Early this week Caesars Entertainment announced that they would begin charging for valet parking at their casinos on the Vegas Strip beginning December 19th. Happy Holidays!
The Linq and Harrah’s will be the first to institute the paid valet system. It will cost $8 for valet up to 4 hours and $13 for 4 to 24 hours at these two casinos. Flamingo will be the same rate when they add the valet system. Valet at Bally’s, Caesars Palace, The Cromwell, Paris, and Planet Hollywood will cost $13 for valet up to 4 hours and $18 for 4 to 24 hours once the systems are installed in 2017.
Caesars Entertainment will also charge for self-parking in 2017 but they’re keeping those prices a secret. Expect a similar price structure but lower per day, similar to how MGM Resorts has structured their parking fees.
Valet and self-parking at Rio will remain free. Presumably, Caesars will only allow guests staying at Rio use the free shuttles to the Vegas Strip so that customers don’t abuse the parking and shuttle system. I’ll discuss free parking on the Vegas Strip shortly.
The day after Caesars Entertainment partially announced their plan to charge for parking, Wynn announced that they would begin charging to use valet parking. Rates to valet at Wynn and Encore will be $13 for the first four hours, $18 for four to 24 hours. Self-parking will remain free for the time being at both casinos.
Avoid Paid Parking On The Vegas Strip
Parking fees stink. Okay, got that out of the way. Let’s think about how we can avoid parking fees on the Vegas Strip.
The easiest to avoid parking fees in Las Vegas is to be a medium to high roller or spender at Caesars or MGM properties. Total Rewards members who are Platinum tier or above get free valet and self-parking at Caesars Entertainment properties. M Life Rewards members who are Pearl and above get free self-parking while Gold and better get free valet at MGM Resorts properties.
One trick to quickly gain higher tier status for free parking at these hotels is to sign up for their credit card. Caesars’ Total Rewards Visa upgrades you to Platinum status. MGM’s M Life Rewards Mastercard will upgrade you to Pearl status.
- More information on Total Rewards Visa.
- More information on M Life Rewards Mastercard
Another way to get free parking on the Vegas Strip is to avoid the casinos who charge for parking. Casino Royale, Cosmopolitan, Tropicana, Treasure Island, Palazzo, SLS Las Vegas, Stratosphere, and Venetian don’t charge for parking…yet.
Despite reports to the contrary, I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that the other luxury properties on the Vegas Strip will begin charging for parking. The luxury properties like Cosmopolitan, Wynn, and Venetian all tend to use similar price models.
Your best bet to avoid parking fees is to stay away from touristy casinos.
This includes the Vegas Strip and downtown Las Vegas. After all of the hotels on the Vegas Strip add parking fees, I assume many downtown Las Vegas hotels will follow the Vegas Strip like they did with resort fees. Some downtown Las Vegas hotels already charge non-guests for event parking. Adding paid parking isn’t much of a stretch.
Hotel-casinos like Hard Rock, Hooters, Gold Coast, Palms, Palace Station, Silver Sevens, Tuscany and other properties are all close to the Vegas Strip. Importantly, they don’t seem to have a shortage of parking spaces. The cost of Uber and Lyft is only a few bucks to and from the Vegas Strip.
