New Year’s rooms still available; sellout expected

Gary Thompson

Thursday, Nov. 18, 1999 | 11:36 a.m.

There's plenty of room at the inns, but it will cost you plenty to stay there.

Despite predictions of up to 750,000 people descending on Las Vegas for the upcoming millennium celebrations, most area hotels still have lots of rooms available for the New Year's holiday.

To book one, though, be prepared to face a three-night minimum for stays beginning on Thursday, Dec. 30, as resorts gear up for what's expected to be the busiest New Year's celebration in Las Vegas history.

Be prepared to pay sky-high prices. Despite looming Y2K fears and slow early bookings, resort operators say they expect to be sold out well before Christmas.

And prices could move higher as the rooms become scarcer, they say.

But that's not necessarily so, says Anthony Curtis, publisher of the Las Vegas Advisor, a gaming industry publication that has tracked Las Vegas room rates for four years. He believes New Year's room prices could move lower after falling sharply since the summer.

"We just finished up a room survey Wednesday that will appear in our next edition," Curtis says. "We compared New Year's room prices now with what they were in mid-August, and it looks in general as though there have been some significant price reductions. In addition, many hotels have trimmed four-night requirements to three nights.

"We're finding there are more places than ever before with New Year's rooms still available, even though prices are about double what they've been in past years. Still, they were three or even four times higher than normal as late as August," he says.

"What I think is going to happen is that the real beneficiaries will be mid-range gamblers," Curtis says. "Casinos will start marketing to high-end slot players and others, going down their lists, and I expect rates to come down a bit more."

Some resort operators acknowledge they've scaled back their room prices in response to soft demand so far, but the costs are still far from cheap. Strip operators in particular have posted room rates for free-and-independent travelers that would leave all but high rollers gasping.

Caesars Palace, perhaps the best-recognized brand name on the Las Vegas Strip, is offering $2,000-per-night rooms with a three-night minimum stay. In August, three-night stays were quoted at $7,500 total, or $2,500 per night, Curtis says.

"We're primarily booked with invited guests, as we have been for years on the New Year holiday," Caesars spokesman Phil Cooper says of the 2,400-room resort.

Just north of Caesars is Bellagio, a 3,000-room luxury resort where rooms are still available at $2,000 a night, plus $180 a night in taxes. Again, the Mirage Resorts Inc. property demands a three-night minimum stay. Bellagio typically charges $299 to $399 for weekend nights during nonholiday periods.

Mirage Resorts' Golden Nugget, the only four-star hotel in downtown Las Vegas, has three-night packages available for a total of $1,499, which includes tickets to the Fremont Street Experience party and dinner for two.

Mirage Resorts' Treasure Island on the Strip has a three-night package for $1,599 and a four-night package for $1,929. The flagship Mirage hotel-casino offers three-night packages starting at $1,499.

Mandalay Resort Group has several Las Vegas hotels, including the new Mandalay Bay at the south end of the Strip. It's offering a three-night package for $599 a night, or $1,797 plus tax; in August, says Curtis, the quote was $3,300 for a three-night stay.

The company's Luxor and Monte Carlo (co-owned with Mirage Resorts) are both charging $499 per night for three nights.

Mandalay Resort Group's Excalibur has rooms available for $399 a night, again with a three-night minimum stay, while Circus Circus Las Vegas farther north on the Strip has three-night packages ranging from $279 to $339 a night. Circus Circus has been charging about $150 a night on recent weekends.

"We're right in line with where we were last year as far as advance bookings are concerned," says John Marz, vice president of marketing and special events for Mandalay Resorts Group.

"A lot of us thought there'd be a lot of real early advance bookings, though that didn't happen," he says. "But we're on track with last year, though at higher room rates."

At the corner of Flamingo Road and Las Vegas Boulevard, Bally's and Paris Las Vegas are offering some of the lowest prices at the center of the Strip. Three-night packages at Bally's begin at $438 a night, while Paris -- the newest hotel on the Strip -- has a limited number of rooms available starting at $599 a night for three nights.

Bally's and Paris are owned by Park Place Entertainment, whose Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino near the Las Vegas Convention Center has three-night packages available starting at $349 a night.

"Our rates have been very stable and are now starting to move up a bit," Park Place spokesman Geoff Davis said. "Las Vegas will be packed, and all our rooms sold out for the New Year weekend."

The Venetian, another of the new Strip resorts, is offering its standard suites for a three-night minimum at $699 a night.

Its next-door neighbor, Harrah's Las Vegas, has a three-night package starting on Dec. 29 for $1,800 total and a two-night deal beginning the following day for $999. You can add an extra day to the two-night package for $299 more.

The MGM Grand still has three-night packages available for $1,100 a night or four-night stays starting at $900 a night. Three-night packages offering a room and tickets to the Barbra Streisand concert start at $3,999.

"Prices have stayed firm, and there are only a limited number of packages left," MGM spokeswoman Shelly Mansholt said. Like many other resorts that cater to high rollers, the MGM is reserving many of its rooms and suites for its premium customers.

Off Strip, the Rio has three-night packages available for $4,000, which includes a standard suite, tickets to a Rod Stewart concert and a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne.

The Hard Rock has rooms available at $695 a night, with a three-night minimum.

Locals-oriented casinos are offering relative bargains. The Gold Coast's three-night package is $899 total, and includes dinner for two and tickets to a Smothers Brothers show.

Its sister resort, the Orleans, has a three-night package for $1,499 total that includes dinner for two. For another $100, it will throw in a New Year's Eve party with live entertainment.

Sunset Station in Henderson is offering a three-night package for $850, while Texas Station at the north end of the valley has three nights available for $750.

Along the Boulder Strip, Sam's Town has a three-night package for $699 total, while Boulder Station is offering three-nights' stay for $750.

In downtown Las Vegas, Main Street Station has a three-night package now for $525 total; in August, the price was quoted at $1,416, Curtis says.

Estimates of New Year's Eve crowds that will swarm the Strip and downtown Las Vegas resort corridors have ranged from 450,000 to 750,000 people, though with just over 120,000 hotel rooms, the higher number seems unreachable.

With an average of two persons per room, it would require 500,000 Las Vegas-area residents to venture out New Year's Eve to hit the 750,000 figure.