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MGM executive Bill Hornbuckle admits that prices have gotten a bit out of control at his casino resorts and is promising some significant changes to lure tourists back.
Over the summer, a post revealing that the Aria hotel was charging $26 for a bottle of water in their minibar went viral on social media.
Aria’s $26 minibar water bottles laugh in the face of basic economic principles pic.twitter.com/2DRJ7wKhFS
— Las Vegas Locally 🌴 (@LasVegasLocally) June 16, 2025
During MGM’s earnings call, Hornbuckle said that some of the pricing of their items didn’t make sense and vowed to lower them.
“When we think about pricing and things that got everyone’s attention, whether it’s the infamous bottle of water or Starbucks coffee at Excalibur that cost $12, shame on us,” Hornbuckle said. “We should have been more sensitive to the overall experience at a place like Excalibur. To those customers, you can’t have a $29 room and a $12 coffee. We’ve gone through the organization and we think, we hope, we believe, we’ve price-corrected.”
Hornbuckle says that despite a rough summer, MGM’s properties are looking healthy for the rest of the year.
“July for everyone in the community was a rough month. The summer was rough. But it sequentially got better. I will say the same about October. We may even beat October. And recognizing the fourth quarter last year was like an all-time fourth quarter, so all that being said, F1 does feel good. You know, the leisure activity is there. We obviously can generate through value. We saw it with a fabulous sale. You know, we literally doubled the bookings in that particular week. So we feel better about it.”
While everyone is doom and gloom about the city’s recession, Hornbuckle is bullish on Las Vegas’ future.
“As I look to the future, I think about, literally, the next 16 months are going to be the best convention months this city has ever had or ever seen,” he said. “We remain bullish on Las Vegas. Fundamentally, I don’t think it’s broken in any way, shape or form.”