Previously, MGM Resorts tried to make it difficult for guests to go from Bellagio or Aria to the Cosmopolitan by building things like the “Aria Express” and the walkway from Bellagio to the Vdara hotel. When Cosmopolitan officially becomes part of MGM Resorts, are they going to remodel those things?
We might be wrong, but we don't believe MGM Resorts deliberately "tried to make it difficult for guests to go from Bellagio or Aria to the Cosmopolitan." Rather, MGM didn't facilitate matters. There's a qualitative difference in that.
If we were running MGM Resorts and building a tram between Bellagio and Park MGM, with a stop at City Center (actually, the Shops at Crystals mall), we wouldn't spend a lot of money, or any for that matter, to drop off passengers at a competing casino, or even at the non-casino Jockey Club.
That said, you do raise a good point about improving access to Cosmo from Bellagio and City Center now that all three are under the same corporate umbrella. In its public statements around the closing of the Cosmo sale last week, MGM Resorts indicated that it intends to incorporate the newest property into its portfolio.
Casino consultant Brendan Bussmann, managing partner of B Global, perhaps gave a hint as to the extent of the incorporation when he said, "Most average visitors thought Cosmo was part of CityCenter and not a stand-alone property. MGM Resorts will now fully integrate this into Bellagio and the CityCenter campus."
It would be a fairly simple matter to reconfigure back walkways to go between Bellagio and Cosmo, where the properties connect (front walkways would be more difficult with the Jockey Club in the way). Harmon Avenue also presents a natural barrier between Cosmo and City Center, though a county-maintained pedestrian overpass leads directly from the doors on the second floor of Cosmo right into Crystals.
As for adding a stop on the Aria Express, we're not so sure. Presumably, it could be done, though we wonder if MGM, merely a tenant at Cosmo, is anxious to invest a lot of capex in the landlord's property. And we don't see what incentive the landlord, VICI Properties, would have; they collect their $16.6 million in rent every month whether or not anyone walks through Cosmo's doors.
For the time being, it's moot. MGM has a big enough job integrating management, marketing, HR, the player clubs, parking, et al. to worry too much about infrastructure. Time will tell about the rest.
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John Foisy
Jun-02-2022
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asaidi
Jun-02-2022
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