Meetings business in gaming destinations continues to climb, albeit slowly, from the depths of 2009. To further encourage people to meet up in such locales, gaming companies are turning to loyalty programs and partnership deals to sweeten the pot. This month Pinnacle Entertainment, which owns and operates seven casinos across the country, puts into effect a deal with Wynn Las Vegas: Members of Mychoice, Pinnacle's player loyalty program, can earn stays at Wynn and Encore on the Las Vegas Strip, where Pinnacle doesn't have a physical presence. Meanwhile, Wynn gets a crack at gamers accustomed to playing in smaller markets.
Last fall saw the partnering of the new Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas with Marriott International, and between the Las Vegas Sands properties and InterContinental Hotels Group. In each case, the hotel company's loyalty program members can be rewarded with stays at high-end properties on the Strip, while the Strip properties are granted access to the company's sprawling sales and reservations systems. Meanwhile, MGM Resorts International -- sprawling in its own right, with 13 hotels in Las Vegas alone -- recently launched mLife, its customer loyalty program. Across the board, frequent customers are being rewarded with what Las Vegas and other gaming destinations have to offer.
Las VegasLast December, the long-awaited, 2,995-room Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas opened on the Strip, tucked between MGM's CityCenter and Bellagio. The property has 150,000 square feet of meeting space and a 100,000-square-foot casino, as well as spacious guest rooms with private terraces overlooking the Strip.
December 2009 saw the opening of neighboring CityCenter's main properties: the 4,004-room Aria Resort & Casino, with 300,000 square feet of meeting and convention space; the 1,495-suite Vdara Hotel & Spa, with 10,000 square feet of meeting space; and the 392-room Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas, offering 12,000 square feet of meeting and event space. Aria is the lone gaming property in the complex.
The total of nearly 9,000 high-end rooms recently added to the Las Vegas inventory is a factor in keeping area room rates low, say many hoteliers. Rates are gradually climbing -- the average daily rate for 2010 was up 2 percent over 2009, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority -- but not at the clip found in some other convention cities.
Lake Las Vegas, the Mediterranean-inspired resort village 17 miles off the Strip, in Henderson, Nev., got a much-needed boost in February with the opening of Ravella at Lake Las Vegas. Dolce Hotels & Resorts opened the 349-room nongaming property after acquiring the former Ritz-Carlton following its closure last spring. The new hotel offers 30,000 square feet of meeting space and two on-site restaurants, as well as a spa.
In the city proper, deals were made in February to keep the 1,496-room Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas operational. The lenders agreed not to foreclose on the property, which is carrying $1.25 billion of debt; soon after, the Nevada Gaming Commission approved a shift in ownership from Credit Suisse and Morgans Hotel Group to one of the lenders, Brookfield Asset Management. Warner Gaming LLC will take over management of the property.
Back on the Strip, the Tropicana Las Vegas is nearing completion of extensive renovations and its new "South Beach" vibe. The 1,375 guest rooms and suites have all been renovated, with the 806 rooms in the Island Tower offering larger workspaces and other amenities to appeal to the needs of business travelers. Work is still in progress on the hotel's Nikki Beach Las Vegas, to open this spring with a restaurant, an outdoor café and bar, swim-up blackjack and concert space, plus Club Nikki, a Latin nightclub. A 10,000-square-foot spa is slated to debut this summer. The resort has a total of 60,000 square feet of meeting space.
The 2,716-room Wynn Las Vegas, meanwhile, is in the midst of a $99 million upgrade. Room renovations in the Resort Tower are now complete, while those in the Tower Suites should be wrapped up in the second quarter.
Harrah's Entertainment changed its name to Caesars Entertainment Corp. this past November. The name of its meetings group changed accordingly, to Las Vegas Meetings by Caesars Entertainment. That division facilitates group bookings at any of Caesars' eight Vegas properties, including Bally's, Caesars Palace, the Flamingo, Harrah's, the Imperial Palace, Paris, Planet Hollywood and the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino. – Michael J. Shapiro
New Mexico
Plans for an expansion of the
Sandia Resort &
Casino (pictured above), near Albuquerque, were approved by the Sandia
Pueblo Tribal Council last August, with specific details still to be
announced. The property currently has 228 guest rooms, eight
restaurants, a 12,000-square-foot spa, and 50,000 square feet of meeting
and event space.
