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StumbleUptick in MGM Mirage bookings offers hope for Strip turnaround
File photo
A tram passes by the Aria resort at CityCenter.
Monday, June 7, 2010 | 2 a.m.
Jim Murren
Sun Archives
- Will airlines’ summer travel surcharge hurt Vegas tourism? (6-5-10)
- Nashville floods boost Las Vegas convention business (6-4-10)
- State revives tourism conference after two-year hiatus (6-2-10)
- LV Chamber CEO: ‘Prosperity is going to happen again’ (5-19-10)
- Las Vegas tops convention list for 16th straight year (5-19-10)
MGM Mirage executives are optimistic that CityCenter, an $8.5 billion resort complex that has increased hotel room volume at a time of depressed demand, will soon turn a profit.
That would be a tall order if the company were simply relying on budget-conscious tourists returning to Las Vegas more frequently and spending more while they’re here. Plenty of anecdotal evidence indicates that won’t happen in the near future.
That’s why MGM executives are counting on conventioneers. They say they have booked many more groups and room blocks for conventioneers in recent months.
Just how much these groups spend while they’re here has yet to be seen, but in any case, convention business is crucial to the future of CityCenter and Las Vegas as a whole.
Conventioneers aren’t minor actors in this boom-bust cycle. They helped fuel Las Vegas’ high-end building spree by paying higher room rates and spending more than tourists. By propping up room rates, conventions had a disproportionate effect on overall business in Las Vegas. Cheaper hotels could charge more when their higher-end, convention-hotel counterparts were booked at steep rates.
But when convention business plummeted, the bottom fell out of room rates. With fewer conventioneers to fill rooms, hotels are scrambling to fill those gaps with tourists — at the tourists’ preferred lower rates. For example, a half-year after its opening, CityCenter’s Aria is still offering a “grand opening” discount rate on its website and last week launched a “72-hour sale” offering rooms for as little as $103 a night during the week.
With poor convention attendance responsible for a great deal of financial pain up and down the Strip, MGM Mirage’s projections offer a much-needed beacon of hope for investors and stakeholders.
During MGM’s first-quarter conference call last month, executives said the company has booked 865,000 room nights for conventioneers next year — a company record. That compares with 700,000 room nights for conventioneers this year and excludes figures for CityCenter, which opened in December.
Even better news is that these groups are booking rooms at higher rates than are currently offered. Groups meeting next year are paying 2007 rates. MGM is charging 2004 rates now, CEO Jim Murren said.
Banking on how much convention money will come in next year is a little risky, though. Bookings sometimes get canceled, and lately conventioneers have been spending less and cutting their trips short.
The first quarter, which includes the massive Consumer Electronics Show, has been the best time of year for convention business for several decades.
However, the first quarter has been hard hit in the recession, contributing to double-digit declines in convention business in 2009 and single-digit declines in 2008.
This year’s first quarter saw convention attendance fall 8 percent, with January experiencing the worst drop, 16 percent, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
The number of conventions and meetings in Las Vegas fell 7 percent in the first quarter, 13 percent in January.
MGM Mirage executives blamed CityCenter’s operating losses primarily on slow convention business at Aria.
“We started out in a hole on conventions” because a year ago, when people were booking conventions for early 2010, the future of CityCenter, and MGM Mirage overall, was “very much in doubt,” Murren said.
Increased group bookings are helping raise Aria’s occupancy rate, which was 63 percent in the first quarter but is rising into the 80 percent range, according to the company.
With much riding on convention business, Aria’s secret weapon may be its Leadership in Energy and Efficient Design-certified convention space. The eco-friendly label isn’t translating into profits for Aria today, but may give the hotel a competitive advantage over most because they lack it, convention experts say.
Many companies — including those that sell eco-friendly products — have green mandates that would encourage or require that they seek out hotels that promote green initiatives, said Lori Cioffi, publisher of Meetings & Conventions magazine. Such space also could serve as a valuable marketing tool to lure nonprofit associations that care about the environment, she added.
