Vegas trip report

[c1ue]

$29.20 airplane ticket, free hotel, free food - what's not to like?

Some observations:

1) while rooms at Rio/Caesar's wound up being full, tables and slot machines were not heavily occupied in any of the following: Mandalay Bay, Venetian, Rio, Caesar's Palace, Bill's, Bally's, Paris.

2) In Mandalay, former floor high roller's area now half given over to $25 Pai Gow Poker. Dealer told me that even the area as is would be folded into the adjacent Crystal room in a month.

3) Pai Gow Poker in Caesar's was down to $25/hand - I've not seen under $50 in at least 8 years. Blackjack tables on Friday night/Saturday were $10/$15 minimum - something I've not seen since before Y2K

4) Cab driver on way in from airport told me his $300K house he bought in 2005 was now worth $130K. No wait for cabs at airport at midnight - in contrast previous 5 years had 20 minute + waits at midnight.

5) Pit boss in Mandalay said she lost $90K in the markets and was hoping for a rebound.

6) Sunday evening at the Carnival buffet in the Rio - less than 50% of tables occupied. Extremely light attendance even for a Sunday.

7) At registration for the free LCD TV/DVD combo - average age of those also going for the loot was 65+.

8) Dinner at Tao on Saturday had no problem expanding original reservation of 3 to 5. Tao was fairly full at 6:30pm but was half empty by conclusion of dinner at 9 pm.

9) Both Mix and Pure nightclubs had 25% or more tables empty

10) Forum shops in Caesar's palace - many had 25%, 50%, or even 75% off signs in windows. Never seen that before.

11) Dealers at several casinos were saying that the swing shifters were universally getting shafted with 3 hours shifts - i.e. getting sent home early due to lack of customers.

Camera on fritz so no photos...

[metalman]

thanks for the report. not as bad as i'd imagined. but at $29 for plane tickets + room + food, you'd think there'd be more folks there.

work still in progress on that big complex ej wrote about and tooks pics of?

[Sharky]

How long until Vegas starts to implode? There's got to be a lot of debt behind all of the new monster casinos.

[bill]

There's got to be a lot of debt behind all of the new monster casinos.

TONS!
http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&ei=JNiUSfngDYKEsAOil8WqBw&resnum=0&q=casino+debt&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=KdiUSevbNJqWsAOSg4mcBw&sa=X&oi=news_result&resnum=4&ct=title

[swgprop]

Hmm. My MGM puts are up 42% in 10 days. Time to double down? :D

[D-Mack]

thanks for the report. not as bad as i'd imagined. but at $29 for plane tickets + room + food, you'd think there'd be more folks there.

work still in progress on that big complex ej wrote about and tooks pics of?

Isn't the $29 plane ticket normal ?

I've heard of that in 2003, I think it was from LA.

[c1ue]

I asked around, but no one really knew. But I'm a Harrah's guy so don't connect into the MGM group well.

The last news still stands:

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/jan/08/how-did-tower-flaws-persist/

On Wednesday morning, MGM Mirage announced it was reconfiguring the project as a 28-floor hotel rather than a 49-story building topped with condominiums, and delaying its opening to 2010. The Harmon will no longer include the planned 200 residential units that were to occupy the top floors of the building.

Isn't the $29 plane ticket normal ?

I've heard of that in 2003, I think it was from LA.

From LA maybe and one way maybe; I came from a bit farther away.

Secondly I posted the fare breakdown on another post (Wells Fargo cancelling its Vegas party): $7 of that fare went to United, the rest was taxes and DHS stuff. I doubt it is very sustainable.

[Digidiver]

The project is "City Center" and MGMMirage has been hiring 12,000 people for it over the past few months and expected to open on schedule this December "No matter what" according to the CEO Jim Murren.

[solotar]

How did you get that great deal?

[Serge_Tomiko]

I was in Vegas last week and it seemed to me that outside of the hotel rates, the people running the town are living in la la land.

I hate staying in the casino hotels, and typically like Trump properties... So I stayed at the new and bankrupt Trump International. Got the room for $120 a night. Floor to ceiling windows on the 50th floor. It was quite comfortable and well worth the price.

Everything else however was nuts. Taxis are double New York City, easily... restaurants, many of them outposts of famous NYC restaurants were more expensive in Vegas with inferior service and quality. The Fashion Mall was much more expensive than even shops in the Fifth/Madison section of Manhattan. I had to buy some new pants, so I went to the BR there. Twice the price in some cases as the one in Rock Center.

That said, the place was mostly dead. You'd think they would try to drop their prices and survive on volume, but they just don't get it. No one is going to gamble when they are being nickle and dimed to death.

I don't gamble, so I was happy to be back in NYC where I can enjoy the same quality of entertainment with better service at lower prices. Vegas is going down!

[zoog]

The project is "City Center" and MGMMirage has been hiring 12,000 people for it over the past few months and expected to open on schedule this December "No matter what" according to the CEO Jim Murren.

How long until Vegas starts to implode? There's got to be a lot of debt behind all of the new monster casinos.

MGM Mirage casino co. says it may default on debt

By OSKAR GARCIA

LAS VEGAS
Casino operator MGM Mirage says it believes it will break loan convenants this year unless the economy turns around and more people gamble.

[rjwjr]

Just returned from Vegas. Have been many times, but never been for March Madness before and thought it would be a fun time to go.

Unlike previous reports in this thread, the place was PACKED! Some hotels were sold out, cab line at 11:30pm Wednesday night was 200+ people long, and sports books were shoulder to shoulder during telecasts. Surprisingly, most restaurants were sparsely populated with few waits and a few empty tables. Also, the table games maintained low-ish limits. You could still find $10 blackjack, even on Friday and Saturday nights and even at the better casinos.

Looks like people will still make the trek for the major sporting events, but there didn't seem to be quite as much money being spent. No drop-off in beer sales though, at least not with the college basketball crowd.

[zoog]

Just returned from Vegas. Have been many times, but never been for March Madness before and thought it would be a fun time to go.

Unlike previous reports in this thread, the place was PACKED! Some hotels were sold out, cab line at 11:30pm Wednesday night was 200+ people long, and sports books were shoulder to shoulder during telecasts. Surprisingly, most restaurants were sparsely populated with few waits and a few empty tables. Also, the table games maintained low-ish limits. You could still find $10 blackjack, even on Friday and Saturday nights and even at the better casinos.

Looks like people will still make the trek for the major sporting events, but there didn't seem to be quite as much money being spent. No drop-off in beer sales though, at least not with the college basketball crowd.

I always shake my head when I see people still living it up in some fashion. Good for them, I guess. Thanks for the report.

Some updated news today on the MGM City Center project:

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Las Vegas' CityCenter, an $8.6 billion venture by gambling giant MGM Mirage and Dubai World, narrowly averted falling into bankruptcy when MGM on Friday secured waivers from its lenders and stitched together $200 million in funding for the project.

The funding includes $100 million that should have been financed by Dubai World, MGM said. The financing means the construction on the complex could continue while MGM seeks additional funding, the company said. MGM also said it intends to work with Dubai World, its lenders and others to find a long-term solution to fund the completion of CityCenter.