Tough times in Vegas … How tough? … $149 a night at Bellagio tough

We all know that Las Vegas hotels are having a tough time these day. Visitor count is down. Casino spend is down. Occupancy is down. But nothing says "tough times" for casino owners like bargain hotel rooms.

This week I put up eight people at the Bellagio for a business meeting. We thought we were lucky to get the rooms, considering the Winter Baseball Meetings were going on at the the same time at Bellagio and the NFR was in town. But we snagged 8 rooms at what I thought was the phenomenal price of $149 a night. Then today we received an e-mail from the Venetian that rooms there are going for $99.