I’m a travel lover, not hater and I love Sin City. But at the same time there are 10 things I hate about Las Vegas and here they are, in no particular order. You’ll have to let me know if you agree or disagree in the comments.
1. Bumpy flights
When the temperature rises in the summer, especially around 100F (38C), descending into Las Vegas is no fun. My advice is not to eat anything that’s likely to upset your stomach. And look out the window at the horizon for the last 12 minutes or so, so you don’t feel nauseous.
2. Long taxi lines
The moment you land in Vegas you will surely be greeted by a long taxi line to leave the airport. Get used to it because pretty much every hotel taxi line will be the same. Leave plenty of time to get to your destination.
3. Traffic/Taxi Drivers
Vegas has terrible traffic and most of the taxi drivers I’ve had try and take me the long way from the airport to the hotel. If you want to save money, tell them that you want to take the surface streets, not the freeway. But if you are pressed for time and don’t care that your ride may cost $6+ or more, then tell them whatever is quicker.
4. Taxis charge $3 for paying by credit card
I’m so sick of falling for travel scams and I learned about this one the hard way. If you pay for your taxi ride by credit card, you’re charged a $3 fee and the drivers don’t disclose this in advance. The city of Las Vegas should make the company that owns the machine (VeriFone), change the wording from ‘voucher’ to ‘fee’ (see photo above).
Travel tip: No matter where you are in the world, be sure to ask if there’s an extra charge for using your credit card because I know they do this in England, too.
5. Long check-in lines
Every time I stay at one of Vegas’ large hotels, there’s a long line that snakes around the corner. I usually end up waiting at least 30 minutes but it feels a lot longer since I’m usually in a hurry to meet friends, work or go to the loo. I do know that these hotels have a ridiculously high number of rooms but that’s all the more reason for them to ensure more employees are staffing the check-in desks or offer keyless check-in.
6. Resort fees
Every traveler I know despises resort fees – myself included. I think it’s a travesty that hotels can get away with charging a mandatory nightly surcharge to cover the cost of certain amenities, regardless whether you use them or not. The worst part is that most of these fees are unadvertised and travelers don’t find out until they check in.
When it comes to Vegas, there’s not much you can do about this except try to book hotels that don’t have resort fees or choose another destination since only a handful of Vegas hotels don’t have a resort fee.
Basically, you should just be prepared to shell out an extra $5-$25 a night. Here’s Vegas Chatter’s comprehensive guide to all of the resort fees in Las Vegas and what they’ll get you in return. Use this information before booking your trip.
7. The water tastes like rotten goat cheese
OMG – Las Vegas is so dry and I’m always parched. The one free bottle of water that some hotels leave in the room lasts me five minutes and drinking the tap water tastes disgusting – like rotten goat cheese. I don’t know how it’s even safe to drink in the first place. Instead of shelling out $5+ for a bottle of water from your minibar or buying one for almost the same price in the hotel’s gift shop, walk to one of the chain pharmacies on the strip. I was staying at the Aria and there was a CVS and a Walgreens just a couple (long) blocks away. At Walgreens, a gallon of water costs just $1.99.
8. Minibars have sensors
Most Vegas hotels have those evil mini bars where, even if you just pick something up to read the ingredients, you are automatically charged .. and the prices are not cheap. Advice: When you check out, go over your bill carefully and if you’ve been wrongly charged, dispute it before leaving the hotel.
9. There’s no fresh air
I love many Las Vegas hotel rooms but I don’t like the fact that you can’t open the windows – not even a crack to get some fresh air. When I was walking out to get some water, the person walking next to me exclaimed, “FRESH AIR!!” after she walked through the doors for the first time in who knows how long.
10. The pools are disgusting
When it’s 100+ degrees out I’m betting one of the first things you imagine yourself doing, after checking into your room, is donning your bathing suit and going for a quick dip, right? Wrong! Unless you’re staying at one of the quiet exclusive hotels, chances are your hotel pool is going to be filled with rowdy drunk dudes who are all competing for the one pretty girl who isn’t hired to be there. The worst part is that these guys don’t want to miss their chance of scoring so I suspect they aren’t bothering to get out of the pool to relieve themselves properly. Eww!
Don’t get me wrong, I love Vegas for a couple of nights but there are some things I just despise about the place. Do you think I’m overreacting or do you agree? Would you add anything else to this list? Let me know in the comments section below.
I can pretty much agree with all of this. As it stands right now I am sitting outside the Venetian 430 in the morning. It’s just south of 80° and all you smell from any direction is garbage, stale beer and weed (Not a weed hater, i’m glad Nevada decriminalized it, but not really what I want to be smelling at 4:30am)
It was better when the mob ran the town. I avoid that excrement hole like the plague.
I live in Vegas. I absolutely hate it!
My partner teaches school out here, so I had to come along. Seriously considering a long distance relationship and moving home to California.