MGM is marketing CityCenter’s supposed green advantage for all visitors as virtually every building in the complex received LEED ratings. But a 2008 survey by Market Metrix showed that only 12 percent of customers rate green initiatives “very important” when picking a hotel. The hope is that meeting planners will be more influenced by how green CityCenter is than the average tourist — yet another example of the key role conventions are expected to play.
Chuck Bowling, an MGM executive vice president, said momentum is building.
“Overall, we’re definitely seeing some general signs that corporate America is done retrenching and they have acknowledged that they need to get out in front of their customers. We’ve seen a really big uptick in short-lead corporate conferences.”
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Keep trying to put more lipstick on that pig. What a continuing disaster. This property has hurt everyone in the pocketbook---hotel workers, investors, shareholders. Way to take a stable profitable business and turn it into a basket case full of debt.
"companies encourage employees to seek out hotels that promote green initiatives".
The only "green" the companies I've worked for were concerned about was the green in the dollar. The resort fees alone at MGM properties would cause them to look elsewhere. Although they DO have some very nice properties at MGM, can't deny that. See you at the Imperial Palace.
They can spin it any way they want to, but the truth of the matter is that Las Vegas as it was known is OVER! It's a different place now, where only the biggest suckers will go and lose their pennies in the server based slots machines which are programmed to legally steal their money. Lousy table game odds which have taken all of the fun out of the games. Expensive hotel rooms, meals, and juvenile nightclubs which have the fleece switch in the constant on position. This town is OVER..
Maybe it's just me, but if I see a quote from the CEO of MGM stating that I booked at a much higher rate than is publicly available, I cancel my reservation and re-book.
Where are they coming from? I suggest it is a Mormon crusade helping "His Godship" create an ad campaign. Either that or free rooms for his investors from Dubai?????
While I wholeheartedly hope for a true economic recovery for Las Vegas, the article failed to mention that much of the convention business is a fluke due to the floods in the South. Many conventions have rebooked in Las Vegas but will most likely return to their old venues next year when the flood damage is repaired.
Las Vegas as we once knew it is gone! As lone as you have these pool parties charging huge fees and same old same old entertainment (Rickles,Leno,Beach Boys, Cher,Dion ) people will go elsewhere ( New York,Orlando,Italy)
I think many of the comments here have some merit, but let's not forget this is OUR town and if it isn't, then leave like the other "temporaries" have done over the past two years. I'm not saying let's put our collective heads in the sand, but let's try to be positive about Las Vegas. Most of us came here for a good reason. Support the town and the guests who choose to come here to vacation and/or have meetings. We should all be greatful for the dollars they bring. Personally, I like living here. Try living in 9 months of rain, fog, cold, snow, gray skies, unbearable humidity in the summer, nothing to look at but flat feature-less land, and traffic jams that cause you to spend 2 hours getting 13 miles to work. I did for 60 years and I'm glad to be gone from that. Go back to Chicago, New York, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Boston, Souix Falls, Erie, Madison, etc., etc. Just make sure that's what you want before you move there.
@quixotic59-
So you're saying Nashville is a leader in convention bookings, and that an uptick of 175,000 room nights can be attributed to flooding there?
Really?
For those of you who haven't been in a while (if ever), the gorgeous property that is CityCenter is busier than ever with many restaurants showing double digit month-over-month increases in business. Try getting a seat at P.U.B. on a Tuesday at 7pm. Try finding a spot at View Bar at 6pm on a Friday night.
One thing CityCenter is NOT- a place for the unimaginative and reverse anti-intellectual snobs with "working-class hero" chips on their shoulders who need to be spoon-fed visceral stimuli. If you think "reproductions" (aka fakes) of Lake Como and Venice are great architecture, The Tillerman is fine dining, and Cook E. Jarr is high art, it is definitely NOT the place for you.
How many times do we read this same headline? 'Uptick' is code for holiday weekend.
