A JPMorgan analyst said Thursday that he is impressed with the size and crowd volume at Las Vegas Sands Corp.’s new casino in Bethlehem, Pa.
Analyst Joseph Greff met with the casino’s property and corporate level management, which indicated that it plans to add up to 2,000 slot machines to the site in November. The Sheldon Adelson-led company anticipates requesting approval for the additional slots from Pennsylvania in either July or August, Greff said.
There are several pet-friendly hotels and resorts right here in Las Vegas, so why leave your best friend home when you travel?
The Loews in Lake Las Vegas loves pets. They have the most pet friendly hotels around and understand that any guests who choose to travel with their pet, deserve stellar service for their pet as well as themselves.
Dogs and pets receive many amenities at the Loews and the one-time fee for your pet is only $25.00. Upon arrival, guests receive a detailed brochure outlining the hotel’s pet amenities, including:
Read More
Now a website exists that makes it easy to find and identity where to go and what to do with kids while in Las Vegas. Created by Las Vegas Retreats, Vegas Vacation Village lists most major and minor activities that a great for kids. Along with listings for shows, tours, excursions, and other good kids stuff, you’ll find information about what makes each item kid worthy and general reviews as well.
Featured in the Frommers Travel Guides “Alternative Las Vegas” and “Las Vegas with Kids”, Las Vegas Retreats also boasts an “A” rating with the Better Business Bureau. Additionally, the company was listed as a “Top Ten” choice for alternative lodging by the Los Angeles Times.
Summer is approaching and that can only mean one thing for you and your girlfriends – Vegas, baby! And I’m here to help you with packing for a sleepless weekend of fun and little trouble.
When I think about Las Vegas, movies such as Casino, where Vegas was a playground of lavishness and indulgence built on some old school Mafia dangerousness come to mind. Now, Las Vegas is not only for adults but families can enjoy the lights and sounds.
Just because Las Vegas has settled down doesn’t mean you have to when venturing to Sin City. For fashion inspirations, I like to take cues from Sharon Stone in Casino. Styles should be of the late 70s and a dash of 80s. I love the palette of gold, fuchsia, teal, white and ….did I say gold? Since you will be spending a lot of time poolside, bring a fierce swimsuit. I like the new Monokini shapes that are becoming popular. As far as evening wear, pack only dresses. A great cocktail dress is perfect for going clubbing while a long, form fitting dress can be a sexy outfit for a dinner and a show.
Don’t be afraid to be a little gaudy. Hone you inner Elvis and layer on the gold. Also a little superstition won’t hurt. One of my friends always starts gathering her luck before going to Vegas by painting her toes a metallic green like the hue Bunny from The Big Labowski used.
Here is the weekly Las Vegas weather forecast. If you are planning a Las Vegas Vacation soon, this is what you can expect. Just remember it’s only May.
Monday
Partly Cloudy
101° F | 74° F
Tuesday
Partly Cloudy
94° F | 70° F
Wednesday
Partly Cloudy
94° F | 70° F
Thursday
Partly Cloudy
92° F | 68° F
Friday
Partly Cloudy
92° F | 67° F
The desert appears to be the place to cool off this summer.
Luxor in Las Vegas is running a Summer Fun package for stays through Aug. 31. Summer weather in Las Vegas is undoubtedly hot, but the Luxor is offering a few perks to help keep you cool.
Luxor’s Summer Fun Package includes 25 percent off cabana reservations or VIP pool reservations, 15 percent off at the Oasis Pool Store and a $10 beverage credit.
The Las Vegas Luxor vacation package rate is $325 and includes a private cabana with towel service, flat-screen TV, refrigerator stocked with water and juice, four lounge chairs and two rafts.
Why is this a good deal? Currently, cabanas will set you back $200 on the weekdays and $300 on the weekends. Go now and chill out poolside in Vegas, baby.
Las Vegas has gone back to marketing itself as a place that will keep your secrets.
After a year of flirting with tourism pitches that directly addressed the recession, the entertainment mecca is resurrecting its successful “What Happens Here Stays Here” campaign, which started in 2003.
“We feel it is time to get back to our brand messaging,” said Rossi Ralenkotter, president of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, in an email.
The “What Happens Here” campaign nods to Las Vegas’s reputation as a party town where visitors can enjoy some forbidden fun, or indulge in extreme behavior like conspicuous consumption. But a little more than a year ago, as the economy soured and visits to Las Vegas began to taper off, the city tried to adjust its image to something more in keeping with the prevailing mood of thrift.
Marketers ginned up messages touting the city’s affordability, suggesting that Las Vegas was just the place for hard-working people to get some well-deserved rest and relaxation. Last year, they used residents of tiny Cranfills Gap, Texas, in a campaign showing mostly blue-collar Americans enjoying Las Vegas activities like indoor skydiving.
But the economy continued to tank, and Las Vegas’s revenues kept sliding even as the city was upping its bet on tourism. During the first two months of this year, the number of visitors to the city fell 10% from a year earlier, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority — though some casinos lately have reported better-than-expected results. At the same time, developers were planning to add between 13,000 and 15,000 rooms by the end of 2010, the authority said.
Though the city’s marketers say those campaigns were successful, they say new research showed them that even in a painful recession, consumers still liked the idea of going to Las Vegas to sample pleasures unavailable at home.
