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Posted At : February 25, 2009 11:14 AM | Posted By : D McKee
Related Categories:
MGM Mirage,Economy,The Strip,Marketing
Famed stickup man Willie Sutton was referring to banks but it also applies to Las Vegas' romance with the upper crust. Strip casinos have taken a lot -- and I mean a lot -- of fire for targeting their prices, amenities, marketing and room product toward the affluent. It's gotten so that 85% of the room product coming online in 2009-10 is aimed at the luxury market.
But, in gaming's defense, they went that route because that's where the money was -- and to some extent still is. When I covered the 2005 Luxury Conclave (the first of its kind) at Lake Las Vegas, it was like entering an alternate reality; the amounts of money sloshing around in the top income brackets were so great people almost didn't know what to do with all that wealth. From there it was but a very short leap to 100 condo towers being planned for the Las Vegas Valley or triple-digit room rates becoming the rule along the Strip. In the latter instance, Vegas got expensive for the simple reason that the market would support it.
The hidden consumer upside to all of this is, as the party winds down, all those high-end-oriented rooms are going to have to be filled any way they can. So MGM Mirage, for example, can plan all the triple-digit midweek rates for Aria's 4,000-plus rooms it likes. What the market dictates is wont to be something quite different.
On the subject of marketing, remember that idiotic, head-butting "Shut Up and Play" ad campaign that mocked consumers' economic anxiety? The New York-New York charm(less) offensive has been succeed by a far less disdainful pitch, on that strives for a personal touch and emphasizes a bargain-oriented message.
That's more like it.
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