[702Scott]

I know some dream that F&B will be king, but the casino still rules.

The last quarterly filing (10Q) for MGM Resorts shows that company-wide, 1st quarter 2013 revenues by area were:

Casino 1,401,420,000
Rooms 401,250,000
Food and beverage 359,882,000
Entertainment 113,854,000
Retail 44,707,000
Other 123,826,000

Caesars wasn't much different:
Casino $ 1,495,100,000
Food and beverage 380,100,000
Rooms 288,200,000
Management fees 10,700,000
Other 262,900,000

[BBMW]

I had a sister and (now late) brother in law who were very deep into the Manhattan banquet business. I was astonished at what they could charge.

I'm a little surprised that corporate event bookers haven't woken up and put their food down about this.

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

For the people not in the biz, BEO stands for "Banquet Event Order." That's where we bend them over and charge them $110 for a gallon of coffee, and $5 each per bottle of water. That's where the money is these days. Not from some gambler playing penny slots and then getting a comped buffet.

[cowherjaw]

Even though times are tighter, companies still have more money to spend than consumers. Food and beverage can still be cheap for the individual if they want it to be.

But back to the broader topic, I have a friend that puts event bids out to numerous places and geographies when deciding where to book and even with the Vegas properties gouging for F&B, they are still typically the cheapest overall. They just had an event at the Bellagio, which was the cheapest bid they got even with multiple Vegas properties bidding, so it's still a great value place overall

[Raiderman]

Originally Posted by cowherjaw

Even though times are tighter, companies still have more money to spend than consumers. Food and beverage can still be cheap for the individual if they want it to be.

But back to the broader topic, I have a friend that puts event bids out to numerous places and geographies when deciding where to book and even with the Vegas properties gouging for F&B, they are still typically the cheapest overall. They just had an event at the Bellagio, which was the cheapest bid they got even with multiple Vegas properties bidding, so it's still a great value place overall

Bellagio, IMO, is the best place to host events. Simple reason being there is no union charging $150/hr for labor. Non-union venues are few and far between in this city. I work for an outside a/v company (the venue's competition), and many of the venues will charge "shadow" fees so their union guys can watch us work.. at $150+ per hour. Take that out of the equation, and the overall cost of the show is dramatically reduced.

[Cyborgt800]

702Scott, you list Caesars, but did you really mean Harrah's?

Well since it's Caesars Entertainment Corp. and not Harrah's Entertainment Corp.
I think he meant Caesars.

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by Raiderman

Bellagio, IMO, is the best place to host events. Simple reason being there is no union charging $150/hr for labor. Non-union venues are few and far between in this city. I work for an outside a/v company (the venue's competition), and many of the venues will charge "shadow" fees so their union guys can watch us work.. at $150+ per hour. Take that out of the equation, and the overall cost of the show is dramatically reduced.

Bellagio is an MGM property. I wasn't aware that there are non-union MGM properties.

[Raiderman]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

Bellagio is an MGM property. I wasn't aware that there are non-union MGM properties.

I'm assuming there are many unions within the property. When I was a dealer at a different property, we were in the UAW union. I was speaking solely about the A/V department. The vast majority of the other properties are IATSE. Bellagio has none for that department, unless they have unionized in the past 6 months, something of which I am not aware.

[irishspy]

You can still eat cheap in this town but the casinos make their money all of them from the people playing .40 cents a spin on the slots how the pay off for a win on .40 is much less that on a full bet. If you watch careful many machines are played this way and the players do this to suck down the comp drinks. The casinos make a mint off of this because they are not paying out full hits on the machines. Proof is in the numbers and the Casinos are raking it in. The .40 centers also eat up many free spins and big payouts so it is hard for a person playing at a higher $$level to make money. I do agree if the convention business tanked here LV would be in deep trouble. One other thing LV has great customer service and it stands out people do rave about it. the Entertainment is above all other places and it is not the same old stuff and that is what people want.

[BBMW]

The convention business has been on a downward trend (nationwide) for a while. This could be a major issue for Vegas going forward.

[Raiderman]

Originally Posted by BBMW

The convention business has been on a downward trend (nationwide) for a while. This could be a major issue for Vegas going forward.

That's 100% true. Decisions are being made last minute, as organizers are waiting for registration money to come in prior to finalizing arrangements. July and August are typically the slowest months of the year, but Nationally, the Fall is looking really good. At least from where I sit.