[las vegas drunk]

Originally Posted by big daryle

Vegas and the la area are both stinking piles of ====. Atomic bombs dropped on both of them would be the best course of action.

I find this highly offensive, especially since you are implying we should all be killed. If you do not like Vegas or Cali, do not come here...as simple as that.

[Wing Feathers]

Originally Posted by Thisissam

Vegas is just not what it use to be. So many half built high rises and buildings like City Center just sitting there weathering away with no construction on, yes, weekdays. I remeber having to wait an hour at the check in line at the hotel before and now hardly 15 minutes if even that.

The crowd in the hotels and restaurants are thin. The gentlemens clubs are bout 2/3 empty by midnight and its just depressing. I remember waiting 90 minutes at 2am to eat dinner at a restaurant. Now I walk in and maybe 8-9 people there at 12ish and half the resraurants lights off.

So depressing to go to Vegas and the energy and excitement that was alwys there is now gone.

And honestly, who knows whether it will ever come back seems like its hayday is dying if not already dead. *sigh*

AHAHAHHAHAHHAHAAAAAAA!!!! wait, this IS a joke, right? I was out there a couple months ago & it was busy as ever. Are you sure it wasn't your foul odor that cleared the room???

[las vegas drunk]

Originally Posted by drinkme

AHAHAHHAHAHHAHAAAAAAA!!!! wait, this IS a joke, right? I was out there a couple months ago & it was busy as ever. Are you sure it wasn't your foul odor that cleared the room???

It has really gotten noticeably worse in last month or so. As I said earlier, I like the change as I do not like crowds, but I know it is not good for the casinos.

[ClarkGrisowld]

Originally Posted by las vegas drunk

It has really gotten noticeably worse in last month or so. As I said earlier, I like the change as I do not like crowds, but I know it is not good for the casinos.

I believe we have bottomed. Lots of reasons to believe this. Market seems to be trying to form a bottom. Job losses have accelerated dramatically which is usually a precursor to the bottom. The stimulus will have to have at least some positive impact eventually.

But recovery will be slow. I see the recession ending in Q4, possibly Q3. The question then becomes how quickly will people come back to Vegas? My personal opinion is when jobs improve and people are more secure they are going to "celebrate" with the trip to Vegas they've been putting off.

However, when will jobs recover? Remember, the 2001 recession was characterized for a long time as a "jobless recovery". Companies have probably cut back too far for when business starts to improve. But I think they will be very hesitant to hire en masse when the recovery begins. That most likely means a pretty lousy 2009 followed by a slightly less lousy first half of 2010, for Vegas. Probably looking at Sep 2010 before things start looking up for Vegas again.

So be prepared to dig in for the long haul. If I'm right about recovery beginning @ Q4 of this year expect companies to delay significant hiring until probably at least Q2 of 2010. They will wait for the recovery to firmly take hold before increasing payrolls. In other words, if the historic lag between employment and recovery is 6 months (guessing, sounds about right), tack on another 3-6 months to that.

From Vegas perspective, though, the stock markets should start to recover 3-6 months before the general economy. And that would be a huge boost to the casinos from the high-end segment. And from that perspective, things could maybe pick-up May of next year, but that is a seasonally slow period and so would have little overall impact on the local Vegas job scene.

[Thisissam]

Yea but the truth is you can still have fun. They will still take your money. The restaurants still serve the same good food. The gentlemens clubs are actually more fun with the significant increase is dancers.

Its just sentiment and the vegas economy that has been completely destroyed. On an individual basis you can still have fun. Plenty of good food, pretty women, shows, gambling, etc jus with a grain of salt bc you will be eating alone in the dark, etc.

[olecapt]

Originally Posted by Thisissam

Yea but the truth is you can still have fun. They will still take your money. The restaurants still serve the same good food. The gentlemens clubs are actually more fun with the significant increase is dancers.

Its just sentiment and the vegas economy that has been completely destroyed. On an individual basis you can still have fun. Plenty of good food, pretty women, shows, gambling, etc jus with a grain of salt bc you will be eating alone in the dark, etc.

Sorry you simply do not understand.

The damage in Las Vegas is there but relatively minor.

The thing that is damaged badly is not the Las Vegtas economy...which at worst is cotracting a bit...but the Institutioal investor who bought into the big casino operations. They may well lose their shirts...and skivvies.

But that has little to do with the LV economy which will sail smoothly on...

[RedRockAAAA]

Rep up Ludi. Your view point usually depends on your frame of reference. Well put. I used to live in an 11PM McDonald town too, lol. And the Dairy Queen was practically a drive-thru without the drive-thru window, if ya get my drift.

[PinkString]

I used to live in a small town where everything closed by 6p.m. They rolled up the sidewalks and put them away too.
Vegas has eons to go before it ever gets like that.

[tony soprano]

FWIW, here are the January '09 numbers which are the most recent I've been able to find.

Visitor Volume -11.9%
Room Inventory 5.8%
Citywide Occupancy -13.0%
Hotel Occupancy -13.0%
Motel Occupancy -16.6%
Weekend Occupancy -3.2%
Midweek Occupancy -18.1%
Average Daily Room Rate (ADR) -19.9%
Total Room Nights Occupied -11.0%
Convention Attendance -20.6%
Conventions & Meetings Held -19.5%
Total En/Deplaned Passengers -15.7%

Average Daily Auto Traffic:
All Major Highways -0.7%
1-15 at NV/CA Border 2.6%

Gaming Revenue:
Clark County -16.3%
Las Vegas Strip -14.8%
Downtown -22.7%
Boulder Strip -23.0%

[SCGranny]

Oh, please.
First off, three things make money during a recession - W**rehouses, Bars, and taxicabs. In otherwords, the vices are what people spend money on... and the ability to get them to and fro.

Second off, do you REALIZE how, during the bubble, developers were SALIVATING to get into Vegas? One of my developer friends was fighting to get into that market - not an easy task, due to the fact that Vegas is restricted by political boundaries, the longevity of previous developers, and the fact that few folks there can build OUT instead of UP. Soooo many retirees were buying up condos in LV that the market could not meet the demand! People were borrowing on the 'equity' in their overpriced brannew homes, and they weren't just spending it on SUVs but on trips to Vegas. Now that those people are having their houses foreclosed upon, and are losing their jobs, there is an absence of the buy buy buy hysteria. But the folks who DIDN'T make the mistake of buying property that "will double in value every six months!" will still go to Vegas. It was a typical boom and bust scenario. The ones who will lose money in Vegas are the ones who should - those newbie developers who thought that the bubble could NEVER burst, and they were going to take advantage of it all.

I personally think it is great - instead of having to meet the sudden demands of infrastructure (several developers told me that Vegas was going to have to build 4 schools a month alone just to catch up!) - the growth will be less hysterical, more measured and more mature.

You can't really say income and profits are 'down' if you are comparing them to the income that was received from people who had no cash, but only credit; who were irresponsibly throwing money away left and right, giving themselves trips to Vegas and everywhere else. Now they have to pay the piper. That was foolish to depend on for any length of time, in any town or situation. Those who thought it would last forever, and invested and built that way -Darwin rules.