For the past year, Caesars has been devoted to renovating their hotel rooms around the country. The reason for the upgrades is $imple. The new room products result in higher room rates. The interesting thing is that renovated Las Vegas hotel rooms are sort of a win-win for customers and the hotel operator.
Improved Decor and Amenities
New hotel room product must fit today’s customer visually and functionally. In other words, customers want hotel rooms that look like they fit today’s decor and personal needs. Newer hotel room decor shows that the operator is paying attention to what customers are looking for. This also helps provide a sense of value to the customer.
The amenities in the rooms have to meet the needs of a customer today too. Something as simple as an easy access point to plug in mobile phone charger(s) can go a long way to satisfy customer demand.
Wall outlets aren’t easy to move. Lucky Dragon hotel rooms are the newest near the Vegas Strip. The alarm clocks have two USB chargers each. This is an easy upgrade that any hotel can offer to modernize the look and offer a better amenity.
Money Rules For Caesars
Yes, we all prefer new hotel rooms. We’re also willing to pay for those new rooms. Customers don’t seem to mind paying a little more for a modern or renovated room. According to Caesars Entertainment earnings reports (listen or read here) for the past year the upgraded rooms generate 10%-15% more revenue than older hotel rooms.
The increase in revenue for Caesars Entertainment is modest for a reason. Most of their casino-hotels in Las Vegas are middle tier properties. Most Caesars properties are not luxury resorts and they’re not discount hotels. Here’s a look at how Caesars appears to perceive the value of their casino-resorts in Las Vegas.
Luxury
Caesars Palace (and Nobu)
The Cromwell
Mid-Range
Paris Las Vegas
Planet Hollywood
Flamingo
The Linq
Bally’s
Harrah’s
Rio
Recent and Current Caesars Hotel Room Renovations
You can see current prices for the rooms at the Caesars Destinations page. Caesars Entertainment renovated approximately 5,000 hotel rooms in Las Vegas in 2016. By the end of 2017, Caesars will have upgraded 6,000 hotel rooms around the country. This is the most hotel rooms they’ve renovated in any year. Of course, the majority of the hotel room renovations will happen in their Las Vegas casino-resorts.
The pace or renovations won’t slow down in 2018. In Vegas News this week we let you know Harrah’s Las Vegas and Bally’s are next up for hotel room renovations in Las Vegas. The following slide from Caesars earnings presentation shows their hotel room renovation projects over the past few years and into the future.
New Total-Rewards Rooms
By the end of 2017, there will be a new hotel room product at Caesars Palace Las Vegas, Harrah’s, and Planet Hollywood. By the end of 2018, there will be thousands of new hotel rooms at Flamingo and Bally’s Las Vegas. The majority of Caesars Entertainment hotel rooms in Las Vegas will have been renovated in the past few years when this project is over.
The company can take a short break from renovating hotel rooms as hotel rooms are only upgraded every five to seven years. They can probably start this process again in 2020.
Marc grew up on the mean streets of the South Bronx. He's the rare combination of Yankees and Jets fan which explains his often contrarian point of view. He learned about gambling at a young age working down the street from a bookie who took action on anything from the mainstream sports to the last three digits of the purse for certain horse races. Yeah, that's a thing. Today Marc is a freelance writer and social media consultant which allows him to work anywhere there's a wifi signal. This allows him to work from the sportsbook at Red Rock Resort or the food court at The Venetian where you’ll find fast and free wifi. Writing about steak, booze, gambling and Las Vegas is a tough job but somebody has to do it.