Until U-N-E-M-P-L-O-Y-M-E-N-T numbers are halved - nothing will change for the Vegas Casino, new or old. There is a temporary advantage to being the new gig in town - CC will pull some curious cats for a one time "look-see".
Get back to us when California is 70% back on track.
Here's the best description of CityCenter that I have read thus far:
"CityCenter's true theme is leverage. Ranking as the largest private development in American history, big enough to fill the tallest building in Los Angeles, the U.S. Bank Tower, roughly a dozen times over, the complex is a palace -- a series of connected palaces, actually -- for the age of towering debt and easy credit. They should have put Alan Greenspan's face on the poker chips." -- Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/dec...
Murren should replace all his beancounters and coroporate do-nothings with marketing and operations people at the property level that know how to attract and service customers. Lack of vision and a bloated corporate culture will take this Titanic down.
And just what have these guys been smoking?
I sure hope the numbers hold up and quite honestly I think the real improvement isn't in the people booking rooms. The real deal is when the businesses start to rehire workers. It does LV no good if convention business is starting to go up only to see that unemployment stays the same or ticks higher; it's all about jobs!
Yes, City Center business is just booming, that's why their room prices are currently lower than Planet Hollywood and Wolfgang Puck just had to re-brand his restaurant and go down-market.
The Convention and Visitors Authority spends very little of its huge advertising budget on conventions...and, I hate to admit it, back in the beginning of this decade, most companies did not even want conventions. Sadly, conventions will help but is not the answer...look at the other major convention destinations-they are struggling, with lower attendance and lower spend. MGM is in the business of selling stock, so don't be lulled into any comfort with the words of Mr. Murren. City Center is a huge failure, and it is his fault as he tried to force into and onto Las Vegas an architectural disaster that does not work in a tourist environment.
ARIA is destined to shut down.. How about standard drink prices of $12 for a beer and $20 for a drink!! at any bar in the place!!! Hey, thanks...
This is Vegas if people wanted the New York feel they would move to NY City. City center is a wart on the strip.
Great ecomonic advice for our posting "experts" once again. Seriously, I doubt most of them would be able to make a profit running a pay toilet..
I just read an article yesterday that convention booking are increasing because of the disaster in Nashville. I guess MGM/Mirage didn't get that memo. This is the first I have heard about City Center since it open, it's not making a profit, surprise. Tourist are coming because of the room rates and overall cost of vacationing in Las Vegas. There still could be things don't to get those tourist to spend more. I find that entertainment is still a little expensive. But the one thing Las Vegas resorts can do to get repeat customers, is improve on their customer service. Make tourist and visitors feel like they are special and they will return, this is for all resort, not just City Center.
Choosing to ignore the positive impact that environmentally sustainable "green building"practices have made to the local economy in the form of retrofitting and as a benchmark for future buildings in sit tu appears to be fueled by envy and or lack of visionary thought."Jealousy is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius." As a collective society our level of awareness expands and contracts as new ideas replace previously normative thoughts.Any building that that has taken the initiative in this direction clearly has a distinct marketing advantage that should not be underestimated. Demographically the environmentally aware consumer had few options, as Las Vegans we were sorely behind other cities of our size in terms of amenities that cultural diversification and urbanization brings.To me City Center is not just a collection of beautifully rendered artistic whimsey's but more akin to a lighthouse on a remote desert shore, a beacon of hope to our depressed/distressed condition.Something that increases visitor volume is not as fearful as it is wonderfully imaginative, to those who deride its value and say this is not New York or London I must agree. This is Las Vegas a place of stark contrasts,where the raw natural beauty of the desert and mountains is just a stones throw away from the neon tiara of our burgeoning metropolis.
I think Jim Murren was trying to defend himself in the wake of Steve Wynn's comments to Alicia Jacobs in a recent interview, whereas Steve referrred to management of these new projects as 'nitwits.'
