{"id":12415,"date":"2014-01-08T14:16:08","date_gmt":"2014-01-08T22:16:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=12415"},"modified":"2014-01-08T14:16:08","modified_gmt":"2014-01-08T22:16:08","slug":"illinois-freezes-concierges-outsourced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/illinois-freezes-concierges-outsourced\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois freezes; Concierges outsourced"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Dec regional gaming revs should be coming out from the states this week and next and it won’t be pretty<\/em>.” So warns Todd Jordan<\/strong>, aka \"Grand<\/a>@HedgeyeSnakeye<\/em>. Case in point<\/a>, Illinois<\/strong>, where revenues tumbled 13%. Even market leader Rivers Casino<\/strong> was down 4%. A statewide market that grossed $145 million in December 2011, is now down to $115 million in December 2013. The figures were brutal for casinos both great and small. Compared to last December, Boyd Gaming<\/strong>‘s Par-A-Dice<\/em> caromed down 21%. MGM Resorts International’<\/strong>s Grand Victoria<\/em> dropped 18%, and Penn National Gaming<\/strong>‘s boats suffered: -19% at Empress Joliet<\/em>, -17% at Hollywood Aurora<\/em> and -12% at Alton Belle<\/em> (which, being the smallest, ought to have suffered the most).<\/p>\n

Off 15%, Harrah’s Joliet<\/em> ran into a wall just when it seemed to be on the comeback trail. Once-popular Casino Rock Island<\/strong> has lost its charm, evidently, down 16%. And Casino Queen<\/em>, in East St. Louis<\/strong>, slipped 10%. Looking back over 2013 as a whole, Harrah’s Metropolis<\/em> was the biggest loser, off 12.5% (thanks to Isle of Capri Cape Girardeau<\/strong>) while the closest thing to victory was Rivers Casino<\/strong> ending the year 0.5% up over 2012. That’s not exactly cause to bust out the champagne.<\/p>\n

Rent-a-Concierge<\/strong>: Vital Vegas<\/em> has twigged to a “dirty little secret<\/a>,” namely that certain Strip properties are closing their concierge departments and \"Gary_loveman_Cropped_fmt\"<\/a>outsourcing the service to something called Tickets & Tours<\/strong>, which specializes in stuff like this<\/a>. A concierge’s job is a complicated function, one that encompasses much more than hawking show tickets. As Vital Vegas<\/em> puts it, “To a genuine concierge, it matters if you have a good experience, and because they work for the hotel, they are accountable for their actions<\/em>.”\u00a0So far, the only properties reported to be making this skinflint move are — you guessed it — Caesars Entertainment<\/strong> ones. Sadly, it’s what we’ve come to expect from the Gary Loveman<\/strong> administration, with its corner-cutting style. Caesars: Where the customer almost matters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Dec regional gaming revs should be coming out from the states this week and next and it won’t be pretty.” So warns Todd Jordan, aka @HedgeyeSnakeye. Case in point, Illinois, where revenues tumbled 13%. Even market leader Rivers Casino was … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[60,28,14,7,58,11,69,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12415"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12415"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12416,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12415\/revisions\/12416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}