Two Way Hard Three

Vegas Gang #40 - November 20, 2009

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:39:14 -0800

This time on the show:

* Hunter Tours CityCenter
* Fontainebleau
* Global Gaming Expo 2009

I believe we'll have someone from MGM Mirage Design Group on a future episode, not too far away. Feel free to submit questions here.

http://www.vegasgangpodcast.com

Misc. Las Vegas

VegasMediaGroup — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:35:55 PST

VegasMediaGroup posted a photo:

Monte Carlo [Flickr]

VegasMediaGroup — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:35:36 PST

VegasMediaGroup posted a photo:

Monte Carlo

VegasMediaGroup — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:35:14 PST

VegasMediaGroup posted a photo:

Monte Carlo [Flickr]

VegasMediaGroup — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:34:17 PST

VegasMediaGroup posted a photo:

Monte Carlo

VegasMediaGroup — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:33:33 PST

VegasMediaGroup posted a photo:

Penn Nat'l Offers Whatever Was Left In Its PayPal Account For Fontainebleau

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:43:42 -0800

Perennial bridesmaid Penn National Gaming made a formal bid for the shut-down Fontainebleau project on the Las Vegas Strip today - the bid: $50 million. Bidding ends January 15th, 2010.

The project has incurred over $1.5 billion in construction costs and is estimated to require perhaps a similar amount to complete to original specification.

If Penn pulls this off, they'll have their first Las Vegas Strip presence - something they've toyed with for some time... If this does happen, Jeff Soffer is going to enter the gaming disaster hall of fame, right next to new-Aladdin developer Jack Sommer... Sommer? Soffer? Odd name similarity there... Anyway...

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/nov/17/penn-nationals-bid-sets-auction-fontainebleau/

UPDATED: Third Quarter 2009 Financial Results: WYNN, BYD, HET, LVS, MGM, STN

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 08:04:35 -0800

I'm trying something a little different this quarter - a single thread to cover all gaming companies reporting.

I will update this thread as other companies report.

Wynn Resorts - Net Income: $34.2 million Revenue: $773.1 million
* Wynn Las Vegas / Encore Las Vegas: ADR: $210 Occupancy: 83.9%
* Wynn Macau: ADR: $263 Occupancy: 89.2%

Boyd Gaming - Net Income: $6.3 million Revenue: $398.2 million
The Echelon project will remain mothballed for three to five years.

Harrah's Entertainment - Net Income: -$1.05 billion (loss) Revenue: $2.28 billion
Harrah's is privately held.

Las Vegas Sands - Net Income: -$123 million (loss) Revenue: $1.14 billion

MGM Mirage - Net Income: -$750.4 million (loss) Revenue: $1.533 billion LV Sun

Station Casinos - Net Income: -$455.4 million (loss) Revenue: $255.7 million. Station is privately held. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/nov/16/station-casinos-loss-widens-reorganization-costs/

PHo Promotion Offers Rooms in Bulk Between Now and March

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:24:53 -0800

Interesting promotion from Planet Hollywood - you pay $600 and can stay 10 nights between now and March 2010, working out to $60 a night.

What makes this really interesting is that there are no blackout dates and the hated resort fee is waived.

http://www.planethollywoodresort.com/ags_accommodations_phanatic.php?utm_source=SoMe&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=DPASS

For frequent visitors, these sorts of promotions could really save some money. Props to PHo for trying something like this.

Morning Report: WYNN Dividend and Dan Lee out at Pinnacle

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:10:30 -0800

Two interesting but unrelated stories this morning:

* Wynn Resorts will be paying a special dividend to shareholders and then start paying a regular dividend in 2010.

* CEO Dan Lee has left Pinnacle Entertainment, a Las Vegas based casino operator with properties in various US markets. Lee was Mirage Resorts CFO in a past life and partly responsible for assembling the parcel that is now CityCenter.

Posting both for the sake of discussion...

Encore Beach Club Underway?

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:07:29 -0800

The Encore Beach Club, which we broke all the way back in August, is finally starting to take shape.

This photo was posted to VegasTripping.com today (used with permission - thanks blackjacker1979).

Yikes. It appears they've yanked out much of the plush-ness that was the Encore atrium. Here's what it looked like before Paul Bunyan came through:

You can see that even the stuff around the edges of the high limit room is gone. It's slightly out of frame but I assume this tree, an ancient Aloe, is gone too - though I assume moved and not killed as it was over 100 years old. The company has a good track record for preserving these things, some of which are worth tens of thousands of dollars.

I can't imagine that Paige Dixon, Wynn Resorts' chief horticulturalist, enjoys ripping out something that worked as well as this did - it was a small space but one of my favorites in the Wynncore complex.

It seems odd to start indoors on this project - most of the work will be outside. This area is open to the casino, the upscale Switch (though reportedly underperforming) restaurant and the High Limit Slot room. Perhaps this landscaping will be replaced in-kind before exterior work even begins?

Another shot:

The VT Wynncore.com 'Debacle'

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:54:38 -0800

By now, I doubt that any regular reader isn't familiar with the VegasTripping.com / Wynn Resorts flap over wynncore.com.