From the LVRJ on 06/04/2010:
"They're still below what it takes to make money here. The real benefit of this resurgence would have been real and would have been felt much more positive, if it were not for the fact that CityCenter added 6,500 rooms right at the moment we might have gotten a little traction. CityCenter has by and large blunted the effects of that improvement, and that's why you see these terribly low room rates that don't allow the companies to really pay their debt. They're living on borrowed money."
Me, I and myself, I can only add this to a development that can make any normal visitor cry:
Southpoint No 1, everything else is only 2nd class.
kenodave-Now Wynn's opinion is an educated one. Of course a lot of the geniuses here call him stupid too.
Too many posters here only want to put a negative spin on any economic report, good or bad. That makes them happy.
because their lives are miserable and everyone else's should be too.
The economy was losing 500,000 jobs per month in 2008.
U.S. GDP grew in each of the last 3 quarters, jobs are always lagging the numbers recovery in each recession. Those thinking about long-term recovery, know the enviroment will be a big winner in the conversion to biofuels & biopower -- saw a cool site; Balkingpoints ; incredible satellite view of earth
< then leave like the other "temporaries" have done over the past two years.>
Many who left did not intend to be "temporaries" as you so arrogantly put it. Many wanted to stay but you have to put food on the table and pay bills and without the opportunity to get a job after losing the ones they had - well, those who left had no choice.
<Try living in 9 months of rain, fog, cold, snow, gray skies, unbearable humidity in the summer, nothing to look at but flat feature-less land..>
Sheesh! Where did you live that it was so awful? Nebraska? Western Iowa? We had a spring and now a summer that rivals Las Vegas! Where I live - we have golf courses, swimming pools, boating, fishing, camping, hiking, rolling green hills, and WATER! And we will have water for a real long time to come!! And...you can actually DO all those outside things without dropping over because of the heat.
BTW - Las Vegas has NOTHING over Chicago!!! Or New York!
sandy_astroglide ...I have to agree with you on that one!
@cinimongrl-
Awesome quote worth repeating-
"Jealousy is the tribute mediocrity pays to genius."
Las Vegas may have more jealous people, per capita, than any other city in the U.S.
logic, I seriously doubt that there's any profit for anyone (even you) in running a pay toilet. Too many non-pay options out there to generate much business. The last pay toilet I ever saw was in Chicago, many years ago. So you are correct, I couldn't make a profit running a pay toilet. I love Las Vegas, I also love a bargain. Las Vegas is a bargain now, I recommend a Vegas visit to all who are considering a trip. Hurry, before they start charging fot the toilets!
Beware City Centre executives. Didn't the new owner of the Treasure Island say last year he didn't want the $50 per night tourist in his hotel.
What is he saying now?
Boris..... Do You have a life? Southpoint is the Lousiest Casino on or off the strip. Their slots are TIGHT,Food is lousy,and table games are lousy(6-5 Blackjack) try winning a large amount and they have someone escorting u out of the Casino. Also their entertainment is from hunger(4 Freshman, Debbie Reynolds) The only good thing is the equestrian . Stay away!!!
MGM stock down over 9 % today alone
Vegaskon, I have yet to understand the thought behind the cost structure at some of these properties. I am by no means a tightwad, and we are very financially comfortable. I refuse to pay $20 for a drink. I also read on another blog that someone payed $77 for brunch at the Bellagio. I am sorry but that is ridiculous. There are only so many tourist who will spend that kind of money just for the Vegas experience.
Contrary to an earlier post, Las Vegas is not OVER!!! We are just starting over. It will reinvent itself once again and life will continue to move on.
chazbean, thanks for responding. May I ask you to take a look at my following comments and perhaps you have some additional feedback for me?
