Sunday News had a short break from the action. As a writer, the lack of news was a nice break from the usual week in Las Vegas. However, I knew the following week would be different when I saw a few new rumors shortly after we posted last week. Unlike last week, there’s a lot of news so let’s just get to it.
Business
Land In Between Plaza And Main Street Station Sold
The first rumor I saw last week was that the land between the Plaza and Main Street Station had been sold to Derek Stevens. That rumor seemed to pick up steam during the week with a few people mentioning the deal. It seems as though this land across the street from the Las Vegas Club will be used by Stevens, owner of Las Vegas Club, Golden Gate Casino, and The D, for parking in some way when the Las Vegas Club opens as a new casino. You can read one of my first TravelZork articles about the Las Vegas Club here.
Bonanza Gift Shop Sold
It seems as though I’ve been hearing rumors about the sale of “The World’s Largest Giftshop” aka Bonanza Gift Shop for years. Well, was officially sold last week. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal the Bonanza Gift Shop will remain intact. There’s no reason to doubt this for the time being but it could change in the near future.
W Las Vegas is opening across the street at SLS Las Vegas and Lucky Dragon is opening just a few doors down on Sahara. If those businesses do well and Resorts World and Alon actually begin construction there might be interested parties looking at developing the land. That’s a lot of “if’s” so just enjoy the gift shop. If you don’t visit Las Vegas often, you might want to stop by in case something happens out of nowhere.
MGM Resorts International Wants To Bring An NBA Team To Las Vegas
This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. MGM Resorts International owns 50% of T-Mobile Arena and with more than 40 home games per season NBA and NHL teams are a great way to fill an arena. Last week Jim Murren, CEO or MGM Resorts International, told any media that would listen that he’s looking to bring an NBA team to Las Vegas.
This isn’t something that will happen overnight and could take some time since he’s looking to relocate an existing team to Las Vegas. You can read more here. Since I’m discussing sports, don’t expect news about an NFL team coming to Las Vegas until next year.
MGM Resorts International Raising Resort Fees Again
Another day in Las Vegas and another fee. MGM Resorts announced that on November 8th, they’re increasing the nightly resort fee again at some of their Las Vegas hotels. Here’s the breakdown:
- Aria, Vdara, Bellagio increase from $32 to $35
- Luxor and Excalibur increase from $26 to $29
- Circus Circus increases from $21 to $24
The other MGM Resorts hotel resort fees remain the same:
- Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand, The Mirage, Signature – remains at $32
- Monte Carlo and New York-New York – remains at $30
Travel
Visitation and Hotel Room Rates Climbing Rapidly
Increasing resort fees aren’t keeping people away from Las Vegas. They’re also not keeping base hotel room rates down. Visitors to Las Vegas reached 3.7 million in September according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. After the first nine months of the year visitation is 32.5 million. That’s almost 2 % ahead of last year’s record-setting total visitation.
Meanwhile, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is reporting that the average daily room rate (ADR) in September was $137.11. That’s a whopping 8.9% increase over September 2015. ADR includes rack rate on complimentary rooms and does not include resort fees.
Heads Up Drivers
The freeways in Las Vegas will be a mess for the next couple of years because of Project Neon. A major disruption started last week for the huge construction project. If you drive in Las Vegas you should check out this article and video from CBS local news. Happy that I rarely use the freeway system.
Casinos
Mobile Charging Comes To Three Casinos
Good news! Sorta. The two casinos in downtown Las Vegas that have the most 6:5 blackjack, Binion’s and Four Queens, now have USB slots at every table to charge your mobile phone. Just like other charging outlets you’ll need to bring your own cable. These might not be very convenient since you can’t place your device on the table.
The renovations at the Chandelier Bar at the Cosmopolitan include USB slots for every bar stool. Again, you’ll have to bring your own cable but you’ll be able to place your device on the bar while it’s charging. Earlier this year the Cosmopolitan introduced charging outlets for players in their high limits slot room.
There shouldn’t be a week that goes by that casinos aren’t upgrading their bars, table games, and slot machine cabinets to have mobile device charging outlets. Expect to see this trend to continue in more casinos.
The November 9 At WSOP Begins Tonight
Does it feel as though the World Series of Poker never ends? The poker tournament that started back on May 31 will come to an end this week. The final table of nine players begins tonight and will end sometime on Tuesday, November 1.
If you’re in Las Vegas you want to watch the event for free in person at the Penn & Teller Ballroom at the Rio. If you’re at home ESPN will be airing the final table live from Sunday through Tuesday. You can see the TV schedule here.
Want To Buy A Sigma Derby Machine?
There was a Sigma Derby machine on eBay last week that nobody bid on. Sure the game is broken but there has to be someone who could either fix it or use the game for parts. The auction is over but I’m sure the seller would listen if someone came in with a strong offer for the game. One catch, you have to get the game from the once fabulous town of Wildwood, NJ. See the listing here.
Quick Hits
Here are a few items that I want to share but don’t have deep thoughts about.
Las Vegas magicians make BANK – Copperfield, Penn & Teller, and Criss Angel made more money last year than many of us will make in a lifetime. Read here.
OG’s Closed! – The world famous Olympic Gardens closed last week. Read here.
Taco Bell Cantina Opening Soon – The flagship restaurant will be open on the Vegas Strip by Thanksgiving. Read here.
Seahorse Lounge at Caesars Palace Becomes Alto – I requested photos but didn’t receive them. Nothing more to see.
Aureole Changing – The concept of this popular restaurant will change soon. Read here.
Rumor of the week: Sharknado Coming To Life In Las Vegas
Hidden deep inside of an article from Johnny Kats at the Las Vegas Review-Journal about another show closing at Tropicana is this little nugget about a potential live musical version of Sharknado in Las Vegas. I’m beyond words, so let’s use Kats’
“I’m hearing some credible accounts of plans for a musical stage adaptation of the “Sharknado” film franchise on the Strip. Reportedly, Caesars Entertainment officials have cast a wide net (hah) for Las Vegas production companies to pitch ideas for a show in one of the resort company’s open showrooms.”
What a country!
TravelZork features you don’t want to miss!
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Everything you wanted to know about ALL THE LOUNGES at LAS (Las Vegas Airport).
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