Until 2005, when Harrah’s Entertainment devoured Park Place Entertainment, its flagship property in Las Vegas was The Rio. Since then the lady has fallen upon hard times. During the period 2007-09, while Harrah’s CEO Gary Loveman blew hundreds of millions of dollars on the superfluous Octavius Tower over at Caesars Palace, The Rio went begging for so much as a coat of fresh paint. In these pictures, taken this morning, it looks like it’s not seen any external maintenance in the last two-plus years.
ND’s Fuego The Club closed back on June 13, but you wouldn’t know it to look at the Rio marquee …
… nor can anyone be troubled to fix the blanched “o” in “Rio.” This sort of penny-pinching and malign neglect of Harrah’s physical assets was only too predictable back when Loveman steered the company into the arms of Apollo (Mis)Management and Texas Pacific Group, but neither rah-rah Wall Street analysts nor worshipful Nevada regulators dared mention that ugly inevitability.
Seriously, how much would it cost to slap some red paint up there on the parapet? Or to stock the Las Vegas Review-Journal in one’s sundries store? Corporate jets and executive salaries remain sacrosanct but the customer experience is clearly expendable.
I’m not sure if it comes through at this size, but the paint has almost completely worn off some of the vertical beams on The Rio’s west side. Memo to Harrah’s: Instead of treating your former crown jewel (and the current site of the World Series of Poker) like a dump, why don’t you sell it to a company that would give a damn? Penn National Gaming, where are you when we need you?
Sad, but MGM isn’t immune to it, either. The Mandalay properties were fading away for the past couple years. Fortunately, in the past couple months they pulled out the paint rollers and have done a new coat on some surfaces that need it.
Pictures will soon show up with the re-emergence of my tiny contribution on Two Way.
So true, any chance of getting a panel to get in front of the gaming board when they request for approval of ownership of PH. Sort of a concerned citizens action.
What worries me about the current economic climate is the lack of capital expenditures on existing properties by more companies than just Harrah’s. It accelerates the image of Las Vegas as a bipolar destination of ultra luxury and low-end (think some downtown properties).
If the huge mid-market segment thinks quality is slipping in the physical properties and service, it could hurt Las Vegas long after the economy recovers.
Well, at least the Rio is still an easy walk from the Palms. I was at both last month and concur with the feel of this post, the Rio needs some freshening up. The challange is always a little higher for an off strip property. People have to want to go to the Rio, they won’t just stumble in as passers-by at Flamingo & Las Vegas Blvd.