Las Vegas CityCenter Nears Completion

If you've been to the Las Vegas in the last few years, you've probably seen the enormous construction going on next door to the Bellagio. The massive project dubbed "CityCenter" is an attempt to revolutionize the Strip. Billed as a hotel, living, dining, shopping, and entertainment complex, it's a big gamble.

At a cost estimated to be $8.5 billion, it was a monumental undertaking from the beginning. Add to that the suffering economy, the credit crunch, and the housing collapse, which has resulted in a drop in visitors to the gambling paradise, and you can see that the timing for this project couldn't have been worse.

Still, the CityCenter will no doubt be impressive. It's City within a City is filled with artistic touches and state-of-the-art technology to gives its guests and visitors an unparalleled experience. Will the concept of CityCenter deliver a profitable model for its ownership? Time will tell.

CityCenter is scheduled to begin a phased opening beginning December 1 with the Vrada Resort/Condo. For more information, please see Las Vegas' new CityCenter a big gamble, prepares to open.

Vegas Hotel Room Prices Continue to Drop

Having visited Las Vegas recently, I can definately say that room rates were definately down from prior years. Granted, August is a slow time for Vegas, but rates were still less expensive than I can remember. In my case, I checked in to the Rio and spent 4 nights with a strip view for only a little over $200. And, with the massive City Center location coming onboard late this year, downward pressures on hotel prices should continue.

Below is an excerpt from The Las Vegas Sun discussing this very thing.

Rob Kronman, who works in finance in Los Angeles, would have been willing to pay at least twice what he spent for two nights at the Encore last week. Thanks to a heated price war in Las Vegas, Kronman snagged a suite at the Encore for $109 per night, with a $50 credit toward resort purchases.

“I’ve stayed at the Hilton and Monte Carlo but this was a whole level above,” he said. “It was an extraordinary stay in what was probably a $400 room.”

Philadelphia schoolteacher Jackie Degregorio, who longed to stay at the Bellagio after previous stays at lower-end properties in Las Vegas, recently jumped at the chance to pay $180 per night for four nights in a room facing the dancing fountains.

“I probably would have paid more, but I felt better about getting the discount,” Degregorio said. “It was definitely worth it.”

They are among many consumers who are reaping the rewards of an unprecedented price war in Las Vegas, where four- and five-star properties are going for two- and three-star rates.

Will hotel prices in Las Vegas remain low? Or, if the economy finally comes back, will the rates increase once again? One things for sure, there hasn't been a cheaper time to stay in Vegas in years.

For the complete story, please see Liz Benston,Seduction by room rate, The Las Vegas Sun, August 24, 2009.

Vegas Lessons

Three former high-level executives in the casino industry recently got together to discuss the downturn in Las Vegas and the gaming industry in general. Some of the their observations about Las Vegas and it's problems hold true for tribal gaming and even the charitable bingo market.

Anyway, its a good read and gives you some insight into the thinking behind the huge build-up of hotels and casinos that have led to the current glut. Below is an excerpt from the article:

Imagine that you’re a retired gaming executive and you’re watching the industry crash all around you, in the biggest recession in the modern casino era.

You take a deep breath, counting your lucky stars you’re retired but wondering: What could I have done differently? What would I do now?

The Sun invited three former casino executives to sit down for a Sunday Conversation, to candidly reflect, with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, about the gaming industry — then, now and in the future.

Together, they talked about bad assumptions, questionable decisions and getting caught up in the go-go boom years, second-guessed shifting strategies and talked about what can and should be learned about the industry and its customers.

The trio: Phil Satre, former CEO of Harrah’s Entertainment; Don Snyder, former president of Boyd Gaming; and Glenn Christenson, former chief financial officer of Station Casinos. Each is still active in corporate, civic and philanthropic life in Southern Nevada, but it was their days in the casino board rooms that we wanted to explore.

We wanted to get inside their heads, and they let us.

What lessons can be learned? Hard to say. For the complete story, please see Liz Benston, Making sense of gaming’s big crash, The Las Vegas Sun, August 9, 2009.

Las Vegas Hotel Deals Abound

Two years ago Gary Hamm and his wife gambled $200 at the Bellagio.

About two months ago it paid off.

He opened the mailbox at his Tacoma, Wash., home and found an offer from Bellagio for three free nights plus $50 in free play and food and drink credits.

"I was amazed, really," said Hamm. "Usually you expect to hear from casinos if you gamble a lot of money. We stayed there for three days and really didn't gamble much."

If it sounds like an expensive way to attract customers, that's because it is.

Las Vegas hoteliers are raking in $5.8 million per day less than they were a year ago, according to the latest figures from the convention and visitors authority.

And that is just on room rates.

It doesn't include all the free food, cheap or free booze, gambling inducements and show ticket discounts.

Properties across town -- from swank Strip retreats to humble downtown joints -- are offering more to get less than they were a year ago.

Even with room rates nearly 31 percent lower than 12 months ago as an enticement for customers, gambling revenue was down $3.8 million per day in Clark County.

"I think it is war out there right now," said Michael Crandall, director of business affairs for the Siegel Cos.

For the complete story, please see Benjamin Spillman, With economy sagging, Las Vegas hotel-casinos offer bargains, Las Vegas Review-Journal, June 28, 2009.

Gambler Sues After Losing Millions

High-rolling Nebraska philanthropist Terrance K. Watanabe is mounting an unusual defense to charges he failed to pay $14.7 million in Strip gambling debts.

He is accusing Caesars Palace and the Rio, both owned by Harrah’s Entertainment, of providing him with a steady flow of alcohol and — in the case of Caesars Palace — prescription painkillers as his losses increased.

His Las Vegas attorney, David Chesnoff, lays out the defense in a letter to prosecutors, claiming that casino employees will testify that the resorts kept the prolific gambler in a constant state of intoxication in the latter months of 2007 in violation of state gaming regulations.

For the complete stroy, please see Jeff German, Gambler who lost millions claims he was plied with alcohol, drugs, Las Vegas Sun, May 19, 2009.

Vegas Gambles on Future

The slump in Las Vegas may be bottoming out, but odds are good that a coming wave of new resorts will hinder any rebound in hotel rates or casino revenue.

That could put a cap on profits at recession-battered casino companies.

MGM Mirage, Las Vegas Sands Corp. and Wynn Resorts Ltd. this week reported stronger-than-expected first-quarter results, helping to boost their heavily battered stock prices.

"I see that starting in September – maybe October, more appropriately – we are going to have an accelerated booking pace ... I hesitate to use the word getting back to normal, but I think we are getting close to getting back to normal in 2010," Sheldon Adelson, Sands' chair and chief executive, said this week.

Analysts, however, warn that there is no concrete evidence as yet that the bottom of the downturn is in sight in Las Vegas.

For the complete story, please see Deena Beasley, Vegas rolls dice on an uncertain future, Reuters via The Toronto Star, May 10, 2009.