Lots of hotels use nightly resort fees to cover the cost of the hotel's extra amenities. Granted, most hotels simply include amenities in their total price anyway. In the past, many hotels charged their guests an extra fee if they wanted to, for example, use the gym or pool for one day.

Las Vegas resort fees have reached record highs in 2026, often ranging from $35 to over $60 per night, primarily as a way for hotels to advertise lower base room rates while still capturing significant revenue. These mandatory fees are a form of "partitioned pricing" that makes a hotel appear more competitive on third-party booking sites that rank by the initial nightly rate. From a business perspective, these fees are high-value for hotels because they are often non-commissionable, meaning the hotel keeps 100% of the fee rather than sharing a percentage with travel agents or Expedia. While hotels claim these fees cover "amenities" like high-speed Wi-Fi, pool access, and fitness center entry, they are mandatory even if you never use those services. Despite recent "Junk Fee" legislative pressure in the U.S., the practice remains a staple of the Vegas economy, essentially functioning as a hidden tax that supports the massive overhead of maintaining world-class resort infrastructures.