While massive mega-resorts and expansions are no longer on the drawing board, Nevada’s gaming industry continues to push the fun, excitement and adventure envelope, opening up new group gathering options.
Not one but two London Eye-Millennium Wheel-type attractions are planned for the Las Vegas Strip, while last year saw the debut of the ultimate free-fall experience from the 108th floor of the Stratosphere Tower, 855 feet above the Strip. And Reno recently unveiled a downtown entertainment complex that includes the world’s tallest climbing wall—built on the exterior of a former casino hotel.
Las Vegas
According to Amy Riley, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) director of convention sales, business is once again on the upswing.
“We have enjoyed 16 consecutive months of visitation increase and are well ahead of our projections,” she says. “Las Vegas continues to show improvement both in overall visitation and the meetings sector. Large trade shows have been improving since early 2010 and the corporate and incentive sector are beginning to show improvement as well, and future bookings are showing promise.”
Between 2007 and 2009, Vegas’ annual visitor count plummeted from 39.2 million to 36.4 million, according to LVCVA. Last year, it increased 2.7 percent, and for the first six months of this year, 5.1 percent.
Meetings and conventions attendance for the first half of this year increased 7.2 percent to 2.75 million after still being down 0.4 percent last year. The number of meetings held is continuing a slight decline, but Las Vegas easily retains its position as the top U.S. trade show destination, according to Trade Show News Network, having hosted 60 of North America’s 250 largest shows in 2010.
For the first six months of this year, the citywide average daily room rate (ADR) increased 10.1 percent from $95.83 to $105.53, and average occupancy increased 4.5 percent to 84.9 percent, according to LVCVA. Last year ADR was up 2 percent over 2009 but occupancy was down 1.1 percent. The Strip’s gaming revenue for the six months was up 8.5 percent.
Two upcoming attractions have been compared to the 443-foot London Eye on the banks of the Thames, Europe’s tallest Ferris wheel.
Groundbreaking ceremonies were held in May for Skyvue, a 500-foot Ferris wheel on a site across from Mandalay Bay at the Strip’s south end. Scheduled for a 2013 completion, the project includes 200,000 square feet of restaurants, retail and entertainment. Individuals and groups will be able to ride in 40 gondolas, each holding up to 25 passengers.
In August, Caesars Entertainment announced The Linq, a $500-million-plus project, also with 200,000 square feet of retail, dining and entertainment. It will also include the Las Vegas High Roller, a giant observation wheel with 28 cabins, each accommodating up to 40 people.
Facing Caesars Palace, and linked to Harrahs Las Vegas and the Flamingo Las Vegas, the mid-Strip project will also transform parts of the Imperial Palace. Groundbreaking is expected before year’s end for a 2013 debut.
The Flamingo is set to open the first-ever Margaritaville Casino, adjacent to Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville restaurant, this fall. The $10 million, 15,000-square-foot mini-casino will house 22 gaming tables, 220 slots and a 5 O’Clock Somewhere Bar.
At the Strip’s south end, the Tropicana unveiled the world’s largest Nikki Beach nightclub over Memorial Day weekend. In February it opened the Las Vegas Mob Experience, an attraction featuring more than 1,000 artifacts once belonging to crime figures. Coming this fall is a 9,500-square-foot spa, completing a $180 million facelift that included the renovation of all 1,375 rooms and the 60,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space.
Nikki Beach was the last of a collection of beach clubs to open. Unveiled last year were Caesars Palace’ Garden of the Gods, an expanded pool complex that includes the new Venus Pool Club; at Encore, the 60,000-square-foot Encore Beach Club and 5,000-square-foot Surrender Nightclub; and at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, the HRH Beach Club and Skybar, doubling the pool area and completing a 3-year, $750 million expansion.
With Vegas’ number of guest rooms doubling to almost 150,000 following two decades of hotel growth, no major resorts are planned, let alone under construction. The last to debut were the 2,995-room Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas in late 2010, and MGM Resorts International’s CityCenter with almost 6,000 new hotel rooms in late 2009.
However, resorts continue to undergo major makeovers. MGM Resorts’ Bellagio began a $70 million room remodel in June. All 2,568 main-tower rooms are scheduled to be completed by mid-December.
The 2,427-room Stratosphere Casino, Hotel & Tower at the Strip’s northern end announced earlier this year that major renovations in a $26.5 million program, including the remodeling of 909 guest rooms and a new lobby and entrance, were complete.
Also at the Strip’s northern end, the 1,720-room Sahara Hotel-Casino, which opened in 1952, closed May 16, its owners citing that it was no longer economically viable. There has been no word on its future.
Moving north to downtown, the 40-year-old, 1,037-room Plaza Hotel & Casino at Main and Fremont streets reopened Sept. 1 following a one-year, $35 million renovation. The hotel has renovated rooms, a remodeled casino, and new restaurants and entertainment options, including Oscar’s, a steakhouse named for former Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman.
The city plans to open two new downtown attractions in early 2012: the Smith Center for the Performing Arts, which will include a 2,050-seat main performance hall, two theaters and a children’s museum; and the Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement in the former federal courthouse building.
