Las Vegas can be relied on for its ability to dazzle, constantly upping the ante with new ways to entertain, and the past year has been no exception.
In 2010, major hotels debuted, and a slew of new beach clubs opened in time for summer, most coupled with new nightclubs, while the unveiling of new celebrity chef restaurants and luxury brand retail outlets continued.
Vegas began 2010 with the newly opened CityCenter providing almost 6,000 new hotel rooms and ended with the star-studded opening of the 2,995-room Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas last December.
While there are no new casino-resorts under construction after doubling its number of guest rooms in two decades to almost 150,000, the future looks bright, according to Chris Meyer, vice president of sales at the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA).
"We fell off a cliff in September 2008 with the meltdown, but it looks really good from here," Meyer says. "Advance bookings are up significantly. We’re very positive for 2011."
The annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) at the Las Vegas Convention Center (LVCC) filled the town in early January, with its estimated 140,000 attendees a substantial increase over previous years.
In partnership with the Consumer Electronics Association, the 2.2 million-square-foot LVCC, which had recently upgraded its wireless capability, increasing access points by 30 percent to 160, would become an official World Trade Center site, it was announced.
Following on the heels of CES, PCMA’s 55th Annual Meeting was held in January at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino, reporting a record attendance and boosting the entertainment capital’s exposure to meeting planners.
According to Meyer, last year the majority of major trade shows and conventions reported increased attendance, but it was a mixed bag.
"There wasn’t as much corporate meetings activity, but it is coming back," he says. "Coming through 2010, it picked up considerably.
"Our challenge now is the 42 million people we know who travel that haven’t been to Vegas," he adds. "Our product is so significantly higher in standard than other destinations and we have so many great restaurants in such a small area," he says.
LVCVA boosted sales and marketing following the economic downfall in 2008, increasing face-to-face sales. In 2009, it launched an additional meetings website with planner tools at www.vegasmeansbusiness.com. The site also promotes Vegas’ many advantages, including 10.5 million square feet of exhibit space; an average attendance increase of 13 percent when conventions rotate in; and 900 flights a day and nonstop service from 130-plus U.S. cities.
"We have a robust and successful call-center attendance program for groups of 1,000 rooms or more, and in the last 18 months we’ve made more than 2,800 face-to-face sales calls worldwide," Meyer says.
After the economic slide, major resorts aggressively pursued smaller groups and corporate meetings, offering unprecedented deals with unheard of rates, adds-ons and concessions.
"Opportunities are still there, but maybe are not as prevalent as they were in 2009," Meyer says.
Between 2007 and 2009, total visitors slumped from 39.2 million to 36.4 million, and hotel occupancy went from 94 percent to 85.3 percent. Convention delegates, peaking at 6.3 million in 2006, dropped to 4.5 million in 2009. For the first 10 months of 2010, Vegas’ visitor volume, however, increased 2.8 percent, and meeting and convention attendance increased 0.7 percent, according to the LVCVA.
Nationwide, hotels experienced a 5.4 percent occupancy increase and a 0.5 percent decline in average daily rate (ADR) in the first 10 months of 2010, according to Smith Travel Research. Vegas was different: Its occupancy dropped 2 percent, while it managed an ADR increase of 2 percent.
Vegas had more new rooms to fill, as room inventory was up 4.6 percent for the period compared to a 2.1 percent increase nationwide.
The evolving hotel landscape features several top-drawer options.
MGM Resorts International’s CityCenter, which opened December 2009, boasts the 4,004-room Aria Resort & Casino, with 300,000 square feet of function space; the 392-room Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas, with 12,000 square feet of meeting space; and the 1,495-suite Vdara Hotel & Spa, with more 10,000 square feet of function space, plus a 500,000-square-foot retail and entertainment area.
Both the Aria and Mandarin Oriental received AAA’s Five Diamond rating for 2011, joining seven others in the city with the award, including two that debuted in 2008 and received it for the second year: the 3,068-room Palazzo Las Vegas and the 2,034-room Encore.
Between CityCenter and Bellagio in two 50-story towers, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas opened Dec. 15. It has 150,000 square feet of meeting and convention space, the 62,000-square-foot Marquee Nightclub & Dayclub, a 100,000-square-foot casino, a spa and a range of restaurants.
