Strip properties seeing little effect from Calif. wildfires

By Liz Benston

Thursday, Oct. 30, 2003 | 11:13 a.m.

The raging fires in Southern California that blew smoke and ash over Las Vegas Wednesday don't appear to be keeping tourists away from the city, Strip resorts say.

Some casinos reported a bump in business on Sunday, when some Southern California customers extended their stay after highways closed due to brush fires. Companies said Wednesday they weren't seeing any uptick in cancellations because of the fires.

"Any wildfire-related cancellations were primarily centered on Saturday, Sunday and Monday," Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority spokeswoman Erika Yowell said. "Routes into Las Vegas are pretty much open and usable and business is (expected to be) quite strong to begin with."

Halloween falls on a Friday this year, an added incentive for travelers to participate in the myriad parties and other Halloween-related events going on this weekend, Yowell said.

But some properties say they don't depend on Halloween as a particularly strong business driver because many choose to stay home instead. During third-quarter earnings reports released over the past couple of weeks, some companies also cited late October as a slow time for convention business.

Southern California represents the largest single concentration of potential Las Vegas visitors. Though companies don't typically track such statistics, the LVCVA's most recent survey shows that 29 percent of visitors in 2002 came from the region -- a higher level than each of the previous four years.

The LVCVA is projecting occupancy rates in the mid 90s at major hotels this weekend. This time last year, when MGM MIRAGE hosted a Paul McCartney concert and boxing greats Marco Antonio Barrera and Johnny Tapia within a week of one another, occupancy rates were 97.9 percent.

Major roads from San Diego and Los Angeles into Las Vegas were open Wednesday, though the California Highway Patrol reported a high wind advisory for Interstate 15 in Riverside and San Bernadino counties to the Nevada state line. Also Wednesday, the Clark County Department of Air Quality Management warned that the elderly, children or people with chronic respiratory problems should curtail outdoor activities. Normal, healthy people were urged to go about their normal day. As of late Wednesday, the National Weather Service had no smoke warnings for the remainder of the week, though officials said that could change at any moment with the unpredictable nature of the fire and resulting wind conditions.

Mandalay Resort Group hasn't detected any disruption in business because of the fires and cancellations in general aren't running any higher than normal, the company's marketing chief John Marz said.

"Our sense is that a good percentage of our cancellations are coming from Southern California. But that number isn't extraordinarily high," Marz said. "Other than Friday, which is just a typically slow day for Halloween, our business has been fine."

MGM MIRAGE reported a "handful" of cancellations because of the fires, a "minimal" effect across all of the company's properties in Las Vegas, spokeswoman Yvette Monet said.

The company is still booking extended stays for some guests, somewhat offsetting that effect, she said.

Overall, call volume for weekend reservations was in line with pre-fire reservation trends, she added.

Park Place Entertainment Corp. spokesman Michael Coldwell said the company hasn't seen any significant increases in either cancellations or stayover requests.

"Any impact was to be seen mostly on Sunday when the highways were closed," Coldwell said. "We accommodated guest requests accordingly."

The Riviera hotel-casino reported a few dozen cancellations but still derives most of its business from conventions and other groups from the East Coast and Midwest, Chief Financial Officer Duane Krohn said. The hotel could be affected by potential dips in room prices as competitors try to jump-start business, he said.

Boyd Gaming Corp. spokesman Rob Stillwell said it's "way too early to tell" what will happen this weekend because Las Vegas visitors tend to book their trips at the last minute.

"Some degree of plans will be changed (but) we have not seen the impact of that yet," Stillwell said.

About 35 percent of customers at the Palms -- more than most Las Vegas properties -- come from Southern California. But owner George Maloof reported no significant cancellations as of Wednesday and said the property was "oversold" as customers stayed over on Sunday and Monday.

The view from the sky Wednesday morning as Maloof flew from Las Vegas to Sacramento was bleak, however.

"All you saw was black smoke (over Southern California). I've never seen anything like it," he said.

The Riviera, Palms, and Boyd Gaming Corp. casinos contributed to the relief effort by directing shipments of bottled water to Southern California.