Las Vegas knows how to keep up with the Joneses.
Just when a hotel thinks it's the hottest property in town, the megaresort next door comes up with a better idea.One-upmanship, not Keno, is the main game in game town. And Vegas hotels are the grand masters.
"Hotels reinvent themselves quite frequently to keep up with the competition," said Jack Leone, vice president of communications for the MGM Grand Hotel.
The resort itself is a case in point. It opened in 1993 and is already adding on. (As if its existing 5,000 rooms aren't enough.) And it has reinvented its name to be MGM Grand Hotel/Casino: The City of Entertainment. That might be the longest moniker in town.
Visitors are the winners in these high-stakes gambles. They have an array of fanciful megaresorts to choose from.
Many masquerade as another place, (New York New York, Monte Carlo, the Luxor) or another era (Caesars Palace, Excalibur, Treasure Island).
Many have amusement parks, video arcades and shopping malls.
All in all, they attempt to attract families whose focus extends beyond slot machines.
Still, the city sees itself as a destination for adults. Mike Donahue, editor of the Las Vegas News Bureau, puts it unequivocally. "We are an adult destination to which you can bring your families. Adults are our bread and butter."
Tell them apart
How do resorts make themselves unique in this hotel fan-ta-sy-land?
The Mirage: "It's nice to be the only hotel with a volcano in front of it and the only one with white tigers," said Jenn Michaels, assistant director of public relations for Mirage Resorts Inc., which also owns Treasure Island, the Golden Nugget and is a partner in Monte Carlo. But she claims it's the customer service, the attention to detail, that sets the Mirage apart.
Treasure Island: A less upscale, more casual environment than The Mirage. It caters to value-conscious visitors. Mid-week, slow-season rates are as low as $49 per room per night. Pirate ship battle takes place in the outdoor bay every 90 minutes between 3 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.
Golden Nugget: This hotel is downtown (as opposed to on the Las Vegas Strip). "Downtown attracts a little bit of a different crowd than the Strip," said Michaels. "They're a little bit older. They're not necessarily interested in the attractions on the Strip. They want to enjoy a nice dinner."
Circus Circus: "We provide amenities for parents who want to bring children with them," says Julie Thanepohn, publicist for Circus Circus Enterprises. It has an RV park (the only one on the Strip) and a five-acre indoor theme park called Grand Slam Canyon. The hotel caters to middle-income families. Room rates start at $39. The breakfast buffet is $2.99; the lunch buffet is $3.99. Dinner in The Steak House, which has been voted the best steak house in Las Vegas for 11 years, runs about $16.
Circus Circus Enterprises also owns the Excalibur, where at night, a fire-breathing dragon greets you as you cross the drawbridge. Costumed entertainers stroll through the crowds. The hotel caters to value-conscious customers with room rates that range from $35 to $150, depending on the season.
Monte Carlo: Features the classic elegance you'd expect to see in, well, Monte Carlo. Marble, statues, fountains and promenades.
MGM Grand: Big-name entertainers, and we mean BIG, appear in the MGM Grand Arena. Jimmy Buffett, The Artist Formerly Known As Prince and Fleetwood Mac appeared recently. The Bee Gees will perform Nov. 14, the Rolling Stones Nov. 22 (sorry, it's sold out) and Barry Manilow Dec. 21.
The MGM Grand has a star-studded lineup of restaurants including a Wolfgang Puck Cafe and an Emeril Lagasse eatery.
Room rates average $100 but drop to $79 or lower if things are slow.
Its outdoor theme park is geared to families.
A mile-long monorail runs between the MGM Grand and Bally's. A pedestrian overpass crosses the Strip from the MGM Grand to New York New York, which MGM Grand Inc. owns in partnership with Primadonna Resorts. The hotel/casino opened last January, a resounding success. "The response from the public has been tremendous," said MGM Grand's Jack Leone. "It's one of the major tourist attractions in town."
Caesars Palace is in the midst of a $900 million expansion. And the upscale Forum Shops at Caesars recently opened a new wing that includes an FAO Schwarz and a Virgin Megastore.
Luxor: Airplanes flying into McCarran International could navigate by the beam of light that pierces the night sky from the top of the pyramid. A massive replica of the Sphinx is at the pyramid's entrance. But don't look for the Nile River. It was taken out to make room for a recent expansion. Room rates average $79, but you could pay up to $229 if you're in town at the same time as a major convention.
The 1,149-foot-high Stratosphere stands at attention like a solitary soldier on the north end of the Strip. It claims to be the tallest free-standing observation tower in the country. It has a revolving restaurant, observation towers, a roller coaster and a G-force-defying thrill ride where it shoots you 160 feet into the air and then you free-fall back down.
Room rates range from $39 to $229, depending on when you're in town.
What's next?
Is there an end in sight for all this expansion?
Don't bet on it. The existing 104,000 hotel rooms just aren't enough.
Construction cranes will be part of the skyline for years to come. More themed megaresorts are on the drawing board. And a couple of luxury hotels are coming to town.
Here are a few of the things in the crystal ball.
- The Bellagio is a luxury hotel styled after an Italian villa. The $1.25 billion project is scheduled to open next year. The average room rate will be about $170 a night. It will have 3,000 rooms, the same number as the Mirage, but they'll be 20 percent to 30 percent bigger.
- The Paris Casino Resort, adjacent to Bally's, is a $750 million project that will feature replicas of the French capital's most famous landmarks. It's supposed to open in 1998.
- A Venetian-themed mega-resort, scheduled for completion in 1999, will have 6,000 suites and will cost $2 billion.
- Planet Hollywood will begin construction on a hotel/casino in 1999. The estimated cost is $830 million.
- Circus Circus Enterprises, which owns Circus Circus, the Excalibur, the Luxor (and is a partner with Mirage Inc. in the ownership of Monte Carlo), is planning a mega megaresort on the site of the old Hacienda. It weighs in at $1.5 billion and will include a Four Seasons luxury hotel. (By way of comparison, the budget for Utah's I-15 rebuild is $1.59 billion.)
- MGM Grand Inc. has a $950 billion remake in mind for its 114-acre property including the addition of ultra luxurious (and huge - 3,000 to 11,000 square feet) suites, a non-gaming Marriott Marquis and a Ritz-Carlton. The Marriott Marquis is expected to be completed in 1999. Ground will probably be broken for the Ritz-Carlton in 2000.
- Not to be left out, the Las Vegas Hilton will open a family-friendly attraction called "Star Trek: The Experience" later this year.
But this spending spree has a downside.
Just ask the Stratosphere. It opened in April 1996 and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy the following January. (Chapter 11 is a reorganization bankruptcy, not a liquidation.)
"Our pre-opening and grand opening expenses were just too much," said Renee Roberts, the hotel's public relations coordinator. "It (the bankruptcy) doesn't affect our guest service whatsoever."
As that hotel can attest, it doesn't always pay to keep up with the Joneses.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Who visits las Vegas?
The city had 29.6 million tourists in 1996. Thirty-two million are forecast for 1997. That compares to 21 million in 1990.
Forty-six percent come from the Western states. Of that, 30 percent are Californians, 4 percent are Arizonans and the remaining 12 percent are from other Western states, including Utah.
The average tourist stays 3.7 nights and spends $505 per visit.
Eleven percent of visitors are under 21 years old. By law, minors are not allowed in casinos without an adult. Even then, they cannot loiter in gaming areas. They can only pass through on their way to another part of the hotel.
Source: Las Vegas convention and Visitors Authority