Sisters Tasha Hogan, left, and Shannon Wiatrzyk of Alberta, Canada party with Daryl Dias of London at the Wet Republic pool at the MGM Grand Friday, October 8, 2010.
Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.
As cold weather begins its descent on the Las Vegas Valley, Strip pool parties are packing away the bikinis, bottle service and occasional bad behavior until next spring.
This summer marked a boom on the pool party scene, with several Strip resorts cashing in on the trend and spending millions to ensure their daytime parties rival the city’s popular and profitable nightclubs.
Seven new or expanded pool complexes opened on the Strip this season, including an expanded complex at Caesars Palace, a revamped one at Tropicana, CityCenter’s resort pools and the Liquid pool club.
Notorious pool party Rehab went into its seventh season at the Hard Rock Hotel. Rehab helped boost the demand for pools at Hard Rock so much that the resort added a 2.5-acre complex with a sand-bottom pool, and another pool and its bar two stories above the main level.
Rehab celebrated its season finale Oct. 10, but the Hard Rock Beach Club will remain open year round, as weather permits.
Hard Rock said that the 2010 season was the most profitable Rehab season to date, with the Sunday before Memorial Day as highest grossing day to date. The overall revenue for 2010 is up nearly 10 percent over prior years and this season was extended two weeks beyond any other season (revenue is up 7 percent over prior years, not including the two additional weeks).
At the north end of the Strip, Steve Wynn spent $68 million to turn the front entrance of Encore into a party pool complex featuring 26 cabanas; eight two-story, 350-square-foot bungalows; a restaurant; and poolside blackjack and craps.
Jonathan Shecter, executive director of marketing for Las Vegas Nightlife Group, which runs Encore Beach Club and Surrender nightclub next door, said the outdoor venue performed above expectations, with more than 3,000 people daily on busy weekends such as Labor Day and 2,000 per day on an average weekend.
“From Memorial Day on, we were really pleasantly overwhelmed with the amount of people, and the reception we had locally and nationwide. We sort of exceeded our expectations of making an impact for the first summer,” Shecter said.
Shecter said the effect was largely because of their high-profile DJ lineup, which included Kaskade, whose following is mostly women — a main ingredient in the Strip pool party’s success.
“We were really happy to see that whenever Kaskade performed, there would be an overwhelming amount of women lined up along the DJ booth in bikinis, hanging on his every record,” Shecter said of the resident DJ.
In addition to the music, the overall opulence and Strip frontage of Encore Beach Club contributed to its success with guests, Shecter said. But despite spending $68 million to build the indoor-outdoor space, Shecter said they will spend more on a few changes to the venue.
Encore Beach Club closed its daytime pool party Oct. 2, but the area will stay open for Surrender guests to enjoy the outdoor venue all year.
Although Encore Beach Club’s focus was bringing big-name DJs to its venues, WET Republic, one the Strip’s largest pool party venues, continued its strategy of celebrity appearances to entertain their guests.
“This is our third year and we saw some monumental growth. Even with the added competition in the market, I think that really helped us because people see during the summer months that these pool parties can really rival the nightclub scene,” said Anthony Olheiser, director of night life at MGM Grand.
Not only are pool parties rivaling nightclubs, but they are outperforming them. Olheiser said WET Republic is MGM Grand’s highest performing club venue during the warmer months.
The pool party’s biggest weekend was Memorial Day weekend, with an estimated 10,000 partygoers over the four days. The pool party has about 5,000 on an average weekend, Olheiser said.
WET Republic wrapped up its event schedule the first weekend in October, but the pool will remain open Friday through Sunday until Oct. 31.
Pool parties including the Pond at Green Valley Ranch Resort, Ditch Fridays at the Palms and Daydream at M Resort have closed their doors for the season. Others such as the Liquid at Aria, Bare at the Mirage and Venus at Caesars Palace are also winding down.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy