Las Vegas Hotel Room Rates Plunge to ‘Ominous’ Low Levels: Casino Expert
Posted on: November 24, 2020, 01:37h.
Last updated on: November 24, 2020, 02:30h.
Larry Henry
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Expertise:
Commercial Gaming, Gaming Business, Legislation, Politics, Regulation.
Heading into the Thanksgiving weekend, hotel room rates in Las Vegas have dropped to “ominous” low levels, according to a casino industry expert.
Some room rates at hotel-casinos in the Las Vegas Valley have dropped by 40 percent or more, according to an analysis by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Former MGM Resorts executive Alan Feldman said local and state governments rely on tax revenue from the gaming and hospitality industries. This makes these low rates “ominous,” he told the newspaper. Feldman is a distinguished fellow in responsible gaming at UNLV’s International Gaming Institute.
This is belt-tightening on top of belt-tightening,” he said. “That’s really unfortunate.”
Rooms at the Strat Hotel Casino and Skypod have plunged 54.7 percent since last week, from $64 to $29. This is the biggest percentage decline in the newspaper’s analysis of 35 resorts in the Las Vegas Valley.
The Strat, formerly called the Stratosphere, is on Las Vegas Boulevard near Sahara Avenue, just inside Las Vegas city limits. The city of Las Vegas sign welcoming visitors to downtown is at the Strat’s base. Most of the largest resorts in the state are south of the Strat on the Las Vegas Strip, outside city limits.
Casino and Convention Closures
At the onset of the coronavirus, Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) ordered casinos statewide to close on March 18. He allowed them to reopen on June 4.
Since March, airport travel and hotel occupancy rates in the Las Vegas Valley have been low. The hotel occupancy rate during weekdays is just 38.5 percent.
Part of the reason for this is the falloff in convention and large-event business. Events that attract a lot of attendees help fill up hotel rooms in the middle of the week.
This low consumer demand has prompted several hotel-casinos on the Strip to accept room reservations only on weekends. Among these are the Mandalay Bay, Park MGM, and Planet Hollywood. These limits only apply to hotel reservations. The gaming areas at these resorts are open daily.
Encore at Wynn Las Vegas, also on the Strip, has closed its gaming areas and hotel on Tuesdays and Wednesdays because of low demand. Wynn Resorts officials have said Encore will resume its normal daily schedule when consumer demand increases.
In an effort to curtail the recent surge in COVID-19 cases, Sisolak has mandated that casinos operate at 25 percent capacity, down from 50 percent. This “pause,” which began Tuesday, is scheduled to last at least for three weeks.
Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman, referring to Sisolak as a “dictator,” said the pause is “crushing to the city,” according to the newspaper. In a tweet, she said the mandate is causing “severe anxiety.”
Violence on the Strip
A big fight at Encore in September prompted Wynn Resorts to raise room rates and beef up its in-house security. Wynn Resorts owns Encore and Wynn Las Vegas on the Strip.
Some people have blamed low room rates for a surge of violence on the Strip. Shootings and fights at different sites on the Strip and nearby tourists areas have left several people hospitalized.
A Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department captain told county officials that out-of-state gangs and visitors are responsible for “a good portion” of the violence.
In response, the combined city-county police department, known locally as Metro, has stepped up its presence in tourists area. Metro calls this program Operation Persistent Pressure.
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Last Comments ( 12 )
Robert pagni, maybe the scooter "thugs" take after the criminal thug family at the top in the White House. If the Trumps can be above the law then why not every body else? And if they (Trump crime family) are not criminals why are they scheming right now to pardon themselves? Calculate the damage they've done compared to a couple of [inferior "minorities" ] on the Strip. Am I wrong?
I keep getting so called “staycation promotions” from the Venetian. I would love to stay at one of their suites. However no break for locals regarding resort fees.
I hate to say it, but the presence of the so called minority on the strip is the cause of all the Unrest.they tent those scooters that were meant for the handicap people, and fly around the streets and casinos with no regard for the people.ive been coming to Vegas since 1970, but since my last experience i am now thinking of other avenues. My wife and I stay at the Flamingo and like to walk to Harras but no more.last time there were 2 fights on the way their. Minority thugs just doing what they do in the ghetto.
Resort fees... useless ripoff. Will not pay them
What people don't know is it's actually illegal to charge a resort fee (look it up). Make sure the fee is clearly marked on your bill and you can get it back from your credit card company.
Gov should not be shutting stuff down n making Restaurants at 25 % it's a joke open everything up
I agree that the resort fees are a big reason that locals don't stay on the strip. There's something wrong when the resort fee is as much as the published rate. In Hawaii they have local rates. Perhaps by eliminating resort fees for locals that will help fill up the casinos during the slowest times.
Couldn't agree more with its the resort fees how many people use the amenities that are supposed to be in that fee ? Take the fees away locals would stay just for a get away. Take a hint casinos it's locals that support you as much as tourists
Theres no doubt that COVID has had an effect on room rates, as well as violence (which probably goes back to covid). But having fewer rooms available offsets that to a certain extent. The big factor at play is simply the date. The period in between Thanksgiving and Christmas is usually the slowest 30 days of the year for strip travel. Every hotel has weekend and weekday bottom rates that are as low as their rates drop. I would expwct them all to benclose to those rates between thanksgiving and christmas
The resort fees are ridiculous, almost 50.00 per night for strip casinos.People are sick of being ripped off.I love vegas but the casinos need to attract people not push them to other resorts.
It's not the room rates that keep people away...its the effing "RESORT FEE's" that double your rates!!! Do you really think we don't see what you're doing????
Please place LVMPD Snipers with SILENCER laden .338 Lapua's on the bldg top corners of Tropicana, Harmon, Flamingo, Spring Nth and Sahara intersections with South Las Vegas BLVD. It will give the spotter and sniper an 1800-yard range and NOT DISTURB the other tourists. As soon as one of these criminals shows his intentions, our snipers can act and then have some prison trustees with a bag and a mop to clean up the trash committing these random acts of violence on our streets. You need to send a "message" to those who believe Las Vegas is a city to "mess with." If you kill a few of this miscreants and send their bodies home in a bag, the word will get out. Remember Tombstone.