Two Way Hard Three | Las Vegas Casino & Design Blog

I've been collecting anonymous stats of Vegas Mate usage since October. For those familiar, they work sort of like Web stats - basically treating screens in the app as 'pages'. I added the analytics to make better informed decisions when enhancing the product but one interesting side effect is seeing what people are looking at.

What's the most popular hotel in Vegas Mate? I thought it might be fun to look at the data...

Over the past thirty days, Vegas Mate usage has broken down as follows:

1. Aria (6.59%)
2. Cosmopolitan (6.28%)
3. Bellagio (5.83%)
4. Caesars Palace (4.77%)
5. The Venetian (4.05%)
6. MGM Grand (3.97%)
7. Wynn Las Vegas (3.67%)
8. Planet Hollywood (3.19%)
9. The Mirage (3.17%)
10. Mandalay Bay (2.93%)

The top ten represent about 45% of the total hotels viewed - there's still quite a bit of activity all the way along the curve. I was interested to see Aria sticking in that top spot, despite a strong surge from Cosmo.

Beyond the hotel stuff, Vegas Tripping is the most popular news provider, followed by Two Way and then Tasting Las Vegas.

Fun stuff.

I may do some of these posts on a semi-regular basis, we'll see.

Las Vegas Sands made news when they announced that they had basically cut off comps for a large segment of their customers.

In this edition of Simpson on Vegas, Jeff takes a look at that new policy and adds his two cents.

Continue after the break...

Today, we're introducing something new: VegasDelivered.com, a site for one of a kind Las Vegas media content.

First off, who's we? VegasDelivered.com is brought to you by Steve Friess and me. So, what the hell is it?

As part of Steve's job as a journalist, he frequently ends up with great content that can't be used in a story - maybe it's too long or doesn't fit the narrative arc. Sometimes these gems end up on The Strip Podcast but some of it never sees the light of day. VegasDelivered.com is a way for us to share more of this content with you.

The first thing you'll notice is that it's not free. We want to be able to produce more of this content in the future and to help facilitate that, we're charging a nominal fee. In addition to the Web site, the content will also be available for sale inside of Vegas Mate, through a future update. The site is launching with a single item but eventually, this will expand to include additional videos, audio and more. Purchase is handled via PayPal.

We premiere with a Wynn Las Vegas tour featuring both the updated guest rooms and the Lakeside Grill, given by interior designer Roger Thomas and hosted by Steve. To get a sense of what you'd be paying for, there are two trailers available for viewing on the site.

Right now, this is a bit of an experiment and we want your feedback. Too long? Too short? Too expensive? Too boring? We want to know. There's an email link right there on the page or feel free to leave a comment here. There's also a support email address for any technical problems you might have.

As for the site itself, it's quite basic and intended just as a placeholder (don't judge!) A full site will come, in time.

Enjoy!

I see that my pal Chuck at VegasTripping has soft-launched a new feature called Itinerary. Basically, it's a tool to help in your trip planning, allowing you to keep better track of all the great Vegas info you get from VT and all over the Web.

What does this have to do with Vegas Mate?

Well, back in like August or so, we were talking about ways we could do some work together. Well, allowing Vegas Mate 3.0's new trip feature to sync with the MyVegas community seemed like a good bet so that's what we'll be doing.

We're still working out the tech details but you should expect it to work kinda like you'd imagine. More info in the coming weeks.

http://www.vegastripping.com/news/news.php?news_id=3880

I'm excited for Chuck to see this launch - I know it's something he's been thinking about for quite awhile.

This time on the show:

Mr. DeRuyter Butler, Executive Vice President of Architecture @ Wynn Design & Development is our special guest.

We discuss Cotai, Fontainebleau, his role at Wynn D&D as well as CityCenter and challenges of working in China. Plus, we find out that Sheldon has been giving us all the middle finger since 1999.

This is a 'don't miss' interview.

If you love casino design, construction and all the thinking behind it, check it out.

Check out the show: http://www.vegasgangpodcast.com

Feel free to leave your comments below. If it's a question that you want asked on the show, please make that clear in your post. You can also send those to editor@ratevegas.com.

This time on the show:

* Hard Rock Ups and Downs
* Kirk Selling MGM?
* Social Media Redux

** Sure Bets **

* Buckeyes Basketball
* VegasTripping.com
* The Daily
* Bazaar @ SLS

Check out the show: http://www.vegasgangpodcast.com

Feel free to leave your comments below. If it's a question that you want asked on the show, please make that clear in your post. You can also send those to editor@ratevegas.com.

Jeff's latest column delves into the Hard Rock settlement with the NGC.

Interestingly, in the past few days the Hard Rock has been in the news as it appears it is heading into foreclosure. We'll discuss that story and others on the Vegas Gang this week.

Keep reading after the jump... and yes, I skipped thirteen on purpose.