MGM Resorts’ CEO has openly criticized the high costs associated with visiting Las Vegas, admitting that the city has gained a reputation for being overpriced. He expressed regret over the steep prices at his own hotels, which have deterred tourists.

During an earnings call on Wednesday, MGM President and CEO Bill Hornbuckle announced that the company has adjusted its pricing strategy following a tumultuous summer marred by public backlash.

Public criticism intensified when a guest at the ARIA hotel, a four-star property under MGM, reported being charged $26 for just one bottle of water.

A reporter from the Daily Mail further highlighted issues, noting that the Bellagio Hotel, MGM’s flagship property, was imposing an additional $25 fee for guests opting to have room service served on plates.

Other complaints have centered around MGM’s parking fees, high menu prices at restaurants and cafes, and hefty resort fees that are added to the nightly room rates.

“Shame on us,” Hornbuckle remarked during the investor meeting, as per a call transcript reviewed by the Daily Mail.

Highlighting the ‘infamous bottle of water’ and how a Starbucks coffee at three-star Excalibur costs $12, the CEO admitted the firm had not been considerate to the needs of its clientele. 

‘We should have been more sensitive to the overall experience at a place like Excalibur to those customers,’ he said. 

‘You can’t have a $29 room and a $12 coffee.’

He added that MGM has made changes to its prices and believes the company has demonstrated that ‘we understand value, we understand Las Vegas, and we’ll always be that.’

MGM President and CEO Bill Hornbuckle (pictured in 2023) admitted during an earnings call Wednesday that Las Vegas has become a rip-off and warned that hotels needs to be ‘more sensitive’ to the guest experience

MGM recorded a drop of earnings across its Las Vegas properties over the past year. The company earned $731 million in September 2024, but only $601 million this year. Pictured is MGM’s five-star Bellagio Hotel & Casino

Tourism across Las Vegas has been on a decline for most of the year, as guests complain of getting fleeced left and right. 

Earlier this week, rival hotel group Caesars revealed it had 90,000 rooms sit empty through the summer season in Vegas as tourists stayed away.  

MGM conducted a thorough review of what prices customers are willing to pay and made adjustments. Ninety percent of then are already in effect, it is claimed. 

MGM guests will still pay resort fees, parking and other fee-based charges, but Hornbuckle said the prices have been changed. He did not offer any specifics. 

Las Vegas has seen a 7.8 percent dip in the number of tourists between January and August of this year when compared to the same period last year.

MGM was not immune to the decline, with the company recording a drop of earnings across its properties over the past year.

The company’s Sin City properties earned $731 million in September 2024, but only $601 million this year.

Hornbuckle admitted on the earnings call that the ‘summer was rough’ for MGM, but claimed it ‘sequentially got better.’

‘I will say the same about October. Knock on wood, we may even beat October of last year,’ he predicted. 

MGM is not the only Las Vegas company accused of price gouging. Visitors have complained of spending $74 for two drinks at the Las Vegas Sphere, while others alleged one glass of a restaurant’s house wine set them back $30.

Sin City’s rising prices have led to a parallel rise in the average income of its visitors. 

Rising prices in Las Vegas have led to a 7.8 percent dip in tourism between January and August of this year when compared to the same period last year

Last year, 64 percent of Las Vegas tourists had an income of at least $100,000, up significantly from 48 percent in 2023 and a dramatic spike from 28 percent in 2019, according to a report from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. 

Meanwhile, Nevada and Las Vegas locals are struggling under the economic impact of slipping tourism.  

Some have even had to sell plasma to make ends meet while spending months looking for work in a city that lost 4,300 jobs month-over-month in August. 

In August, Nevada also had the fourth worst unemployment rate in the country among metropolitan areas with less than one million people, at 5.6 percent. 

The state lost 6,000 private sector jobs between July and August, primarily in the construction and food and beverage industries, which are two of the state’s biggest economic engines after gaming. 

Between the economic squeeze locals are facing and Las Vegas’s ever-increasing sticker shock, it is no wonder the city’s residents are avoiding the Strip.