Lake Las Vegas taps into ‘staycation’ business

Officials say poor economy has kept several local residents close to home

Chris Morris

By Brian Wargo (contact), In Business reporter

Fri, Jul 17, 2009 (3 a.m.)

Steve Marcus

A view of MonteLago Village at Lake Las Vegas in Henderson.

Local deals plentiful as tourism industry gears for 'Staycation II' (5-5-2009)

More stories about business and the economy

Lake Las Vegas

Like the Strip, Lake Las Vegas has taken a hit from the slowdown of out-of-state tourists visiting Nevada, but the Henderson resort is turning to valley residents to pick up the slack.

Aided by Las Vegans coming to the resort, the Ritz Carlton and Loews Lake Las Vegas were full during the Fourth of July weekend, surpassing what they did a year ago. The hotels expect heavy weekend bookings for the rest of the summer. MonteLago Village, which features boutique shops and restaurants, reports it has been attracting more visitors to its growing number of special events.

Although the recession is hurting Las Vegas as a whole because people are less likely to travel and spend money, it has helped Lake Las Vegas on the weekends because locals are less likely to travel as well. The businesses are using radio and other advertising to reach out to locals.

That has been the case at Loews Lake Las Vegas, where the 493-room resort was sold out for the Memorial Day and Fourth of July weekends, said Dale McDaniel, its managing director and president of the Lake Las Vegas Destination Marketing Council.

“A lot of people can’t travel around, and they have to keep things within their budget,” McDaniel said. “The economy has helped the local market because (people) can’t afford to fly somewhere to take a vacation, but it’s like they are on vacation without really going very far.”

Locals account for 40 percent of the hotel’s leisure business, up from 20 percent, McDaniel said. The rest mostly comes from Southern California and Arizona.

Lake Las Vegas, a 3,600-acre master-planned community with a 320-acre lake is 17 miles from the Strip and that makes locals feel like they are in another city. The hotels offer discounted prices to locals, which helps fill rooms that have been running well below capacity during the week because of a slowdown in convention business.

Nick Darato, general manager of MonteLago Village, said locals comprise 40 percent to 60 percent of the business at its 230-room condo hotel.

“I think a lot of people who come here work down on the Strip or near the Strip, and they want to get away to a more secluded area with less stress.”

Bob Jensch, Ritz Carlton’s general manager, said there is a lot of potential to fill in that gap with more than 2 million valley residents.

“When times are tough, rather than fly to Hawaii, they can have a ‘staycation,’ ” Jensch said. “It is a perfect fit for the local market. We have a huge market right in our back yard that is a great getaway like Mount Charleston is in the winter.”

To woo locals, the hotels have tried to make them even more attractive to families.

Loews, for example, has a movie at the pool on Saturday nights and date night movies in the lobby on Fridays along with s’mores on the beach. The family-type atmosphere is what attracts visitors from Southern California and Phoenix, McDaniel said.

“It is a great place to come and bring your family for people who don’t like the bells and whistles that come with the Strip,” he said.

The newest addition is a special on food and drinks for Henderson residents on Thursday nights.

Lake Las Vegas is a second-home community and many homeowners aren’t around in the summer heat.

“That is the hard part for us — the challenge of Sunday through Thursday,” McDaniel said. “That is one reason we added the Henderson happy hour.”

Andrea Day, MonteLago Village spokeswoman, said a chili cook-off and other events are bringing locals out. She estimates an additional 100 to 200 people are coming to weekend concerts and other events.

“I think people are looking for free stuff to do, and it is such a great environment,” she said.

All of this is happening as the master-planned community is going through bankruptcy and formulating its plan to restructure. That has led to two of three golf courses at the resort closing, but it hasn’t disrupted any other operation.

McDaniel said the bankruptcy is old news, and that its effect is tied to the residential development at Lake Las Vegas rather than tourist venues with the exception of the two golf courses. The hotels have forged relationships with other courses to take up the slack.

“We are overcoming it,” McDaniel said. “It is obviously a negative impact on the result and hopefully they will reopen in the near future.”

Discussion: 11 comments so far…

By jeff942

7/17/09 at 9:02 a.m.

Comment removed by staff.
By Bouvier

7/17/09 at 12:31 p.m.