And yeah, the water quality is gross!!
We go to Las Vegas usually twice a year. Typically we will stay 2 or 3 days. About the only thing I don’t like about it is the summer heat. It’s just too hot from June-September. Oh, the drivers there can be nutty, and I’m from California so that’s saying something.
Ha! This has to be the worst list of negatives about Vegas EVER! “Bumpy flights”?? Really! lol!
How about the fact that Vegas makes you hate your normal, real life for months after coming back home?? And the visuals of casino floors and promenades projected on the insides of your eyelids as you TRY to sleep?! How about the fact that a SEAT at a club costs a minimum of HuNDReDS of dollars?! And if you don’t pay for that seat you spend your night being shoved out of the way by hosts tending to those seat-buyers. And worst of them all, what about that free drink that they ever-so-often seem to “forget” the liquor? Coconut rum is either there or its not, cocktail lady. And how about leaving Vegas with a pocket full of casino vouchers that you meant to cash out?! THE WORST! These are just a few of the worst things that are way worser than your worst of list.
Regretfully,
Vegas Traveler
Thanks for the tips!
i by mistake took a bus to find a store, but instead of get out when i passed the store i remained on the bus for the walking distanstance was very far, so far that i sat in the bus to the end. Lo and behold i got out pissed that i wasted a bus drive and not going to the store. When i got out i i smiled for there was this gus of wind and wow air clean air! So if you need to get air in vegas take it to the end not sure the number, and stand outside and it is cool. If you need a blast of fresh air go to Billiagio water shows. It cools a person down. For me i am a water person so vegas is kinda of diffcult, with all the electricty. Oh the best part of vegas is that the buses run on gas not electrity.
I haven’t used the pools, i do not like to hang out in pools for i swim laps, not sure where i ‘ll do that in vegas. in Short, vegas is fun there is a lot of fun things to do beside casino’s playing. Have fun.
Go to the bus stop in downtown vegas and pick up a free map and just buy a day pass and have fun!
As a Vegas local, I don’t have to deal with most of this but I can tell you several things.
On flights, especially flights from the East, bring earplugs. Morons get wasted and loud on them.
Summers are hot and dry, with like 4% humidity why anyone would come here in the summer is beyond me, all the locals are looking to get out. The best time to visit is October – May.
I-15 is a mess at select times, and accidents on it are frequent. Blame the drunk tourists. It can be real bad on friday night and sunday morning all the way to LA as the herd moves. If you are leaving sunday morning, leave before 10am.
Good article by the way. Usually the “I hate Vegas” rant is full of ridiculous complaints like: There are drunk people, slot machines, and sex everywhere, kind of like going to a seafood restaurant and complaining that everything had fish in it. What did you expect?
Totally agree about the weather thing. Summer is just too hot there.
How can anyone not love Vegas? The city has something for everyone.
You a clown, i hate everything about the place. Its made for cheao people like you !!
Damn dude… Bang on! Just got back from Vegas… In shock why people enjoy the strip which is nothing more than a giant gambling/smoking/slutting IKEA.. you are forced to walk a mile when where you want to get is just across the street! Adios Las Vegas!
Oh, and stayed at the ARIA hotel as well… deepest water in pools is 4ft??? WTF?? That’s not a pool, that’s a piss puddle!
You are spot on about every one of those things. The only one I would add is the smoking that is allowed anytime, anywhere. DISGUSTING. Even my room at NY, NY, which was supposed to be non-smoking, smelled of ground-in smoke. UGH>
The ARIA is the only place I’ve stayed with the sensors in the min-fridge. When I questioned the daily deposit for this, the clerk was astonished that I had never seen one! In addition, with the fridge so full of overpriced stuff I didn’t care about, there was no room to put anything even a bottle of water!
I cannot stand the endless barrage of people trying to hand me cards with pcitures of naked ladies. What am I going to do with those? Do not make eye contact with them. You’ll recognize them by the shuffling sound of cards they like to make.
We stay at the New Orleans or Sams Town. Less than $30 a night, and all the gambling, food, movies, bowling and entertainment you like. And a free shittle downtown or to the Strip.
Good one!
I absolutely agree. In fact, this needs to replace one of Johnny’s top ten. It is low-class, deplorable, sleazy and reminds me of Times Square before it was “Disney-ized” years ago.
Nailed it! Plus – can we talk about the airport some more? It is soooo outdated and if you are the slightest bit “running late” for your flight, you can FORGET about making that flight because of the check-in lines, the looooong walk to the security line – which, btw, seems like they built the airport and were like “oh wait…we forgot to put in a security line….let’s just cram it up in this corner that clearly was not really BUILT for a security line” – and let’s not forget the escalators to the tram, the tram ride, more escalators, more walking… I have been PRAYING for them to open a CLEAR line there for ages since I go to Vegas every year for work and they have FINALLY listened! That is the one thing that will make me happy!