"We are targeting groups of all sizes. Because of our vertical space we can have several groups in house taking over their own floor without intermixing," says Doug Genarrdo, vice president of sales at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, who explains that a group of 3,000 can take three floors, executive conference space is geared toward groups of 10 to 250, the third level can handle groups of 250 to 600, and the main level can accommodate 500 to 1,000.
Last year also saw the unveiling of new beach clubs: Caesars Palace’s the Garden of the Gods, an expanded five-acre, eight-pool pool complex that includes the new Venus Pool Club and the new Fortuna Pool; Encore’s 60,000-square-foot Encore Beach Club and 5,000-square-foot Surrender Nightclub; and Hard Rock Hotel & Casino’s HRH Beach Club and the Skybar, doubling the pool area to five acres.
The Hard Rock’s new club topped off a three-year, $750 million expansion that included two new towers opened in 2009—the 490-room room Paradise Tower and the 359-suite HRH Tower—and the addition of 60,000 square feet of meeting and convention space and 40,000 square feet of gaming space.
This spring, Tropicana Las Vegas will open the world’s largest Nikki Beach operation, which will include the 15,000-square-foot Club Nikki. It is part of a $180 million South Beach-themed transformation that began early last year and has included a makeover of its 60,000 square feet of meeting and convention space as well as guest room renovations. On Feb. 17, the resort will unveil the Las Vegas Mob Experience, an attraction featuring over 1,000 artifacts that once belonged to organized crime figures. A preview exhibit opened last summer.
Planet Hollywood held a grand opening in January 2010 for PH Towers by Westgate, a 52-story, 1,200-suite residential hotel. The following month it was purchased by Harrah’s Entertainment. (renamed Caesars Entertainment Corp. last November). It is the eighth property marketed by Las Vegas Meetings by Caesars, a one-stop shop promoting more than 1 million square feet of meeting space and 25,000 rooms throughout several properties.
Last summer, Caesars Entertainment became the first major Strip casino operator to eliminate resort fees.
Openings outside the Strip have included Golden Nugget’s 500-room Rush Tower, Eastside Cannery Casino & Hotel’s 1,100-seat Casablanca Event Center and South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa’s 55,000-square-foot casino expansion.
Henderson/Lake Las Vegas
Southeast of the Strip, Nevada’s second-largest city offers more than 200,000 square feet of meeting space and more than 3,000 hotel rooms. Among its properties are the 2-year-old M Resort, Spa & Casino, which is located just eight miles from the Strip and features 60,000 square feet of meeting space, and the 493-room Loews Lake Las Vegas, which is situated in the 3,600-acre master-planned community resort area 17 miles from the Strip and features 45,000 square feet of meeting space.
The big news is that the former Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas, which closed in May 2010, will reopen Feb. 11 under new ownership and a new operator, Dolce Hotels & Resorts. Renamed Ravella at Lake Las Vegas, the 349-room resort, with 39,000 square feet of meeting space, will have a redesigned lobby and new dining and spa concepts.
"We’re thrilled that the hotel is reopening," says Ed Kirby, national sales manager for Destination Henderson, the city’s CVB. "Its closure hurt the area and its reopening will revitalize it. We have the advantage that we’re minutes from the Strip with its amenities and groups can be held together here, and that we have lots of outdoor activities."
Also under new ownership and management at the lake is Aston MonteLago Village Resort, a 200-condo resort with 13,000 square feet of meeting space. Honolulu-based Aston Hotels & Resorts became the operator last April.
The lake recently added a free shuttle service to the Strip, and stand-up paddle boarding to its expansive list of activities.
Last summer, Destination Henderson launched a program with Green Valley Ranch Spa, Resort & Casino, the M Resort and MonteLago Village offering a complimentary reception with bookings of 50 rooms or more.
Meanwhile, downtown Henderson is home to the Henderson Convention Center, with 10,000 square feet of column-free meeting space, and the adjacent Henderson Events Plaza, featuring more than 60,000 square feet of outdoor function space, including a 4,000-seat pavilion.