Well, Charles S. Monster has posted their planned response and I think it's just about perfect (except for Steven vs. Stephen - sorry, couldn't resist the nitpick).

As Chuck's partner in the referenced EncoreOpening.com Web site, I can confirm his origination of said term, which no doubt has entered our lexicon - I use it myself frequently.

I'm typically not one for boycotts or protests but there is no doubt that Wynn Resorts made themselves look a bit silly this time around. Maybe they didn't realize who the domain belonged to or its intended purpose. Let's hope that they buy into CSM's plan to reconcile - I'd rather see Twitpics of Macau than the inside of a courtroom.

Of course we'll all be watching to see what happens... and I'm sure I'll ask him about it on the next VegasGang.

Speaking of casino opening Web sites, we're reprising our Encore performance for ARIA... though we have a few tricks up our sleeve to amp it up a bit. Stay tuned.

Open Topic Discussion - November 1, 2009

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 04:01:24 -0800

In Boyd Gaming's Call, they said that Echelon would remain dormant for three to five years, but they wouldn't take down the construction already started: "We anticipate using or incorporating the structure that's already in place into the new project."
I don't know the cost of clearing the land compared to maintaining the construction hulk, but this is obviously detrimental to The Strip. Further, when the market recovers, it doesn't seem likely that Boyd would follow its original vision for the development.
Boyd should be a good citizen and remove the skeletons. We may see how much influence Steve Wynn has on the subject: "When told that Boyd wasn't going to do anything with Echelon until the next presidential election, Wynn became somewhat incredulous. He wants to see Echelon's unfinished steel structure disappear as much as he wants to see the Obama administration vacate the White House."

Echelon Could Use Some "Tarp" Assistance

Vegas Gang #39 - October 30th, 2009

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:55:08 -0800

This time on the show:

* ARIA ARIA ARIA!
* Fontainebleau

http://www.vegasgangpodcast.com

Feel free to add your comments below...

Vegas Gang #38 - October 21st, 2009

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:53:35 -0800

Live from Vegas Podcast-a-palooza 2 @ The Palms.

We discuss CityCenter with our guest MGM Mirage Sr. VP of Public Relations Gordon Absher.

http://www.vegasgangpodcast.com

Feel free to add your comments below...

LV Weekly on Podcast-a-palooza 2

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:06:48 -0800

Las Vegas Weekly writer Richard Abowitz was on-hand this past weekend for our second annual Vegas Podcast-a-palooza at The Palms. The resulting article is now available online:

http://www.lasvegasweekly.com/news/2009/oct/21/new-media-hits-strip-podcast--palooza/

More after the jump...

PH Towers Tour Photos

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:58:08 -0800

On Monday, we got a tour of PH Towers, the condo-hotel-fractional-ownership building set to open in December on the Planet Hollywood property.

My photos are here: PH Towers Gallery

Along the ride for the tour was Steve Friess, who wrote it up also, as well as big-time Vegas Twitter maven VegasBill.

Thanks to @phVegas for organizing the event for Vegas Podcast-a-palooza attendees. As for that event, I'll have a post about it and the audio of the shows up as soon as humanly possible.

UPDATED: My Thoughts on Aria Interiors, Circa October 2009

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:04:42 -0800

We wake up to a story about MGM taking $1.1 billion in charges against CityCenter.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2009/oct/20/mgm-mirage-take-11-billion-charge-citycenter/

No big surprise, this is required by the accountants and no one could argue that the value of these assets hasn't fallen... though 31% is a big number. Kerkorian is even looking to potentially reduce his stake.

In other more interesting news, I was able to take a gander at a few shots of Aria's interiors (see Chuck's take here). I won't be publishing these photos but like VT, I'm happy to give my impressions.

Continue after the jump...

Update: Not to pimp this too much but this offer for Aria came across from MGM Mirage - $160 for some nights.

http://clk.atdmt.com/MGM/go/181980103/direct/01/?kbid= 26584&m=0

Also, I'm happy to answer questions about the stuff I've seen, if you have any.

Chuck's spent some more time analyzing the materials and has some more thoughts.

Inside The Unfinished Fontainebleau

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:33:17 -0800

Really cool video that David posted on Stiffs and Georges showing the interior of the FBleau project as it stands.

Does it look 70% complete? I know the last 30% would be basically all the finishes but it seems far off that mark to my untrained eye.

Video embedded after the jump.

Vegas Podcast-a-palooza: Last Minute Change

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:02:16 -0800

We have a last minute scheduling change related to this Saturday's Podcast-a-palooza event at The Palms.

Our guest for the Vegas Gang, Alan Feldman, has a last minute obligation that will prevent him from attending. In his place we will have Gordon Absher, VP of Public Affairs for MGM Mirage. Gordon's been running point on a lot of City Center related stuff and I'm sure he'll be a fantastic guest. Before MGM Mirage, Gordon was at Mandalay Resort Group and has also worked in Nevada politics.

The rest of the lineup remains the same and we look forward to seeing you there.