked early.

Meanwhile, with just two days left in the year, the Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority is sticking by its predictions that visitor volume for the long-anticipated New Year's weekend will trail that of last year and that the overall occupancy rate will be below that of an average Las Vegas weekend.

The LVCVA said Tuesday it expects just 240,000 visitors to spend the holiday here, down from 250,000 last year. It also predicted just 85 percent of the area's 120,444 hotel and motel rooms will be rented this weekend.

The authority first made those predictions last week, but said it might revise the numbers this week if demand picked up. It hasn't.

Months ago, securities analysts and resort executives were eagerly anticipating as many as 750,000 visitors would descend on Southern Nevada for the millennium celebration, swelling occupancy to 99 percent. Hotel-casinos boosted prices 400 to 500 percent over average weekend rates, hoping to net windfall profits.

But many regular Las Vegas visitors balked at the high prices. Others, worried about Y2K computer glitches or terrorist threats, decided to stay at home with families and friends.

As the New Year drew closer, most hotel-casinos slashed prices drastically -- some as much as 80 percent -- in bids to bring bodies to their rooms. The rate cuts have helped lure people to some Strip properties that as recently as last Wednesday had booked only 40 percent of their rooms for the weekend.

But business still hasn't improved enough to prompt the LVCVA to change its forecast that what was once expected to be the biggest celebration in Las Vegas history could turn out to be just another weekend -- and not a very big one, at that.

Some property owners, apparently not content with just another weekend, are demanding customers who booked early must pay the high prices even though the resorts are offering next-door rooms at much lower prices today.

"The San Remo won't give me a rebate," complained Paul Wolfe of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. "I booked in May for $1,197 for three nights, and now the three nights cost $357 -- an $840 difference.

"This price gouging is very unfair, and I'm very discouraged about coming to Las Vegas."

Wolfe said a San Remo executive told him a previous Sun story about price rebates offered by many Las Vegas hotels was untrue. The executive didn't respond to a Sun request for comment.

A San Diego resident who booked a room at the Riviera for $1,471 for three nights said he "quietly contacted the hotel management on numerous occasions requesting a partial refund to no avail."

On Tuesday, a Riviera room reservations clerk quoted a price of $464 for the same three nights, but said, "We were told we can't change prices or give refunds to people who booked early."

British television reporter Peter Shaw booked three nights at Bally's for $1,432 and was offered a fourth night for $105. But when he called the Strip hotel this week, he found the same four nights were available for $527.

"When I spoke to room reservations and explained the problem, she quickly put me through to a supervisor," Shaw said. "I was offered several choices but no refund."

Shaw's options included:

One local tour and travel company that booked large blocks of rooms for this New Year's weekend as early as last Jan. 1 has been passing along rebates to its clients.

The Las Vegas-based company paid for the rooms in advance, then began asking for rebates when prices started dropping. The company's manager, who requested that neither he nor his employer be identified, said any savings are passed on to customers who asked for them.

"This has been a bizarre event," he said Tuesday. "We just got a fax from the Rio, for instance, which has rooms available for $125 a night. Months ago, they were asking $1,250 a night."

The travel company executive said last-minute drive-in traffic from Southern California and Arizona might help keep room rates from falling even further. But a survey by the Travel Industry Association of American (TIA) doesn't provide much hope for that happening.

The TIA, citing a poll of 1,500 adults it conducted in August, said Tuesday more than 75 percent of American travelers indicated they are unlikely to travel this weekend.

More than a third of those unlikely travelers said they would rather spend the New Year's at home with family and friends, while 22 percent said they don't normally travel on New Year's weekends.

Nine percent said they don't want to deal with big crowds, 7 percent cited money concerns and only 5 percent indicated worries about Y2K problems.