Connecticut Last fall, two new venues debuted at Foxwoods Resort Casino in
Mashantucket, Conn. Groups of up to 800 now can rent the
35,000-square-foot High Rollers bowling lounge with 20 lanes, eight pool
tables and a two-level lounge with a fireplace; three private rooms
hold 20 to 100 people. Also new is the Comix comedy club, which welcomes
events for up to 350 people.
Foxwoods' four hotels offer a total
of 2,200 guest rooms and 150,000 square feet of meeting space,
including the 50,000-square-foot Premier Ballroom at the MGM Grand at Foxwoods. Take a tour of the resort with Foxwoods' iPhone app, available at the Apple Store (bit.ly/hSHYMQ).
Nearby, at Mohegan Sun
in Uncasville, Conn., a planned $740 million expansion remains on hold.
In the meantime, the property features 1,200 hotel rooms and 100,000
square feet of meeting space, including the 38,000-square-foot Uncas
Ballroom, more than 30 breakout rooms and a 17,500-square-foot sun
terrace for outdoor events. A new John Tunney eatery called Ballo
Italian Restaurant and Social Club will open in early summer, modeled
after a Gothic 12th-century abbey in Tuscany.
Planners will find more information about Mohegan Sun here: bit.ly/fpQ2ZD. – Sarah J.F. Braley
Atlantic CityAfter three years of
headlines about increased regional competition in Pennsylvania and
Delaware and falling casino revenues, Atlantic City finally has some
upbeat news.
In January, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie signed
bill S-11, authorizing the creation of a tourism district within
Atlantic City, to be administered by the Casino Reinvestment Development
Authority, to advance commercial development, undertake redevelopment
projects and institute infrastructure improvements (for more
information, see this month's Atlantic City destination guide on page
61).
And the New Jersey gaming scene may be in for some further
changes: Last month, the Meadowlands Regional Chamber of Commerce
announced a plan to build a casino at the state-run stadium and racing
complex in East Rutherford, in northern New Jersey. At press time,
however, news outlets reported that Christie is opposed to the plan and
wants to confine state gaming to Atlantic City.
To that end,
Christie also signed off on a measure allowing the development of two
200-room casino hotels in the city. One of the new licenses is for a
"staged casino," which means the developers may open a 200-room property
on the condition they will expand it in five years. New Jersey law
previously required casino hotels to have 500 rooms. According to press
reports, Hard Rock International has expressed interest.
In
other development news, Landry's, the parent company of Nevada's Gold
Nugget Las Vegas and Golden Nugget Laughlin properties, has agreed to
purchase the Trump Marina Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City from Trump Entertainment Resorts for $38 million. The 728-room hotel will be rebranded under the Gold Nugget name and will undergo a head-to-toe renovation, set for completion by the end of this year.
Meanwhile,
Revel Entertainment Group announced in February that it had completed a
$1.15 billion financing package to move ahead with construction of
Revel, a new beachfront resort that will feature 1,100 guest rooms, a
150,000-square-foot casino and a 5,500-seat theater. The project, which
is expected to open for business in mid-2012, had stalled after Morgan
Stanley pulled its funding for it last spring.
On the meetings
front, Atlantic City saw an uptick in the number of future convention
attendee bookings. As of the end of last October, according to
statistics compiled by the Atlantic City Convention & Visitors
Authority, more than 440,000 people had signed up for conventions
scheduled through 2015, an increase of 73 percent compared with data
from October 2009. The delegates are projected to spend more than $169
million. – Lisa A. Grimaldi
Detroit Detroit's casinos are holding their own, having reported either increasing or stable revenue last year. The 400-room MGM Grand Detroit led
the city's three gaming properties in 2010, posting a 6.3 percent gain
in revenue, year-over-year, at $582 million, while the 400-room Greektown Casino Hotel showed a 1 percent increase, to $350 million. At the 400-room MotorCity Casino Hotel, revenues remained flat at $446 million.
The Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority announced last month a three-year, $221 million plan to revamp the Cobo Conference & Exhibition Center, a move that could bring more groups to the region -- and into the casinos. Upgrades include the following:
•
The Cobo Arena will be transformed into a 40,000-square-foot ballroom
and exhibition space, with supporting meeting, prefunction and
back-of-house space.
• An additional 25,000 square feet of trade
show space will be tacked on to the existing 600,000 square feet of
exhibition spacer.
• The building's façade will get a giant digital signboard.