Slated for completion in December, work resumed early this year on Caesars Palace’s new 662-room Octavius Tower, which was halted in 2009. In partnership with Nobu Hospitality, the resort announced the 180-room Nobu hotel, which is scheduled to open next summer as part of a multimillion-dollar renovation of the resort’s Centurion Tower. And the resort’s 110,000-square-foot conference space expansion, opened in summer 2009, was awarded LEED Silver certification.
Bally’s Las Vegas completed a renovation of most of its 175,000 square feet of meeting space. The work included new carpeting, fixtures and wall coverings for its grand ballroom and event center.
Caesars Entertainment recently launched Total Rewards Meetings & Events (www.totalrewards.com/meetings) for all its North America properties. Under the program, credits earned can be redeemed for goods and services.
According to Michael Massari, senior vice president of Caesars Entertainment’s meetings and events division, Caesars is the first company to offer a fully integrated gaming and meeting rewards program.
“It has been remarkably well received,” he says. “Customers love it. We have already seen them consolidate their spending with us. We only wish we had done it five years ago.”
Caesars promotes eight Las Vegas properties with over 23,000 rooms and a million square feet of meeting space under the name Las Vegas Meetings by Caesars.
Since summer 2010 when it became the first major Strip casino operator to eliminate resort fees, Caesars has led a “No Resort Fees” campaign (www.caesars.com/vegasnoresortfees). In summer, showgirls from Donn Arden’s Jubilee! at Bally’s joined in a rally against the fees, shutting down Strip traffic.
“Guests attending a meeting or event at a Caesars Entertainment property should get to choose how they want to spend their money. We are committed to transparency with our meeting and event transactions,” Massari says.
Henderson
Henderson, Nevada’s second-largest city, sprawls southeast of the Strip with 3,000 hotel rooms and more than 200,000 square feet of meeting space.
Facilities include downtown’s 13,000-square-foot Henderson Convention Center and the adjacent Henderson Events Plaza with 60,000 square feet of outdoor function space, and such casino properties as the Green Valley Ranch Resort and the M Resort, Spa and Casino.
The area also includes Lake Las Vegas, located 17 miles from the Strip, home to the 349-room Ravella at Lake Las Vegas, formerly The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas. The financially troubled resort closed last year and reopened last February under new ownership and a new operator, Dolce Hotels & Resorts. It has 55,000 square feet of meeting and event space, a redesigned lobby and new dining and spa concepts, and the AAA Four Diamond Award for 2012.
Lake Las Vegas also includes the 493-room Loews Lake Las Vegas, with 45,000 square feet of meeting space, and Aston MonteLago Village Resort, with 200 resort condo units and 13,000 square feet of meeting space. Honolulu-based Aston Hotels & Resorts was brought in to operate MonteLago Village by new owners last year. In May, Casino MonteLago reopened.
According to Ed Kirby, national sales manager for Henderson’s Cultural Arts & Tourism Department, Lake Las Vegas is making significant strides toward its revitalization as a premier resort destination.
“These new additions have really turned things around for Lake Las Vegas,” he says. “All of the hospitality partners are working together to create attractive, affordable promotions and events to entice people to visit.”
Penn National Gaming recently acquired M Resort, which opened in March 2009 eight miles south of the Strip. Aimed at improving service for meetings, the resort moved its audiovisual operations in-house. It has a 1,900-slot casino, over 60,000 square feet of meeting space, nine restaurants, a spa and a 100,000-square-foot pool and entertainment plaza.
Laughlin/Mesquite/Primm
Clark County includes the gaming destinations of Laughlin, Mesquite and Primm, all marketed by LVCVA.
Located 90 miles south of Las Vegas, Laughlin offers more than 120,000 square feet of meeting space at nine casino resorts along the Colorado River. It has more than 10,000 guest rooms and is two miles upriver from Lake Mohave, part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.
Outdoor group activities include kayaking, canoeing and jet boat trips to Lake Havasu, as well as canyon hiking and bird watching.
Laughlin’s latest meetings expansion is at the 1,350-room Edgewater Hotel & Casino. In April it unveiled the E Center, a 27,000-square-foot multipurpose room, and it is adding breakout rooms. The property already had 13,900 square feet of meeting space.
Don Laughlin’s 1,004-room Riverside Resort & Casino, which was the town’s first casino, has 27,400 square feet of meeting space. Last year, it unveiled a new amphitheater with a capacity for 2,800 people.
Among other meetings-ready properties are the 1,907-room Aquarius Casino Resort, the 1,500-room Harrah’s Laughlin Casino and Hotel, the 1,000-room River Palms Resort Casino and the 1,500-room Tropicana.
For the first six months of this year, Laughlin suffered a 2.8 percent drop in total visitors compared to the same period last year, according to the LVCVA. Its ADR stood at $40.37. Mesquite, 80 miles northeast of Vegas, had a 1.9 percent visitor increase for the six months and an ADR of $53.89.
