Las Vegas Casino Hotel Rooms ‘Heavily Discounted’ During Summer Reopening

Posted on: May 26, 2020, 10:11h. 

Last updated on: May 26, 2020, 12:50h.

Devin O'Connor @CasinoorgDevinO Read More
Expertise: Asia Pacific Gaming, Commercial Gaming, Legislation, Politics.

Las Vegas casinos are set to reopen Thursday, June 4, and analysts say hotel room rates will be greatly reduced in the months ahead.

Las Vegas casino hotel Nevada
Las Vegas will begin reopening June 4, and hotel rooms will likely be available on the cheap. (Image: UPI)

Last week, Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak (D) announced a June 4 target date to reopen casinos. All gaming venues across the state have been closed for more than two months.

The Nevada Gaming Control Board (NGCB) is meeting today to consider necessary health protection measures to assure a safe reopening of the nation’s richest gaming industry. The NGCB will relay its reopening conditions to the governor, who plans to hold a press conference this evening to disclose the terms.

As for Las Vegas’ nearly 150,000 hotel rooms, more than half are expected to remain unavailable for occupancy during the initial restart.

Of the major casino operators on the Strip – MGM Resorts, Caesars Entertainment, Las Vegas Sands, and Wynn Resorts – Deutsche Bank gaming analyst Carlo Santarelli expects their available number of rooms to be at 40.8 percent. His conclusion is based on each company’s reopening announcements.

Deals Abound

For those interested and willing to return to Las Vegas, experts say now is the time to book your hotel.

“While we think the demand uptake could be reasonably sufficient, we expect heavily discounted room rates and a higher mix of casino comps,” Santarelli explained in his note.

Nightly rates for June 8-10

  • Bellagio $159
  • The Venetian $143
  • New York-New York $69
  • Paris $55
  • MGM Grand $53
  • The LINQ $35
  • Bally’s $35

*above prices do not include taxes and resort fees.

The average nightly rate for a Las Vegas Strip hotel room in 2019 was $169.45.

Rates could increase should casinos see a higher-than-expected demand in the weeks and months ahead. But for the meantime, Santarelli believes Sin City will need to rely on drive-in visitors.

“It is reasonable to expect the vast majority of the visitors to be drive-in guests, who would be expected to have a shorter length of stay associated with their trip,” Santarelli concluded.

Air Travel Grounded

Las Vegas’ main airport, McCarran International, reported a record year in 2019 in terms of arriving and departing passenger traffic. The airport served 51.5 million passengers, shattering the previous record set in 2018 of 49.6 million passengers.

Year-to-date, McCarran has reported a 15.5 percent decline in passenger traffic, including a 53.1 percent tumble in March.

In a release titled, “Betting Against the Spread: LAS is All in,” Clark County Director of Aviation Rosemary Vassiliadis says McCarran is focusing on four main areas to mitigate COVID-19: cleaning and sanitization, encouraging and coordinating social distancing, minimizing the number of people in the terminals, and reducing person-to-person interactions and contacts.

“The airport and travel experience is going to be different from what people experienced before the COVID-19 outbreak, whether you’re a seasoned traveler or an infrequent flyer,” said Vassiliadis. “This campaign will help passengers understand the changes they will see at McCarran, and instill the confidence to feel they can still travel in a safe and healthy way.”