The
Cobo Center will remain open during the renovations, with construction
planned around events. The project is expecting to be complete at the
beginning of 2014. – Michael C. Lowe
Reno/Tahoe The
past several years saw an investment of nearly $1 billion in the
meetings infrastructure of the Reno/Tahoe region, and area hosts are
eager to get the word out. On the heels of last year's partnership
between the Reno-Sparks Convention Center and neighboring Atlantis Casino Resort Spa and Peppermill Resort Casino,
known by its URL of RenoResortsConventions.com, comes the Reno Tahoe
Meetings Co-Op, a broader collaboration. Members include the Reno Sparks
Convention and Visitors Authority, the North Lake Tahoe and South Lake
Tahoe visitor bureaus, and 16 meeting hotels and facilities in the
region, all of which have joined forces to promote the area. (See the
group's "Come see. Fly free" site at comeseeflyfree.com for information about the participating properties and fam trips for qualified planners.)
One project being discussed is a transformation of Rancharrah,
the 147-acre ranch in southwest Reno owned by John Harrah, the son of
William F. Harrah, founder of the lodging and gaming company. Proposals
include converting the 25,000-square-foot main residence to a
special-events center, using a sunken events terrace behind the house
for groups of up to 500, developing boutique lodging, and building a
52-acre equestrian events facility and pasture. Development could begin
as early as this summer if city approvals are granted.
In late February, investment company The Meruelo Group announced it would soon purchase the 2,000-room Grand Sierra Resort & Casino,
the largest gaming property in the region. Tentative plans include a
general upgrade and reopening an outdoor amphitheater for special
events. The deal was expected to close sometime last month.
The 1,702-room Silver Legacy Resort Casino
wrapped up a $15 million guest room renovation last December. The
property has 50,000 square feet of meeting space, as well as the largest
working indoor mining rig, which is on display to simulate the silver
mining of the region's past.
The 800-room Atlantis Casino Resort Spa
in Reno is completing a three-year, $100 million renovation. Highlights
include 26,000 square feet of new meeting and convention space, for a
total of 50,000 square feet. – M.J.S.
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania's 10 casinos posted impressive numbers this January,
raking in more than $43 million in table games revenue -- the second
most lucrative month since the state legalized such gaming last year.
Leading the pack was the Parx Casino in Bensalem, Pa., which took
in $7.6 million from its 152 tables -- the most gaming tables in the
state. Parx is 20 minutes north of Center City, Philadelphia, and
currently is updating its 260,000 square feet of gaming space.
The Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem
posted the second-largest table games revenue for January. The property
plans to open its 300-room hotel tower in May, featuring more than
5,000 square feet of meeting space, an indoor pool and a fitness center.
Still in the works are an additional 50,000 square feet of
multipurpose/event space and 200,000 square feet of retail space.
In September, the SugarHouse Casino
opened on Philadelphia's Delaware River waterfront with more than 1,600
slots and 43 table games. An on-site restaurant and bar, The Refinery,
can be booked for private events.
Gaming matters aside, the biggest meetings-related news in Philadelphia is the opening of the expanded Pennsylvania Convention Center.
The ribbon cutting took place March 4, and by March 9 the venue was
hosting two large shows simultaneously, which previously would not have
been possible. With the expansion, the convention center is 62 percent
larger, with 1 million square feet of usable space.
Out west, Pittsburgh's Rivers Casino
received expansion approval at the end of January. Nineteen game tables
were added, for a total of 107. The property also got the green light
to construct a 15,000-square-foot ballroom. The venue will provide
riverfront and skyline views upon opening late this summer. – M.J.S.
South California 
Just 20 minutes southeast of downtown Palm Springs, Calif., the Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa
introduced a new 4,000-square-foot poker room last October with 16
tables, a beverage station and nine flat-screen televisions. The
340-room property includes six dining options, a 10,500-square-foot spa
and fitness center, and 10,000 square feet of flexible meeting space.
In June, the 662-room Harrah's Rincon Casino & Resort
opened a new $6.2 million dining facility called The Buffet. The
restaurant includes more than 270 dishes in a setting that includes
carving stations, fresh artisan breads and a made-to-order pasta
station. The resort, which is a 45-minute drive northeast of San Diego
in Valley Center, has 13,500 square feet of meeting space. – M.C.L.
There's
a lot more gaming news from other destinations, including Florida, the
Mississippi Gulf Coast, Northern California, Macau and Singapore, all
found online at mcmag.com/webexclusives.