It can be difficult for hotels and casinos off the Las Vegas Strip to survive with all the upscale competition that's just a few miles down the road. Some off-Strip resorts have managed to survive for decades, but even legacy properties are vulnerable to economic uncertainty.

On the first day of her first-ever trip to Las Vegas, Julie Brenner said the cost of a bottle of water caught her attention. The 29-year-old from Miami said she remembered the price because even in her hometown, paying more than $5 for water would seem high. That is why it stood out to her when the very next day, the same bottle from the same store was a different price.

Over the past decade or so, various cities throughout the United States have developed legislation or policies geared toward regulating short-term rentals, a market which is dominated by San Francisco-based tech company Airbnb. Recently an appeals court in Dallas, Texas, rejected the city’s 2023 ordinance to ban most short-term rentals located in single family zones. The Dallas Short-Term Rental Alliance argued that—under Texas law—they had a right to lease their properties.

Mark Tremblay, an assistant professor of economics at UNLV, is analyzing how fee transparency in short-term rentals may influence consumer and host behavior in pricing.

As federal regulators finalize rules requiring ticket and hotel sellers reveal hidden "junk fees" to prohibit "bait-and-switch pricing" and other practices that hide total prices in live-event and short-term lodging industries, researchers at UNLV are looking into the impact of pricing transparency.

In Las Vegas, ridesharing apps like Uber and Lyft, and short-term rental apps like Airbnb have changed — really changed — the landscape for taxi companies and, perhaps, hotels. In July 2014, for instance, the Nevada Taxicab Authority said cab drivers gave more than 2 million rides to customers. In July of this year, that was down about 50% to around a million riders. A big question, though, is if things are changing back. And there’s some evidence indicating that it might be doing just that.