ROOMS WITH A VROOM

Lucky guests at the Plaza and Main Street Station will wander up to their rooms this weekend and realize they've got some of the best seats in town for the inaugural Vegas Grand Prix.

They may have paid as little as $50 for a room that's nearly the equivalent of a trackside VIP suite.

Hotel marketing executives are catching on. Some room rates have been adjusted slightly higher for this weekend -- up to $179 a night at the Golden Gate, which has only 106 rooms.

The Plaza Web site is promoting "the perfect opportunity to view the inaugural Vegas Grand Prix from a prime viewing location." The west side of the 1,064-room hotel looks out over the start-finish line and straightaway on Grand Central Parkway, where cars will reach 185 mph.

Room rates start at $69 at the Plaza, down from $149 about a month ago.

"I think that's how the hotel business works," said Plaza spokesman Mark Fierro. "You wait until the big weekend, and then you make adjustments. If you have strong occupancy, you take rates up. If not, you drop your rates."

The Golden Nugget has rooms starting at $129 in the south tower and $155 in the north tower for Saturday night, while parlor suites and spa suites are sold out. The track winds around the hotel on Carson Avenue, First Street, Bridger Avenue and Casino Center Boulevard.

Main Street Station, with views from Ogden Avenue to Grand Central in south-facing rooms, is 100 percent occupied for its 406 rooms. Customers are being funneled to other Boyd Group properties, including the Fremont, starting at $75 a night. Only a few of those 447 rooms overlook Ogden Avenue.

Occupancy at downtown's 8,170 hotel rooms is expected to run in the mid-90 percent range, close to New Year's Eve and National Finals Rodeo levels.

Michael Zaletel of Phoenix-based i4vegas.com said he's seen a surge in bookings for this weekend but not much movement in rates.

"The bookings are doing pretty well, and rates are actually lower than normal," he said. "That's because it's Easter weekend. Any religious holiday really negatively impacts bookings in Las Vegas. It's normal for Las Vegas to be down this weekend."

Fitzgeralds was among the first hotels to affiliate with the race and filled its 648 rooms early, Vegas Grand Prix President Jim Freudenberg said.

"The ones that jumped on board early and let us help market them are full," he said. "Some of the others waited and jacked their room rates up. They dropped them after everybody else had booked their rooms."

Sunday's Champ Car World Series season opener is expected to draw 150,000 people and generate an estimated $76 million in nongaming economic impact for Las Vegas, race organizers said. It also will bring in $3.8 million in state and local tax revenue.

"Nobody knows exactly what to expect in attendance and impact," said Fremont Street Experience President Jeff Victor. "Certainly the setup of the racetrack itself is a monumental effort to work around. Just the impact of the track itself would put this event as a portal for downtown."

Concrete safety walls and fencing for the 2.4-mile course took about a month to install, Victor said, and hotel managers worked with street crews to keep access to their properties.

Downtown Las Vegas has always had a reputation for value, especially compared with the Strip. Travel Web site Expedia lists room prices from $36 at the Plaza, Golden Gate and Las Vegas Club from April through June. Main Street Station and the California Hotel are on the high end at $94 and $80 a night, respectively.

Zaletel, of i4vegas, said he can book a room at the Plaza for $59 a night Friday and Saturday, the best deal in general because almost every room has a view of the track.

Food and drinks also are a bargain downtown. Most of the hotels will be setting up bars under the Fremont Street Experience canopy.

"We agreed not to sell concessions on the east side of the railroad tracks, so the hotels would garner all those dollars," Freudenberg said. "My owners (Dale Jensen and Bradley Yonover) gave up high six figures to go back to the hotels. That's a big sacrifice."

The weekend events include free concerts, Easter morning services and egg hunt, and three days of racing and qualifying. In addition to the Champ Car World Series, the Champ Car Atlantic and Historic Grand Prix races will be run on Sunday.

The 1,907-room Golden Nugget is usually sold out on weekends, but New Year's Eve, National Finals Rodeo and NASCAR weekends definitely draw more visitors who stay downtown, publicist Sylke Neal-Finnegan said.

Fierro, of the Plaza, said the hotel has "normal" weekend occupancy, though he wouldn't disclose the percentage of rooms sold.

"They're getting an increased number of inquiries," he said. "You can stand out in the sun all day and watch the race, but you can also have a hotel room to go into and clean up."

The Plaza is holding a race party on the rooftop of its parking garage, with food from Memphis Championship Barbecue.

"We are the one place in all of downtown Las Vegas that you can see nearly the entire race from, and we are sharing that with anyone who wants to come down and join the party," Plaza general manager Dan Wilson said.

Vegas Grand Prix is the first race to come downtown since the Mint 400 in the 1980s, which started on Fremont Street. Caesars Palace Grand Prix also was run in the '80s.

Top drivers of the open-cockpit cars include Las Vegas resident Paul Tracy, 2006 series champion Sebastien Bourdais and Brazilian Bruno Junqueira. Actor Paul Newman owns one of the race teams.

Vegas Grand Prix will be televised live nationally and in more than 180 countries, bringing valuable media exposure to downtown Las Vegas. Because it's a first-time event in Las Vegas, there's no way to calculate the dollar value, but Freudenberg said it's at least eight figures.