Money Opens Doors

When Terry Hernandez started a local, gay-oriented social group, there were some casinos he couldn't even pay to host its weekly cocktail party.

Now, almost four years later, they're paying him.

"It really was a struggle at first," Hernandez says on the eve of Sin City Q Social's event at the Country Club at Wynn. The group meets every Tuesday night at a different lounge or bar. "It all boils down to money. They can take you seriously when you have money and are willing to spend it."

Hernandez's experience illustrates just how far the Las Vegas resort industry has come in targeting the gay and lesbian market. A few years ago, it was enough for a casino to say it was gay-friendly. Now, they have to back that up with events and services, say representatives of local gay groups and casinos.

According to a travel survey conducted for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Las Vegas is the gay and lesbian traveler's No. 2 destination, second only to New York and ahead of gay-friendly San Francisco. That's not exactly news; the survey was done in 2005 and is the latest available.

Local resorts have been advertising in gay magazines for several years. Luxor and Paris have Web sites and landing pages targeting the gay and lesbian traveler, while Krave, an alternative nightclub, has raised the Strip profile of gays and lesbians since it opened in 2004.

But recently, several resorts have taken their efforts further to attract this profitable demographic, including the local market as well as travelers. And some are citing the economy as a motivator.

"As a company, Wynn Resorts has always tried to market to the affluent traveler," says company President Andrew Pascal.

About nine months ago, the state of the economy led the company to further examine submarkets, such as the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender market, to identify ways to attract them. Gays and lesbians have long been staying at Wynn and Encore, Pascal says, but "we realized there's a lot more we can be doing to appeal to that market."

Six months ago, the company added a concierge to assist gay and lesbian guests, a service that Wynn Resorts provides to other niche markets. A niche marketing manager also was hired for this demographic.

Wynn and Encore hosted all four of Sin City Q Social's August events, paying the group a small fee.

The idea, according to Earl Shelton, publisher of the valley's gay magazine, QVegas, is for the venue to make back that fee, and more, through bar sales. The group brings in hundreds of customers on a traditionally slow business night, Tuesdays.

It works, Hernandez says. At a two-hour event at the Palms' Playboy Club, the bar made more than $12,000, he says. More than 600 members attended that night.

After Sin City Q Social had an event at the Foundation Room at Mandalay Bay, officials were so pleased with the turnout, they asked Hernandez to schedule group gatherings there every week. Not wanting to change what he calls his formula of rotating the location in order to introduce members to new spots, Hernandez said no.

Instead, Shelton came up with the idea to host a late-night Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender event on Tuesdays, after Sin City Q Social wraps up its party. Elevated at the Foundation Room starts at 11 p.m. every Tuesday.

Rhumbar at The Mirage recently announced its intentions to host a gay-themed event on Wednesdays.

Throughout this summer, Luxor has hosted Sunkissed, a pool party targeting the alternative community. Mandalay Beach now has its own similar pool party, while Cathouse at Luxor is the site of a weekly alternative event, Closet Sundays at Cathouse.

The list goes on, Shelton says.

"There really is just an overwhelming amount of support from Strip properties that are trying to get LGBT events and LGBT dollars," Shelton says. "I think it's because gays are in now. We have high disposable income, we have no kids. We are the dream customer."

And in a recession, money talks more than usual.

"It's been nice. Until now, we'd only done one event at Wynn. They recently hired someone ... to really go after the gay market," Hernandez says, referring to Wynn and Encore's niche marketing manager. "It's interesting to watch the changes taking place in resorts trying to attract the LGBT clientele."

Hernandez says he recently met with a Planet Hollywood representative to talk about ways the resort can make inroads into the gay community.

Harrah's Entertainment decided that Paris Las Vegas was the ideal property to market to the LGBT traveler about four years ago. That led to the creation of gayparislasvegas.com, a micro Web site that offers packages and services to the gay and lesbian traveler, says the company's director of corporate responsibility, Gwen Migita.

The marketing efforts grew out of a long-standing corporate policy that emphasized inclusion, rights and benefits for LGBT employees, Migita says. The company's support of Nevada's domestic partnership bill, SB 283, was a natural progression of both the marketing efforts and corporate policy. Looking at the LGBT community holistically and supporting its rights is important, she adds.

"It just makes good business sense to be a leader in the efforts," Migita says.

Luxor would like to be out in front, leading the outreach not only to gay and lesbian travelers, but the local gay community, too, says Tim Evans, the hotel's director of marketing.

Two years ago, the LGBT group Women's Empowerment Network had a successful pool party on a Sunday, drawing a couple of hundred attendees. So when the promoters of Sunkissed approached Luxor about a weekly pool party this summer, "we said, 'Let's try it,' " Evans says.

Bobbie Archut, a member of Women's Empowerment Network who helped organize that original pool party in 2007, says attitudes have changed fast. When she tried to find a site to host a monthly pool party, she faced some resistance. It was almost like casino representatives feared the unknown, she says.

That fear is gone, replaced with a desire to make money.

"When you're in a down economy, people have a tendency to turn a blind eye," she says. "They realize if they don't jump on the bandwagon now they're going to be left behind."

Sunkissed has been so successful that Luxor representatives are thinking about what they can do next year, Evans says.

Areas that need further development are room packages and other offers for the LGBT traveler, Evans says. The resort is creating a separate Web site to target the market, doing away with the landing page that is currently linked on luxor.com.

The hotel also might bring back a Sunday night experiment: male dancers. In the past, female dancers have performed in the gaming area in front of Cathouse, Evans says. For a few Sunday nights, to go along with the Closet Sundays, they had male dancers there.

"It did pretty well. We temporarily suspended it, but may be bringing it back," Evans says.

Contact reporter Sonya Padgett at spadgett@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4564.