Suggest removal

Finally some great news about Lake Las Vegas!!!!! It's funny how when the media gives a positive spin about something, there are far less comments from the usual peanut gallery.
-
LLV is trying hard to create free family friendly events to get people to come back out there. It looks like their efforts are working! Way to go!!!
-
I wish continued success to Lake Las Vegas. It's a such a beautiful place to live and play!
By sheilacatherine

7/17/09 at 2:13 p.m.

Suggest removal

If you've never booked a "staycation" at Loew's we highly recommend it! For the past 6 years, my entire family spends our Labor Day weekend there and we absolutely LOVE it! There is so much to keep kids occupied...the pool is awesome and there's always some type of live music or event going on over at the MonteLago village in the evenings! We pack in, discreetly, some of our own snacks and drinks for the kids to keep costs down but dollar for dollar, it's as much fun as our trips out of state and the drive home is a breeze! There are two restaurants in the village, one a little french bistro and the other mexican and both have excellent food...of course our kids vote for the pizza place! So if you can, try it! You'll be glad you did!
By Launce

7/17/09 at 3:29 p.m.

Suggest removal

Lake Las Vegas uses one percent of Nevada's entire allocation from the Colorado River. Everyone should ask themselves whether the cost of coddling wealthy people is worth destroying the Great Basin, forcing working families to give up water use, and other steps championed by the Southern Nevada Water Authority. The SNWA and their friends at Lake Las Vegas are not concerned with the well-being of the general population. They're concerned with maximizing profit for developers.
By jbiddle8

7/17/09 at 9:21 p.m.

Suggest removal

I hope Lake Las Vegas makes a huge comeback. It is great out there!
By bdover

7/18/09 at 6:49 a.m.

Suggest removal

It is a pretty place, with a long way to go. I've heard that the richie rich residents are trying to buy South Shore golf course before it goes under like the other 2 courses. With over 200 foreclosures, however, it would seem that LLV, with its huge HOA costs, is going to be teetering on the edge for a long while. If you don't have a deep wallet, you might want to avoid living in LLV.
By flygirlprod

7/20/09 at 1:38 p.m.

Suggest removal

Lake Las Vegas is such a nice place to be other than the strip! Talk about wasting energy and our resources on unnecessary coddling and impressing visitors and locals (rich or poor) and taking them for all they are worth! At Lake Las Vegas there is natural beauty all around and plenty of plants to keep the environment thriving. Don't they recycle all their water down there? You can't drive 5 minutes into downtown Vegas without getting road construction, smog, trash, homeless and neon lights flashed all in your face. I don't think I have ever seen any desert wildlife other than nasty pigeons and bugs on the strip!
By Bouvier

7/20/09 at 5:38 p.m.

Suggest removal

Great posts by Flygirlprod & SheilaCatherine! Rarely do you hear anyone discuss the waste of energy and water consumption at the strip or even Desert shores where there is ton of man-made lakes. Seems like everyone just wants to pick on Lake Las Vegas.
-
What a nice change, having mostly positive remarks in this post. Thank you Las Vegas Sun for your nice reporting on this issue.
By Bouvier

8/7/09 at 9:03 a.m.

Suggest removal

To update this post, I confirmed with 2 sources on Wednesay 8/5/09 that Lake Las Vegas/Montelago Village was completely sold out this week. Including during the week! Wow!! How rare is it for a hotel to be 100% occupied in this economy!

So, Lake Las Vegas certainly is not a ghost town as many people seem to say in their comments. People are still finding it a wonderful place to stay and play!
By Bouvier

8/16/09 at 9:43 a.m.

Suggest removal

Another update on LLV. A friend of mine was just there last weekend. He said the Loews and the Montelago Village restaurants were all busy.

When I asked him if it was in anyway a ghost town, he said no way! Lots of buzz there.
By Bouvier

8/30/09 at 8:28 p.m.

Suggest removal

Another update. I stayed in Lake Las Vegas during the weekend of 8/21/09 at the Loews. We shuttled to the village. The Loews was very busy, the pool was packed, especially with families.

Although the mornings in the village were slow, after lunch it began to pick up and by dinner, the village, restaurants, casino were all busy and buzzing. Bernard's Bistro is awesome! If you haven't tried it, check it out. Awesome food and service.

So, I personally saw that the village is still a viable place and people are still going to Lake Las Vegas. I just rec'd an email that there is going to be a Farmer's Market there on 9/12. They are doing some great marketing.

I look forward to my next visit! We had a blast!