Henderson has been getting a reputation for international sports events. In November, it will host the ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships, the first time the event has been held in the U.S. since 1996. Starting in September, Henderson will be the new home of the annual Ironman World Championship 70.3, previously held in Clearwater, Fla. Additionally, the city was recently named to host the 2012 U.S. Open Synchronized Swimming Championships and—beating Abu Dhabi and Munich—the 2013 Tenpin Bowling World Championships.
East of Henderson, in October the Mike O’Callaghan-Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge over the Colorado River opened, completing the $240 million Hoover Dam Bypass. The Western Hemisphere’s longest single-span concrete arch bridge eliminates congestion and traffic at the dam, a popular tourist sight.
Summerlin
West of downtown Las Vegas, Summerlin is a 22,500-acre master-planned community adjacent to the Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area.
It features interlinked communities connected by bike lanes and parks, with 150 miles of trails and nine golf courses.
Meetings-ready properties include the JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort and Spa, with more than 100,000 square feet of meeting space, and the Red Rock Resort & Casino, with more than 94,000 square feet.
Laughlin
Located 90 miles south of Las Vegas on the Colorado River, Laughlin is just two miles upriver from Lake Mohave, part of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. It draws heavily on the Arizona and California markets and winter charters, especially from the Midwest.
"Laughlin has always been a great value and now we have incredible deals," says Meg McDaniel, LVCVA’s senior manager, regional sales/extended destinations. "We get regional associations, fraternal groups and lots of reunions. Business on weekends and at special events has been strong."
Outdoor group activities include kayaking, canoeing and other river activities and jet boat trips to Lake Havasu, as well as canyon hiking, bird watching and tours to Oatman, Ariz., a gold mining town 30 minutes away.
Laughlin has more than 10,000 guest rooms. Seven casino hotels along Casino Drive have a total of more than 100,000 square feet of meeting space.
Don Laughlin’s Riverside Resort & Casino, which was the town’s first casino and features 1,004 rooms and 27,400 square feet of meeting space, unveiled a new amphitheater with a capacity for 2,800 people last fall, kicking off a concert series with performances by comedian Bill Engvall and country singer Sara Evans.
Other meetings properties include the 1,907-room Aquarius Casino Resort, with 30,000 square feet of meeting space; the 1,350-room Edgewater Hotel & Casino, with 13,900 square feet of meeting space; the 1,500-room Harrah’s Laughlin Casino and Hotel, with 7,000 square feet of function space; the 1,000-room River Palms Resort Casino, with 10,900 square feet of meeting space; and the 1,500-room Tropicana, with 14,300 square feet of function space.
Mesquite
According to McDaniel, Mesquite, located 80 miles northeast of Vegas, touts many group selling points, including value for money, a relaxed atmosphere and plenty of outdoor activities. It also has a strong winter snowbird market.
Close to the Arizona and Utah borders in the Virgin River Valley, the area has seven world-class golf courses as well as canyonlands such as Valley of Fire State Park and Zion National Park.
Meetings-friendly casino hotels include the 450-room Casablanca Hotel & Casino, with 47,000 square feet of function space and 18 holes of golf; the 720-room Virgin River Hotel & Casino, which renovated guest rooms last year and features 1,900 square feet of meeting space; and the 215-room Eureka Casino Hotel, with 6,300 square feet of function space. Among the destination’s non-gaming properties, Falcon Ridge Hotel has 5,950 square feet of meeting space.
In December, Casablanca’s event center hosted the 2010 World Arm Wrestling Championship, attracting around 1,500 competitors from 40 countries. Mesquite will host the Junior Golden Gloves Nationals through 2013 and the national Senior Golden Gloves in 2012.
Primm
Primm, situated 30 minutes south of Vegas on the California border, serves up three casino resorts that are all under the same management and feature a total of 2,600 rooms: Buffalo Bill’s, Whiskey Pete’s and Primm Valley.
Collectively known the Primm Valley Casino Resorts, they feature a 21,000-square-foot conference center, a 6,000-seat arena, a 12,000-square-foot spa and a total of 3,000 slots. The area also has two Tom Fazio-designed golf courses, a designer outlet mall and an amusement park.
Buffalo Bill’s reopened in December after a month-long renovation project that included room enhancements and the addition of a Denny’s restaurant.
Freelancer Tony Bartlett has been writing about the travel industry for more than 20 years.
