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Stick, Twist Or Bust?
Words by Neena Dhillon
While unable to escape the harsh realities of recession, Las Vegas has been proving its resilience with high occupancy rates and a cluster of resort debuts showcasing sybaritic design, as Neena Dhillon discovers.
REVIEWS
Aliante Station Casino & Hotel
The talk around town may be of a dramatic drop in visitor numbers, developments coming to a grinding halt and foreclosures, but industry figures remain cautiously bullish about the Las Vegas tourist market. “Visitor volume is still strong despite all the reports of a sluggish economy,” says Jesse Davis, Senior Manager, International PR, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA). “In fact, citywide average daily occupancy in March 2009 was 85.9%, more than 30 points higher than the US national average of 55.2%.” Despite facing wide-ranging financial woes, the entertainment capital of America still managed to attract 37.5 million visitors in 2008.
As the North American destination with the highest amount of hotel rooms and an occupancy front-runner, Las Vegas represents an important benchmark for the rest of the industry. Perhaps this is why other statistics released by the LVCVA for the first four months of 2009 have been cause for concern in the city and beyond. Year-on-year monthly volume declines between January and April ranged from 11.9% to 2.9%. Average daily room rates also fell between 31.6% and 19.9% in the same period. On a slightly brighter note, April’s citywide occupancy of 88% represented a dip of just 2%, the smallest year-on-year decline since March 2008.
On the ground the challenging economic climate has resulted in high-profile casualties. A project with estimated costs of US$4.75 billion, the Echelon, which was once slated to be the location for new Mondrian and Delano hotels, has been significantly delayed. Meanwhile The Harmon Hotel, Spa & Residences – part of the new CityCenter development – has cancelled its condo product, with reports confirming that the Foster + Partners-designed building has been cut in size ahead of its 2010 opening. Another delayed project is the Cosmopolitan Resort and Casino, originally rumoured as the location of Hilton’s first Denizen hotel, while the highly anticipated Fontainebleau Las Vegas, the brainchild of developer Jeffrey Soffer, has recently run into murky bankruptcy waters and is likely to be delayed.
Some projects, though, are moving ahead. MGM Mirage debuts its 76-acre, US$9.2 billion CityCenter development this autumn. In addition to retail, dining and entertainment, the ‘urban metropolis’, located on Las Vegas Boulevard (The Strip), will include a 57-storey all-suite condo-hotel called Vdara, The Harmon Hotel, and the flagship 4,004-room Aria Resort & Casino, which has been designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects. Set for a December launch, Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas will also be found here, with interior designs by Adam D.Tihany. A 47-storey non-gaming property, the hotel will offer 392 rooms, fine dining and a 27,000ft2 spa.
“Las Vegas currently has more than 141,000 hotel rooms,” points out LVCVA’s Davis. “By the end of this calendar year, that number will increase to more than 150,000.” Such abundance of room choice means that competition among hoteliers is fierce. Not only can they no longer rely on outdated perceptions of casino-hotel design and development but they must also offer genuine differentiation in this crowded marketplace. Of the several resorts that have opened since March 2008 – including Trump International Hotel Las Vegas and more recently Encore and M Resort – emphasis is being placed on the luxury experience with design and architecture taking centre stage.
Gaming, on the other hand, is taking a back seat with some destinations, such as Palms Place, eschewing the casino element altogether. “Gaming is no longer the draw it once was,” confirms Wynn Design & Development, Executive Vice President of Architecture DeRuyter Butler. “It is just a part of the overall resort experience now, with everything else taking precedence. At Encore, only 5% of the square footage is dedicated to gaming.” Also evident through the design of new properties such as Aliante Station is the move away from themed palaces and gaudy time/place replicas.
It is undoubtedly the ability to adapt and evolve that will give Las Vegas its best chance of bouncing back – and history shows the city has a knack of doing just that. “Our long-term goals remain intact,” concludes Davis. “We are still targeting 43 million visitors by the end of 2010, despite economic challenges. Las Vegas remains optimistic that it will rebound as it has done historically.”
