[dude66]

Down and out in Las Vegas
Saturday, 5 July 2008

"With Americans cutting back on luxuries, and the price of transport rocketing, the so-called "Vegas vacation" is facing the axe. This week, as the nation celebrated Independence Day, major hotels were taking stock of a fall in all-important room occupancy rates from their usually impressive 95 per cent levels to nearer 80 per cent."

full article: Down and out in Las Vegas - Americas, World - The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/down-and-out-in-las-vegas-860513.html - broken link)

[tablemtn]

80% occupancy isn't bad by national standards, though I can see why it's worse in Las Vegas than it might be in other areas where sheer volume of visitors isn't required to churn out profits on slender margins.

[AA702]

I'm not sure about the numbers, but how about places like Orlando where they also depend on tourist dollars?

[airics]

didn't you hear.. the economy's so bad here, that they closed Orlando?

[Buzz123]

I've always heard that around 80% occupancy is normal, so maybe what they are saying is that for a big weekend like the 4th of July it should be at 95%. We went to Spamalot tonight and the hotel seemed busy but the show room wasn't full. Most people we saw in Wynn looked like they had plenty of money.

[sheriff]

Originally Posted by Buzz123

I've always heard that around 80% occupancy is normal, so maybe what they are saying is that for a big weekend like the 4th of July it should be at 95%. We went to Spamalot tonight and the hotel seemed busy but the show room wasn't full. Most people we saw in Wynn looked like they had plenty of money.

I don't know how they come up with this, but, local news is reporting revenue is down 7% from last year; this is really the only figure that matters.

[sheriff]

The area of corporate dollars spent in LV is also on the decline. The last NAB, the two largest exhibitors, Apple, and Avid pulled out at the last minute. The next major convention, MAGIC has been here since 1989, twice a year, four days each show--------has cut back to three days this August. I see this as a 25% loss of revenue to LV.

[PinkString]

We are in a recession...all over the united states, not just here.

[AA702]

Originally Posted by PinkString

We are in a recession...all over the united states, not just here.

I totally agree, why pin point Las Vegas? is it because it was such a boom town before? There are so many cities that are hard hit, even my family members that live in the Maryland/DC area are feeling the pinch of layoffs and housing declines and high gas prices.

[photobuff42]

I think because it's a major vacation destination and the residents of those other hard hit cities either aren't going on vacation or they're sticking closer to home. The Vegas economy also lacks the diversity of other cities.