The resulting $7.8 million campaign has been tweaked to put a humorous spin on the recession. In one TV spot, which aired nationally last week, a female TV news reporter walks along what appears to be a deserted Vegas poolside, calling it “yet another troubling sign of the times.” But, as soon as the cameras stop rolling, she pulls off her business attire to reveal a bikini. Guests, who have been hiding, emerge, and everyone jumps into a packed pool as music thumps in the background.
The ad is meant to suggest that despite the financial troubles faced by some of the city’s big resort-casinos, Las Vegas is alive and thriving.
Market research showed consumers wanted “some comfort that this is the Vegas they’ve always known and loved,” says Billy Vassiliadias, chief executive of R&R Partners, which created the “What Happens Here” campaign. Mr. Vassiliadias says that, in interviews with consumers, researchers picked up a sense that consumers have “exhaled,” and may be ready to splurge a little bit.
“People are still not comfortable enough to call it a real vacation. They’re just looking for some time to decompress,” he says.
DUI or drunk driving is the most common criminal offense in the Las Vegas area. This trend has not only launched groups pushing for stricter laws, but it has also created another industry focused on defending those charged with a DUI. DUI checkpoints are a scene many locals are used to since the city serves alcohol. Sandy Heverly with Stop DUI describes Las Vegas as a culture of drinking, even though the state has seen a significant reduction in DUI accidents and fatalities.
“Alcohol is a drug, a drug that impairs your ability to operate a motor vehicle in a safe fashion,” says Heverly.
Although Nevada has some of the toughest DUI laws, advocacy groups want more. Working with the Nevada Legislature, Heverly is pushing a bill that would double the cap for victim compensation.
“This bill is not just designed for…any crime victim that suffers injuries and requires additional assistance. The beauty of this bill is it does not affect our general fund; it has nothing to do with that. It has no fiscal note to this. These monies are derived from federal grants and other resources.”
But for all of the resources for victims, you’ll find just as many for offenders.
A simple online search found numerous web sites focused on helping those charged with DUIs. Local attorney Michael Becker lists his help online. He says he is not advocating drinking and driving, but rather provides helpful information for those who run into trouble.
“Where there is a demand for service, there are those that respond and provide those services. Of course, those who are facing prosecution for driving under the influence need representation; because some are guilty, some may not be.”
A second bill up for debate would require all DUI offenders to attend a live victim panel within a sixty-mile radius of their home, as opposed to watching it online where there is no supervision.
It’s not just a fad. The extension of Las Vegas’ vibrant nightclub and night-life scene to the casino pools that has picked up steam over the past few years is under way for the summer of 2009. The phenomenon, christened “day life,” is now one of the city’s hottest entertainment elements.
The season officially begins on Memorial Day weekend, but several of the bigger venues have already opened, including the Hard Rock Beach Club, MGM Grand’s Wet Republic, the Venetian’s Tao Beach, Mandalay Bay’s Moorea Pool and the new Daydream Pool Club at M – all accessible to the public (though there’s usually a fee to enter).
Among the 30 or so casino pools that offer some type of nightclub element, almost a dozen now allow topless sunbathing. They are Caesars Palace (Venus), Encore, Flamingo (GO), Golden Nugget, Green Valley Ranch (Pond), Mandalay Bay (Moorea Beach), Mirage (Bare), Red Rock (Cherry Cabana Club), Rio (Sapphire), Stratosphere (Beach Club 25), Venetian (Tao Beach) and Wynn (Sunset). Only Encore and Wynn are restricted to hotel guests.
Eat all day: Two more casinos have added a one-price, multiple-meals option to their buffets.
At MGM Grand, you can eat breakfast, lunch and dinner for $29.99, a whopping $28 off the rack rate for all three.
At Stratosphere, it’s unlimited access for $19.99 every day except Friday, when it’s $24.99. That’s a $21 saving on three meals.
Read it all..
A Korean-American woman has won the jackpot in Las Vegas. Xochitl Hwang (52) is the developer of Onionmap, which has been chosen as the official online map of the city of Las Vegas. An obscure little Korean firm edged out global giants Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL.
Onionmap, made by Korea’s Quriocity with technology developed in Korea, is a three-dimensional, interactive map which also helps with shopping, sightseeing, hotel and restaurant reservations and community activities. Within Onionmap, all services are one-stop. The company is expected to make W400 billion per year from Las Vegas reservations, out of an average of W4 trillion in annual revenues Las Vegas earns from tourism (US$1=W1,291).
Hwang says she was never satisfied with what she had, constantly searching for new things and enjoying challenges. “I changed businesses the way some people change their boyfriends,” she says. “And the way relationships can become boring after some time, I always opt for a new and different business when my current one is stabilized.”
The key to survival is to think differently from others. “You can’t be at the top when you benchmark the front runner. The best you can reach is second place. To be in the first place, you have to take the road not taken,” she says.
When she started Onionmap, many people asked her why she did not do it like Google or Yahoo maps. If she had, the “miracle of Las Vegas” would never have happened.
Hwang says she has spent one-third of last 30 years in airplanes and hotels on business trips in the U.S., Europe and China. But her latest journey has just begun. Hwang now plans to target other major U.S. cities with Onionmap.