LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Is Las Vegas still a value? Are prices too high? Can people afford to still come to the valley?
Those are all questions that have been swirling on social media for months. Now, casino executives are admitting that pricing wasn't the most customer-friendly this summer.
"When we think about pricing and things that got everyone's attention, whether it was the infamous bottle of water or a Starbucks coffee at Excalibur that cost $12, shame on us," said Bill Hornbuckle, CEO and President of MGM Resorts. "We should have been more sensitive to the overall experience at a place like Excalibur to those customers. You can't have a $29 room and a $12 coffee. And so, we've gone through the organization. We think, we hope, we believe, and we've price corrected."
Caesars Entertainment CEO Thomas Reeg also pointed out some social media users were focused on the price of one item as opposed to the bigger picture.
"We price hundreds, thousands of items across Vegas every day, from rooms and restaurants to ATM fees to everything you purchase in Vegas, and we're constantly adjusting them," Reeg said. "The value proposition in Vegas stacks up versus just about anywhere that you could want to travel and what you can do while you're in town. The breadth of what's available, you cannot line that up with any city in the world. So we feel fantastic about Las Vegas fundamentally, and we think it won't be very long until that's a story where we'll be talking about remember when? Remember the summer when we talked about a $25 bottle of water? That's not what was driving activity."
On Friday, those comments were echoed by executives from VICI Properties, which owns the land that resorts like the Venetian, Caesars Palace, and MGM Grand sit on.
"I do think the world is so short-term, ADD-focused that there are times that we don't step back and think about what a great destination Las Vegas is and will continue to be," said John Payne, President and Chief Operating Officer at VICI Properties.
"We continue to believe in the durability of the sector despite recent noise around Las Vegas," said Ed Pitoniak, CEO of VICI Properties. "Las Vegas has endured cycles before and operators are expecting trends to improve through quarter foud and into 2026. Headlines emphasize short-term trends. But at VICI, we take the long view. We are still big believers in Las Vegas as one of the world's best destinations with operators who are willing and able to adapt their business to meet consumer demand."
WATCH | Visitors and locals weigh in on Las Vegas' visitor numbers
When looking at overall activity, booking numbers were down for properties on the Strip in the third quarter, which casino executives predicted during the last quarter.
One example is Caesars Entertainment, which saw overall occupancy numbers go down by 5%. That equates to about 90,000 room nights.
That tracks with overall tourism and gaming trends from September.
According to Harry Reid International Airport officials, 4,452,961 passengers passed through the airport, which is down by 6.4%. To break that down further, domestic travel is down 6.1% and international travel is down 13.5%.
When looking at state gaming revenues, the Nevada Gaming Control Board reported total gaming wins of $1,283,210629 in September. That is down 2.26% compared to the same time last year. Numbers were lower in most markets in our area. However, Laughlin, the Boulder Strip, and Mesquite are all continuing to post higher returns, which tracks with previous months.
The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority also released tourism data this week, which shows most key categories are also down.
Properties across town got a boost from the LVCVA's Fabulous Five-Day Sale after customers cashed in on discounted hotel rooms, show tickets, and restaurants.
"We sold over 300,000 room nights, nearly doubling our typical pace, reflecting the strong demand that exists for our experiences," Hornbuckle said.
"Our bookings picked up considerably during that sale," Reeg said. "It was effective and know that LVCVA intends this to be an ongoing campaign, so you should expect this not to be one-shot in terms of the messaging around value in Las Vegas."
I asked a few sources in the tourism industry if they thought the sale was successful. They said while the sale helped layer in room nights through early next year, since the sale launched at the end of September, they don't expect any material impact for the month of September.
WATCH | Tourists admit seeing recent increase in Vegas prices
When looking downtown, loyal customers and locals have helped offset lower visitation numbers.
"There's a strong correlation between visitor volumes downtown and visitor volumes to Las Vegas. And so, visitation on the street is down, which is what kind of impacted what we call destination business," said Keith Smith, President and CEO of Boyd Gaming. "Our Downtown Las Vegas segment, revenues were in line with the prior year, supported by continued strength in play from our Hawaiian customers."
For Red Rock Resorts, business is booming. They reported the highest quarterly net revenue in their company's 49-year history.
"While the Strip relies heavily on tourism, conventions, and hotel-driven revenue, we are anchored by a gaming-centric model. We're focused on a deeply loyal customer base," said Stephen Cootey, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, and Treasurer of Red Rock Resorts. "We feel locals offer a stronger value proposition, which is driving more people to our casino, which includes accessible pricing, convenient locations, personalized service, and that continues to resonate not only with our local guests but it's starting to increasingly resonate with our out-of-town guests as well."
According to Smith, at Boyd Gaming, locals could have even more spending power in the future.
"The health of the locals market is supported by solid wage growth throughout the Southern Nevada economy. Through August, average weekly wages were up more than 6% over the trailing 12 months, outpacing the national average," Smith told investors. "Over the last 10 years, the local population has grown at twice the national rate, reaching 2.4 million last year and during the same timeframe, per capita income in the Las Vegas valley has grown by more than 5% on an annual basis. Total personal income in Southern Nevada has nearly doubled."
WATCH | Nearly half of Nevadans think Las Vegas has become too expensive to visit
As for the next couple of months, all casino executives said they're expecting business to pick up with events like SEMA, F1, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's. However, there are still questions as to how fast business could pick up.
"We're now, what, four months into this step down in leisure demand for Vegas and while we're better than we were in July, we're still not back to where we were on a year-over-year basis," Reeg said. "So that will be the question in 2026, in my mind, is how quick does that recover."
Quick Hits
- MGM Resorts says F1 bookings are stronger than last year but not at the same level that they were for the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2023.
- MGM Resorts' partnership with Marriott is leading to stronger room booking numbers. According to Hornbuckle, the company built up 900,000 room nights that they're pacing to book through that partnership this year.
- Construction is wrapping up on the first phase of the Durango Casino expansion plan and it's expected to wrap up in late December. Construction disruption has been "relatively light" but they are seeing impacts to parking. This week, the company also announced the next phase, which will include a bowling alley and entertainment venue.
- Guests stopping by Green Valley Ranch Resort Spa and Casino could see disruptions as the $200 million renovation project continues on guest rooms, suites, and convention space. Work is currently underway in the West Tower, which the majority of rooms expected to go back online by the end of the year. Work on the convention center is expected to wrap up in early January while suites are tentatively scheduled to be completed in March.
- The Suncoast Hotel And Casino modernization project is on track and expected to wrap up in the middle of next year. Once that is completed, Boyd Gaming officials say they'll being working on similar renovations at The Orleans.
- VICI Properties executives said they are continuing to look at expanding their footprint not only here in Las Vegas but also across Nevada.