Wynn Resorts still weeks away from paid parking on Strip

Wynn Resorts is still weeks away from becoming the fourth resort group on the Strip to charge customers to park in the company’s self-parking lots, a Wynn spokesman said Thursday.

“We have not yet announced a date to change our current parking policy,” said Wynn spokesman Michael Weaver. “We haven’t yet settled on a date or a program.”

When that occurs, Wynn Las Vegas and Wynn Encore would become the 24th and 25th properties to charge for an amenity most longtime Las Vegans have taken for granted for years — tipped valet parking or free self-parking.

In recent weeks, automated gates have been installed at the self-parking garages at both Wynn and Encore. The company earlier revised its valet system and now charges for the service.

MGM Resorts International and nine of its properties were the first to charge customers to park, announcing plans in early 2016 and implementing them that June.

Caesars Entertainment jumped on the bandwagon later in the year at eight properties and Wynn announced shortly after that it would charge for valet, but not self-parking. But that eventually changed and the Cosmopolitan also jumped on the bandwagon.

Today, only the Strip’s Tropicana, The Venetian, Palazzo, Wynn, Encore and SLS Las Vegas allow customers to park for free. There are also a few patches of retail and church facilities where people can park without paying.

Weaver did not indicate how much Wynn customers would be charged or other details of the program. Companies that charge for parking have taken different strategies on how to do it.

MGM, for example, once allowed local residents to have their Nevada drivers’ licenses scanned to get in for free, a practice Caesars still uses. MGM allows daily in-and-out privileges to its family of resorts; Caesars doesn’t.

Parking charges range from $7 to $18 a day.

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.