Close to the Arizona and Utah borders and such canyon attractions as Valley of Fire State Park and Zion National Park, Mesquite has 1,762 hotel rooms and seven world-class golf courses.
Meetings-friendly casino hotels include the 450-room Casablanca Hotel & Casino, the 720-room Virgin River Hotel & Casino and the 215-room Eureka Casino Hotel.
Located 30 minutes south of Vegas on the California border, Primm has three casino resorts with a total of 2,600 rooms: Buffalo Bill’s, Whiskey Pete’s and Primm Valley.
Known as the Primm Valley Casino Resorts and under one management company, they feature a 21,000-square-foot conference center, a 6,000-seat arena, a 12,000-square-foot spa and a total of 3,000 slots. The area also has a designer outlet mall and an amusement park, and two Tom Fazio-designed golf courses.
Jean, 13 miles north of Primm, offers MGM Resorts International’s Gold Strike Casino. It recently closed a 500-room tower at the property while retaining another tower with 300 rooms.
Reno/Tahoe
Reno boasts a walkable downtown with 7,000 hotel rooms and six casinos, most with hotels and meeting space, plus the Reno Events Center and adjacent 28,000-square-foot Reno Ballroom.
Another gathering hub is the Reno-Sparks Convention Center with more than 500,000 square feet of available space. A few miles from downtown, the area has more than 2,600 hotel rooms in two properties that have undergone major renovations and expansions: Atlantis Casino Resort Spa and Peppermill Resort Spa Casino.
The Reno Sparks Convention & Visitors Authority (RSCVA) recently launched Come See. Fly Free, a campaign in which meeting planners can visit the destination free of charge. In another new program, planners can receive up to a $5,000 account credit in booking one of a dozen participating Reno/Tahoe hotels for dates in 2012.
According to John Leinen, RSCVA vice president of convention and tourism sales, the response to Come See. Fly Free has been very positive.
“We’ve received dozens of viable leads from new accounts, and have booked a solid number of accounts through the program,” he says.
Two major meetings industry companies will hold their annual conventions at the destination next year: HelmsBriscoe in January and Experient in March.
“The first quarter of 2012 presents a very exciting opportunity to showcase the quality and value that Reno/Tahoe has to offer,” Leinen says. “More than $1 billion has been invested in the destination over the past few years, and the investment continues.
“Meetings business is progressively improving,” he continues. “As business travel demand increases, we are seeing planners looking, and booking, further out to ensure availability for their meetings. Trade show booth sales and annual meeting attendance is up slightly, which is a promising reversal of previous years.”
A new downtown attraction is set to open this month. Billed as a new “urban adventure destination,’ CommRow is a conversion of the former 351-room Fitzgeralds Hotel and Casino.
Named for the adjoining street, Commercial Row, it features the world’s tallest climbing wall at 164 feet on the 16-story exterior facade of the former casino hotel. Overlooking the historic arc sign, the “Biggest Little City in the World,” CommRow offers rock climbing, restaurants, event space and two performance venues. Hotel rooms are expected to begin reopening in spring 2012.
Downtown’s 214-room Siena Hotel, Spa and Casino, which has 11,000 square feet of meeting space, reopened in April following renovations. It sold at auction after closing down last October.
Lake Tahoe’s North Shore, a 45-minute drive from Reno Tahoe International Airport, has more than 7,000 guest rooms, and meeting space at more than 30 sites.
Notable is the 422-room Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa & Casino in Incline Village with 50,000 square feet of function space. It will undergo an $20.5 million renovation next year.
The historic 199-room Cal Neva Resort, Spa and Casino in Crystal Bay has 16,000 square feet of indoor/outdoor meeting space and was once owned by Frank Sinatra.
Work is slated to begin next spring on the Boulder Bay project, approved by authorities in April. Four years in the planning, it will replace the 113-room Tahoe Biltmore Lodge & Casino, which can accommodate groups up to 450. It will be built in phases over three years and will include a 275-room hotel with a 10,000 square-foot casino, a health spa, retail and a four-acre community park.
“We’re excited. It will add incredible improvements to the Crystal Bay Corridor,” says Jason Neary, sales director at the North Lake Tahoe VCB. “Meetings business is coming back. Leisure business has been strong and in the last ski season we had record numbers,”
The region’s newest resort, the non-gaming 170-room Ritz-Carlton Highlands with 15,000 square feet of indoor meeting space, debuted in December 2009 at Northstar-at-Tahoe ski resort, and a year later was LEED certified.
Tahoe’s South Shore has more than 4,000 hotel rooms. Its five casino hotels in Stateline, Nev., are MontBleu Resort, Casino, and Spa; Harveys Resort & Casino; Harrah’s Lake Tahoe; Horizon Casino Resort; and Lakeside Inn & Casino. Together they provide about 70,000 square feet of meeting space.
About 30 miles from both Reno and Lake Tahoe, Carson City, Nevada’s capital, has such meetings-friendly casinos as the Carson Nugget Casino, the Gold Dust West Casino Hotel and the Casino Fandango.
Tony Bartlett has written for travel industry publications for over 20 years.