Southpoint, from the tourist's view, is great: Super low room rates, no stupid and annoying resort fee, great pool, good buffet (good because it's inexpensive and selection is fully enough), the gym and spa is good, too, and to make money you can sit in the poker room at nights with the semi-drunk "professionals". Even me as a tourist had no problems to score nicely in that 1-2 game. Ask the Elvis interpretor "Neil". He will remember me. I will always and gladly return to the Southpoint, although I can agree with you on the fact that the videopoker machines and slots suck big league. They used to have 100 per cent machines, but no more. The few progressives they're offering areusually not big enough to justify attacking them. But the rooms are really nice and with a rental car I am only minutes away from the Strip.
Do you value the Orleans over the Southpoint? I have reservations at both properties on my next visit, and I will definetely make a check-up on what hotel is delivering better service. The Orleans poker room is clearly better than the Southpoint poker room, but I am not sure on the buffet quality, long waiting lines, or perhaps the rooms at the Orleans that may have become quite old by now.....
What hotel would you rate over the Southpoint, I mean, rate-wise and from all that it can offer? Perhaps the Eastside Cannery or any of the Station properties? I hate paying resort fee, so from that perspective there aren't many hotels left that offer rooms at 35 dollars per night weekdays..... are there?
Greetings from Switzerland
All the negative a**holes on here again talking down any good news they find. Who is this environprotector person? Hangs out all day in the comments section of The Sun and it appears that he doesn't even live here. Scary!
A meeting of 20 people is not a convention. So don't let the stretching of this definition fool anyone. There are No NEW Conventions that have been booked by the LVCVA in the past 4 years alone. We are talking about 10,000 + events, not some board meeting by a non profit group.
Steve Wynn had it right. Citycenter has driven down room rates and is not growing the marketplace. Instead they are charging lower than anticipated room rates, which is causing all other hotels to lower their rates as well.
Are the people who booked all of these conventions during the boom years even in town any more? Not likely with the lack of conventions that are being shown in the newspaper each weekend.
Alot of smoke in this article without a fire. Sorry MGM Grand, but getting a few meetings that were displaced by Nashville floods just shows how empty the town really is.
Kirkland,on that note-what would people be saying if Fontainblue,Cosmo and Echelon were open to further flood the market w/ rooms? Anyone thought of that , and what will happend when they (maybe not Echelon) open?
Logic Should Rule,
http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bs?s=MGM
Total Assets: $21,009,903,000.00
Total Liabilities: $17,229,165,000.00
Stockholder Equity: $3,780,852,000.00
Current Ratio: 1.53 when it should be 2.00 or higher.
Debt/Equity Ratio: 4.56 when it should 1.00 or lower.
Return On Equity: -537% when it should be 15% or higher.
With all the competition around the country and around the world I am fairly certain MGM's books won't improve anytime soon. MGM is a bad bet.
And who knows how much their long term debt is going to go up in the next few years in order to pay off City Center.
You want to buy their stock? Go right ahead. It's your money.
Boris... Your the ideal customer for Southpoint. Keep going and get their outstanding food and great rooms. Unless u are an architect or builder what difference is the room? You just need a bed and TV and shower.How long do u spend in the room? As an alternative I would stay at Treasure Island. They have renovated rooms, good food, poker room and full pay VP. Good Luck.
The CityCenter "campus" is unfortunately just a collection of handsome and interesting finishes more in the chocolate brown tones than anything else.
It could have been great, but it just isn't.
As far as selling these rooms at a profit? Maybe not for a while. i just received an email offering a $79 room with two free buffets at Aria.
Honestly, this is a great deal and I may just take them up on it. Good for me, but not for the overall Las Vegas economy.
@Woodman-
First, drinks at Aria are NOT $20. Pure exaggeration. Compared to Bellagio, Wynn, and Encore, you might be surprised at how reasonable the prices around Aria really are. This is nothing more than a myth being perpetuated by the hateful and ignorant.
Second- you claim not to be a tightwad, being comfortably well-financed, however you express outrage at $77 for the Bellagio's brunch. Meanwhile, across the street at Bally's, Sterling Brunch, THE most expensive of its kind in town has cost over $75 for well over a decade, and it's packed every Sunday, seating over 350 people at a time and pouring bottomless Champagne, real Champagne, for everyone over 21, just like Bellagio. So, do you still stand by your "not a tightwad" claim?
