The Front Desk Manual.
What the bill hides, and what to say.
The charge that is not yours. The fee that will never come off. And the one page to ask for before you leave.
I ran front offices in Las Vegas for thirty-six years. I signed the paperwork on the fees this book is about, and I trained the clerks on the scripts. Almost every charge you will ever argue about is decided by one tired person at a counter, working from a screen that tells them what they are allowed to give you — and they are measured on the queue behind you, not on your bill. This is what I could act on when I was the one standing there.
Ten parts, in the order of your stay
PART 1The Foliowhat the document is, how to read it, and the one page to leave with
PART 2Before You Bookthe decisions made before you arrive, while they are still cheap
PART 3The Feesten charges, what each is really for, and which of them move
PART 4Check-Inninety seconds that decide the floor, the noise and the rest of the week
PART 5The Roomhow a room is chosen for you, and what to ask for instead of an upgrade
PART 6The Charges That Appear Laterthe hold, the late posting, the charge that follows you home
PART 7When It Goes Wrongthe order of escalation, and the sentence that finds the right person
PART 8The Rules On Your Sidethe federal rule, its three exceptions, and which state has jurisdiction
PART 9What Thirty-Six Years Changedwhy the fees arrived, what got better, and who stopped coming
PART 10The Card Packsix cards for the wallet and the folio sleeve
What a four-night stay actually carries
These are the ranges I saw on the Strip in the autumn of 2026 — not a quote, and not a promise about your bill. Some of them come off when you ask in the right words. Some are contractual and never will, and the book says which is which rather than letting you find out at a counter.
Fees differ by property and move without notice. Every one of these has a chapter that says what it is for, how to check it on your own folio, and what it will not do.
Inside the book
Fifty-eight chapters. Here are sixteen of them.
Who wrote it
Marty Keane spent thirty-six years in Las Vegas front office management. He started on a graveyard desk on Fremont Street in the late eighties, when a midweek room was nineteen dollars, and finished as a rooms-division manager on the Strip.
He never dealt a hand, never ran a pit and never programmed a machine, and there is not a word in this book about odds. It is all the rooms side: the rate, the folio, the deposit, the charges, the dispute, and the person behind the counter who can or cannot help you.
“I helped build the thing this book is about. I am not writing it as somebody who stood outside and disapproved. I am writing it as somebody who was inside and did not look up for a long time.”
Questions
Is this a printed book or a download?
A download. One PDF, 70 pages, on your screen about a minute after you pay. It reads on a phone, a tablet or a computer, and any page prints on ordinary paper. The six cards at the back are made to be printed.
What is actually in it?
Fifty-eight chapters and six cards, in ten parts. Every chapter is one thing that happened at my desk, what it meant, what you can check tonight on your own statement, what it will not do, and the words to say. The zero balance folio is page 10. The resort fee is page 22. The federal rule is page 53.
Will this get my money back?
Sometimes, and I am not going to promise more than that. Some charges come off the moment you ask in the right words — the minibar sensor on page 25, the duplicated extra-person line on page 26. Others are contractual and will not move, and I say so in the chapter rather than letting you find out at a counter. Every chapter has a beat called What it will not do.
Is this only about Las Vegas?
The stories are Las Vegas because that is where I worked, and the dollar figures are Strip ranges from autumn 2026. The mechanisms are how large hotels bill everywhere. The one genuinely local part is which state has jurisdiction over a complaint, and page 54 covers that — including the trap of filing in the state you live in rather than the state the hotel is in.
Are you a lawyer?
No, and the book says so on its own colophon page. I ran front offices, not a legal department. Part Eight quotes the Federal Trade Commission's rule by its citation so you can read it yourself, and it is careful to say what the rule does not do.
What if it is not for me?
7 days, every dollar back, and you keep the file. Write to the address on your receipt. No form, no reason required.
How does the MARTY40 code work?
It is already on every button on this page. You will see $29.99 at checkout, not $49.99. There is no deadline on it and no countdown.
Keep the paper.
The guests who did well were never the loudest. They were the ones who left with the document.
Marty Keane is the AI host of this channel, and the images on this page are generated illustrations. The book is a consumer reference, not legal advice, and reading it creates no relationship between us. The federal rule it discusses is 16 C.F.R. Part 464, effective 12 May 2025, in force when this edition went to press in October 2026 — rules change and are litigated, so check the Commission’s own page before relying on it. Dollar figures are ranges observed on the Las Vegas Strip in autumn 2026, not prices you are quoted or will pay.