Two Way Hard Three | Las Vegas Casino & Design Blog

Posted by detroit1051

Revenues have been declining downtown as the article reports, but downtown has be on the verge of a renaissance. Strip operators can't continue to pay $20-40 Million per acre for land, build multi-Billion dollar properties and still be able to sell rooms at affordable prices. The mid-market tourists will start moving downtown. Boyd and Landry's will be the big winners, imo. Most tourists are NOT going to pay $250-400 a night in Vegas. It's too bad downtown got saddled with the Fremont Street Experience and "Neonflopolis."

Posted by mike_ch

I've always believed that as more and more high-end properties on the Strip are built, the prices of the older, pre-Bellagio hotels will come down, Caesars excepted.

MGM is really trying hard to keep everyone of their numerous properties as upscale as they can get it, though. My logic would dictate that there's no reason a hotel as old as The Mirage should be charging the rates it is, but there you are.

One would think, though, that places like NYNY and the basic eleventy frillion standard rooms at MGM would see a price cut.

Posted by detroit1051

"Downtown has lost some of its core customers in recent years, according to Matthew Jacob, a director with Majestic Research. "Downtown has, in the past, been very successful in drawing a certain type of player," he explained. "The Hawaiian visitor has been a big draw. As the Strip properties continue to become more successful, they go after that type of market."
http://www.lvbusinesspress.com/articles/2007/03/26/news/iq_13238186.txt

Posted by mike_ch

I'm going to disagree with a fair amount of that article. I've been downtown on Friday nights and the Fremont and Nugget become so crowded that it's difficult to move. Places like the Plaza aren't elbow-to-elbow busy, but definitely hotter than normal. The only one that seems to have trouble being as busy as it should be is Binion's.

I'm not sure what the occupancy rates are downtown, but they seem pretty good (and if they aren't, they simply throw some weekend VP tournament offers like what I got in December.) I spend the majority of my time downtown at California+MSS followed by Nugget followed by Fremont, because these are the best-managed properties and it shows just by visiting them. I was glad to read that Landry's was looking to buy more resorts downtown (although it seems they didn't choose to) because they've got a pretty good thing going at the Nugget.

On the other hand, you have plenty of land held by owners who don't really know what they want to do with them and are just letting them wade in mediocrity. Tamares, anyone? In my dream world, Boyd would buy the LV Club, give it major renovations into something less stale and creepy, and connect it with California to have a Club/Cal/MSS combo. Those casinos would do even better if people could get to them from the canopy without having to meander into the back of Club and cross a street.

I don't think the Lady Luck is that big of a contributor to the bottom line, but then again I never went in there when it was open. It's quite a ways back there, though.