Anyone who is shocked and dismayed by drinks that begin around $10 served in a nice setting in a decent neighborhood better stay away from: L.A., San Diego, Phoenix, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Coeur d'Alene, Ketchum, Jackson, Bozeman, Salt Lake City, Park City, Denver, Fort Collins, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Tucson, Flagstaff, Aspen, Vail, Steamboat Springs, Glenwood Springs, Telluride, Taos, Boulder, Estes Park, Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, New Orleans, Chicago, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Cincinatti, Louisville, Nashville... shall I go on? Get the picture?
Fact- on Tuesday night you can get a beer at P.U.B., located in the heart of CityCenter, for .25. That's two bits to you LV natives and transplants from Bakersfield. Do you know what a bunch of cheap, white-trash hillbillies you all sound like complaining about something you've never even experienced for yourselves? Ignorance and mediocrity are the two most common denominators to everyone wishing CityCenter and its 10,000 workers the worst.
One cannot count on convention business to fill the town; it never has, it never will. A convention hotel is doing fairly well if its convention market segment makes up 40% of its occupied rooms. Trends also indicate for the most part that convention business is seasonal with peak months being February, March, April, October and part of November. The other seven months of the year the hotels rely on leisure business for occupancy.
The real problem with the city is the lack of leisure business. Operators, just to name a few, TMTC, MLT, Trans Global, ATA, Sunquest, Canadian Holidays, etc., are not bringing lift (charters) to this town with the magnitude that they used to. Charter operators simply have made the decision to promote other destinations that are more profitable, i.e. Mexico, Caribbean, or Hawaii. Traditional wholesalers do not promote the city in the manner that they used to as hotels failed to honor contracted room blocks and rates.
Part of this was due to the emergence of the internet and companies such as Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz which forever changed the way hotels do business. At the expense of other market segments, hotels became intoxicated with this business model and the process of being able to yield rates leading to a whole plethora of new problems. Almost blindly, they inadvertently allowed themselves to become dependent or taken hostage by a half dozen internet operators for in some cases 50% of the hotel's occupancy.
In good times, hotels could afford the profit margin, the cost of doing business, 17-29% discount off of the hotel's published rates. The county seemingly looked the other way during this time frame as taxable room revenue decreased as hotels increased the amount of internet operator business they were doing. In bad economic times, working with these operators is a very costly venture as giving up the 17-29% margin is increasingly more painful. County room tax has also been affected negatively as internet operators pay tax on rates 17-29% below the hotel's now discounted rates. We have all learned about the trickle- down effect less revenue has on our community with the city's high unemployment rates. People who buy cheap room rates do not buy $20 beers or $70.00 breakfasts.
I hope Jim Murren is right and the convention business is returning as those are the people that will pay $20 for a cocktail and $79-$77 for a breakfast buffet on their expense accounts. If he is wrong about this, we are all in trouble!
The Sands & MGM announcements today are positive signs.
Supply & Demand in the hotel business are set in motion some 10 years prior. Trade Shows, Exhibitions & Major Association contract their meeting space and room blocks at that time. This continues thru the years with less extensive shows, until crunch time (18 months out) when the Corporate meeting and incentive travel programs start booking, up til 30 days out. Advanced bookings is base business and dictates pricing for the short term market segments. Wholesalers[airlines, retail travel agents, internet travel sites, tour packagers] start their contracting 18-12 months out and monitor, release, add dates up to one week out. The internet sites can distribute hotel inventory one day out.
A hotel room can only be sold once, if it sits vacant one night it can never be sold again. The hotel sales managers in LV are well versed and compensated to insure maximum occupancy. All pricing based on supply/demand is directly related to the advanced bookings, which are placed in soft demand periods and premium rates for all the meeting facilities thay are provided. The hotel is a linear sale, as the bottle fills, the rates go up. The wholesalers get the best deals, they buy large inventory whether they use it or not(one year out). Some hotels are filling over 50% occupancy with the internet sites.
Prize fights, NASCAR, New Years, Cinco de Mayo, CES, Broadcasters, Auto Aftermarket etc.. are all high demand. A salesman sells soft dates to small meetings & conventions(within 18 months. A portion of inventory is set aside for Casino Comps. Last minute FIT bookers can pay $400 a night and be in a room that sold to a wholesaler for $50. The goal is 90%+ occupancy in a 3000 room hotel. An empty room doesn't pull slot machine handles, eat, drink or go to a show. The room can be a loss leader, however the spread of markets and rates insures a healthy average daily rate(ADR). 135K hotel rooms at 90% equates to a minimum of 200K+ visitors on any given day. During the economic crunch we dipped to 85% occupancy, but room revenue was severely impacted. The national hotel average occupancy is running 55-65% in comparison. Attendance for pre-booked conventions was down considerably the past two years, many jumping to the unused internet rates when demand faltered.
Selling hotel rooms is a science, but if there are less buyers, the hotel can't be faulted. The LVCVA does a remarkable job keeping this destination in the eye and mind of the buyer. And the 800 savvy, experienced hotel sales managers are doing a remarkable job in an untenable situation. This is good news today. Go up to Reno and see how bad things are there. have faith, it's coming back. The hotel/casino industry has always been a cyclical business and we've seen bankruptcies in much better times.
Jim Lauster
Las Vegas, NV
MGM pays for a link on the Sun's home page. Are we surprised?
Exceptional service at TI since it was sold out of the MGM family. I can only hope that MGM sells more casinos so they have a chance at raising their standards.
In 2007, when Vegas was turning into a high end destination while many hotels were struggling to see $200 rates on weekend dates. Losing US Air flights at the volume that has taken place, pretty well killed off the strength of US Air Vacations into the market. But, no one was watching the store on that issue. Instead, comments about one flight a day from Paris or another country take the headlines by airport officials and the LVCVA. That one overseas flight equals 2 flights cancelled by US AIRWAYS. Losing 150 flights a day by one airline, no matter at what time of the day hurts any destination.
On the convention issue:
If the comment is accurate that it takes 10 years to get a convention to come to town? Knowing this - what was happening 10 years ago to protect the city's business future?
Fact is that it is not a 10 year cycle - it is 3-5 years tops. The bounce that Las Vegas got in the convention industry after 9/11 did not happen due to work done 10 years prior. The truth that Vegas has lost annual trade shows, has seen rotating trade shows not return and they have not been replaced by other shows. Instead Mandalay takes shows away from the Venetian, leaving the middle of the Strip Convention Center vacant. Seeing the Venetian book youth cheerleading events normally held at the Thomas and Mack should tell you something about business.
The fact that it is the publicly traded companies on the Strip talking about what they are doing and that the LVCVA is not saying anything about any big victories is a serious concern.
Where is the release from the LVCVA that they have secured an annual large convention for Las Vegas in the past 3 years?
Wynn and Bellagio being sold on Priceline. Tells you how bad it has got. Like Steve Wynn said, Citycenter has driven down room rates and what is a Cosmopolitan? They too will struggle to fill their rooms with a concept that has no one talking about.
Reno was bad long before the recession. Sorry.
I just hope that there is more transparent efforts by the LVCVA and McCarran Officials that they have a plan that involves more than just producing flashy pool party ads. With so many companies still concerned with their image, the LVCVA still has not learned that Vegas needs to be selling affordability in this economy. Selling excess and high end pools does not help companies trying to monitor spending choose Vegas. Hotels need companies to hold meetings in Vegas. Running ads geared to reach the 20 something club going crowd does not communicate corporate responsibility in booking a meeting in Vegas.
Common sense and accountability are missing at a time when so many are unemployed counting on Vegas tourism to come back.