LETTER: The days of bargain Vegas are over
The days of traveling to Las Vegas for four nights, getting a $50 room with daily maid service and free parking, eating at a bargain buffet, seeing a dinner show, playing slots for hours and telling friends you had a free vacation are over — and they are not coming back.
The media bashing of declining Vegas tourism numbers is perhaps misguided. Elimination of the “value” traveler to Southern Nevada is the next planned step in the evolution of the Las Vegas experience.
Las Vegas has undergone numerous destination product and image changes. Now, casino owners and tourism officials have decided that professional sports and high-end entertainment attracting only wealthy travelers is the way to go. They probably figure that fewer visitors with higher spending will lead to bigger profits, less infrastructure demand and relief for the event-based choking traffic we now experience.
After the major casinos sold their properties to real estate investment trusts, their increasing lease-back payments have forced them to increase prices and reduce services and expenses in order to maintain profit margins. The traditional and efficient Sunday-Thursday, Thursday-Sunday tourist and convention arrival/departure patterns have given way to events on any day leading to unsellable rooms and occupancy gaps. These gaps will get only worse as the MLB starts play and new hotel rooms come on line.
Las Vegas tourism has always grown with the past marketing changes. Will it do so again?
