As my pedantic definition explains, resort fees are a nightly charge that is tacked onto your hotel bill regardless of how you book. With few exceptions (namely people in high tiers of players clubs), everyone gets stuck paying them; resort fees affect everyone equally, but something tells me that’s not what Horace Mann had in mind when he spoke of the great equalizer.

Resort fees aren’t charged until check-in, so even if you score a great deal and pay in advance, you should still plan on paying an additional nightly rate when you get to Las Vegas.

Each property has a different resort fee, but as a general rule, you should expect between $35 and $45 a night on the Strip, and $15-25 a night Downtown. Read through the fine print to see the specific rate charged, and do be aware that almost a 20% tax is charged on the resort fee. (Shoutout to the Four Queens, one of the last remaining holdouts!)

If Ben Franklin lived in the 2010s, he sadly would’ve added “and resort fees” to his famous idiom about death and taxes. While I hope that declining tourism will incentivize casinos to rollback on the arms race of rising resort fees, for now they’re a necessary evil. So plan ahead, grin and bear it, and enjoy staying in a hotel far fancier than usual for far cheaper than it would be anywhere else!