Having been burned by a few too many “false positives” in terms of economic recovery, S&G is loath to get anyone’s hopes up. (And some remain skeptical.) However, another room-rate survey from J.P. Morgan provides license for optimism. As you know, convention traffic in the first three months of next year is going to be a huge improvement on 2010. That’s being reflected in a 12% rise in ADRs. Even Wynncore, which had the least ground to make up, is looking at 10% improvement. Perhaps the most significant augury, though, is a 15% aggregate increase for the many Caesars Entertainment properties, driven by strong midweek prices. Since the middle and lower tiers of the Strip hotel market have been most resistant to price improvement, how the ex-Harrah’s cluster of hotels performs is a key metric to watch.
There’s good news for Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (above), too. Its 1Q11 room rates, while in no danger of toppling Bellagio, are running ahead of Aria‘s: $203 vs. $195 midweek and $295 vs. $282 on weekends. At least as far as the party crowd is concerned, borderline-campy Cosmo is going to have it all over Aria.
Steve Wynn’s pick for the next President of these United States is momentarily busy extricating his foot from his mouth. Even so, Haley Barbour‘s a saint compared to his cretinous older brother Jeppie Barbour, a real piece of work. Since Wynn likes to wax political during his analyst calls, I wonder if anyone’s going to raise l’affaire Yazoo at his next one.
More Penn skulduggery. When not trying to bigfoot elections, Penn National Gaming occasionally runs casinos. Its Columbus, Ohio, project is now off the grid — literally. The mayor and city council have disconnected Penn’s Columbus site from the sewer system until and unless the land is annexed to the city. A Penn spokesman wailed, “At some point, when you’re dealing with bullies, you have to say, ‘Enough is enough.'”
However, Penn had spent time it was supposed to be using to complete the annexation trying to shake down Columbus for at least $8 million in tax breaks. Seems it wants the benefits (like sewage service) of being in the city but the lower tax rates that come with being unincorporated. Penn also started drilling its own wells, prompting Columbus leaders to say, in effect, “So there!” Two can play this game.
Speaking of bullying, Penn has been trying to quash a casino project in Maine‘s Oxford County. That meddlesome move ended last week when a recount of the casino vote was called off. Who says nice guys finish last?
I could have sworn that headline came from the Onion and not HuffPo.
The rooms I checked out at Aria had compromised views. I feel they made a mistake setting the buildings so far back. A Vegas vacations last bastion is the view. When you have inevitably donated your days gambling allotment and it’s not nighty night yet, I like to gaze out at the lights and action. Cosmo seems to have great views of the Strip. I am jazzed to check Cosmo out, but with it’s high room rates and high-roller tilt my wallet will be closed tight.
Water line annexation is a fairly big deal for Columbus, it’s one reason there are so few suburbs here, as from what I understand tapping into the water means you become incorporated. It’s one of the things that allowed Columbus to grow and Cleveland to stagnate so much, as Cleveland’s suburbs effectively competed with Cleveland for businesses and such which meant heavy tax abatement and business placing both against each other, it also increased redundancy in services.
So while it’s definitely a ‘bully’ move, it’s been par for the course for the area for sometime.
I definitely recommend the Cosmo! The views from there are amazing. It is indeed very expensive, but a friend of mine who stayed there told me I shouldn’t miss it for the world. So I made a one night reservation at the Cosmo (the rest of my stay I went to a cheaper hotel) and I can say I at least had a good couple of hours to look at the view and take pictures!