Las Vegas Faces Its Deepest Slide Since the 1940s, New York

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Ginger
----------

Las Vegas Faces Its Deepest Slide Since the 1940s, New York Times, October 2, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/03/us/03vegas.htm

----------
(This posting was entered by Ginger, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Cynthia Phillips
----------

To all,

Let us not minimize this; the NY Times article is factual and not
fiction, they're not making this up. I've been here near 14 years and
this town is deader than Grant's tomb on new years day.

However, on a positive note, LV's economic slump shouldn't
have any afffect on DIVA whatsoever. If anything, it should
work in our favor: room rates have never been lower, buffet
and restaurant prices are declining steadily, the $3.95 steak
dinner is back, there's $1.99 breakfasts again, the price of
gas is dropping locally, Vegas is a bargain right now.

Business is having to fight for customers here. Let's take
advantage of this while the getting is good.

Cynthia Phillips

----------
(This posting was entered by Cynthia Phillips, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: annie
----------

>I've been here near 14 years and this town is deader than
>Grant's tomb on new years day.

Having recently spent the better part of a week in LV on
business, I must agree. Lines were short and crowds were
thin, even on Friday evening.

>room rates have never been lower

In spot-checking room rates for potential LV dates, what I've
been finding are rates lower than we saw in 2010, and rates
equal to or even a bit lower than in 2009, which was the
lowest in recent years. Imperial Palace was something like $32
weekdays, actually cheaper than the Sahara!

Now if they would bring back $1 blackjack. I haven't seen that
for a number of years now. :)

----------
(This posting was entered by annie, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: kumiko yvonne watanabe
----------

Some of my friends that have visited LV in the last several
months have told me of more and more experiences with very
bad customer service for their stay in many of the casinos/
hotels from the dealers to the hotel side staff.

The workers had a negative attitude, and showed it with a
overall lacking of genuine willingness and lack of interest
to help, off the cuff remarks, overall confrontive posture
or lack of being friendly to approach. I'm sure this is
just some of the fallout from the recession.

----------
(This posting was entered by kumiko yvonne watanabe, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: annie
----------

> The workers had a negative attitude, and showed it with a
> overall lacking of genuine willingness and lack of interest

I've been to Las Vegas twice since DLV, and I did witness one
incident where a dispute between a manager and employee at a
casino coffee shop held up the line and security had to be
brought in to intervene. :( It appeared to be economy (staffing
level) related.

That was the only employee-related incident I saw.

Cutbacks in many areas are showing.

The Sahara resembled a ghost town. (I did not stay there, but
wandered down there to play.) I observed the same during DLV,
but it's gotten worse! :(

The timeshare hustlers are getting more and more aggressive.
They are now hitting on some solo individuals when before
it was only couples they targeted. In an area such as Las
Vegas, where real estate prices are particularly depressed,
I would think that the timeshare market is close to dead!

I had a free Friday evening, so I wandered over to Paris to
try to catch the band which was there during DLV. I did get
to see them once after DLV. Nope, it was a deejay all night.

It's also strange to see casino bars closed. Usually those
are going strong 24 * 7.

One advantage, however, was that lines were short. It's almost
spooky when there's no line at the Harrah's or Caesars buffet!
(There was a long line at the Paris buffet, however.)

They say that the economy is improving, but Las Vegas seems
to be lagging. I am a bit concerned about things such as
further cutbacks and closures as we approach DLV 2011.

We shall see ...

----------
(This posting was entered by annie, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: bob
----------

True it has hit us severely. They said it began in Las Vegas and we have
been hit harder than anywhere else in the country. 14.5% unemployment,
highest forclosure rate, highest bankruptcies and we will be the last
place to get relief.

True the strip hotels are really hurting, but they're holding their own.

Neighborhood venues like McMullans, Escape, Flex, Brendans @ the
Orleans, etc are also holding their own. I don't forsee any major
problems for DLV 2011.

If anything hotel rates will still be low. Service may not be as good as
in better times, but it will be bearable. The places we do go to will
bend over backward for the business.

Let's pray that things right themselves soon.

----------
(This posting was entered by bob, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: annie
----------

>Neighborhood venues like McMullans, Escape, Flex, Brendans @ the
>Orleans, etc are also holding their own. I don't forsee any major
>problems for DLV 2011.

The one that concerns me WRT DLV 2011 is the Plaza/Firefly
situation. Although Tamares swears that they are taking the
opportunity to do some serious clean-up paint-up fix-up work,
it sure gives me more of those "closed for remodeling" vibes. :(

I would sure hate to see the Plaza go the way of Lady Luck, or
worse, the Nevada Hotel across the street and down the block.

Sure, Firefly is only a tenant, but if the customer traffic
is not there and business is down, it could easily become
one of those "close when the rent comes due" situations. :(

I'm not trying to be pessimistic, I've just seen how things
happen in Las Vegas.

But for DLV, we've actually had a couple cases of venues
which have closed at short notice over the years, but we've
worked around these had had very successful events in spite
of the closings.

----------
(This posting was entered by annie, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: R C
----------

One of the problems cited as deeply affecting the LV strip economy, and
possibly the attitudes of staff, is the the hotel rates have been cut to
the bone. As a result, the low room rates have brought in what they (not
me) are calling the "Cooler Crowd". These are visitors who come to Vegas
dragging their ice chests behind them. They stock up on beer & food from
the local supermarket pull them through the hotel lobby, and then go out
and sightsee.

This is not the crowd that gambles, visits the clubs, or dines in the
high-end dining restaurants. Tips are way down to everyone from the
dealers, to waiters and waitresses, bartenders, and bellmen. A lot of
these folks make the minimum wage and rely on their tips for a good
lifestyle.

Many invested in homes based on that tip income, never suspecting that
Vegas would be hit as hard as it was. In my opinion, when the tips are
scarce is when employees should be on their best behaviour to collect
whatever tips are being offered.

----------
(This posting was entered by R C, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: annie
----------

>This is not the crowd that gambles, visits the clubs, or
>dines in the high-end dining restaurants. ...

At the risk of playing Devil's Advocate here, I'm seeing
very little effort from the hotels to bring in those who
used to be their mainstay, the low to mid roller casual
gambler.

If they would simply do such things as bring back
reasonably-priced table games and full-pay video poker,
they would make far more than reducing the rates to try
to attract the cooler types you mention!

I think the hotels got a bit spoiled by catering to the
El-Lay party crowd when times were good. They seemed to
love such things as 6:5 Blackjack. :(

Speaking of the cooler types, if the hotels would quit
trying to gouge at the mini-bar and the gift shop, the
Joe Sixpacks wouldn't be trucking in their coolers and
emptying out their ice machines. I mean, $4.50 for a
can of diet coke! Excuse me?

On a recent trip my Walkman battery ran down and I stopped
into a gift shop to see if they had any AAA batteries. It
was something like $8 and change for two AAA cells! Jeesh!
(I waited until I drove by a Walgreens.)

Yeah I know, b*tch b*tch b*tch! :)

----------
(This posting was entered by annie, an external user of MyDLV.)

[External Poster]

This posting is from: Gina
----------

>On a recent trip my Walkman battery ran down and I stopped

Walkman?

Gina

----------
(This posting was entered by Gina, an external user of MyDLV.)