Vegas forgot the entire reason it was popular in the first place:
Because it was CHEAP. You could go to Vegas and get a nice hotel and go out every night for less than you could go anywhere else because they made their money on gaming instead of the accommodations.
During Covid they pivoted to trying to be a “destination” by ripping off everyone at every corner. The rooms are loaded down with fees, the food and drinks are ridiculously expensive.
The reason to go to Vegas was that a regular middle class person could FEEL like a rich person. That doesn’t work when you are priced out of everything.
The whole trick behind Vegas and Casinos is to make a poor man feel rich. If you feel rich, you’re more likely to spend. So, they bait you with cheap hotels, cheap food, and free drinks. Then, when you’re at the roulette wheel, you’ll be more inclined to bet big.
This is how I’ve been feeling about tourist places in general. So many shallow attractions trying to get easy money mixed in with the real interesting stuff, and everyone is competing for a spot with the good stuff, which drives prices to ridiculous levels and still there’s a large line and crowd.
I much prefer places tuned to attract locals because they have to at least be good enough to be worth future visits.
International visitors are down due to the orange moron.
Attendance at conventions and corporate meetings are down due to the above stupid decisions. It was a cheap place to hold a large meeting: flights, transit, hotels, meeting hall rental and food were all 30%+ less than anywhere else.
To expand on Vegas’ woes, online gambling has exploded. Why bother driving several hours or take a plane to a desert city to play in several casinos when you can bet on a game or a bunch of outcomes by just using your phone?
I wonder why Vegas companies didn’t push back against the legalization of online gambling like we saw alcohol and tobacco companies do with marijuana. Perhaps most of them already have their hand in that pie, which is why it’s okay. Same thing with how tobacco companies stopped fighting legalization of weed once they became the dominant players.
That was driven by Vegas companies, I remember seeing Bally’s and MGM logos on a bunch of online gambling sites/apps when it was first getting started. I don’t think they realized just how viral the internet is, and how fast another entity can spin up and eat their lunch.
Vegas forgot the entire reason it was popular in the first place:
Because it was CHEAP. You could go to Vegas and get a nice hotel and go out every night for less than you could go anywhere else because they made their money on gaming instead of the accommodations.
During Covid they pivoted to trying to be a “destination” by ripping off everyone at every corner. The rooms are loaded down with fees, the food and drinks are ridiculously expensive.
The reason to go to Vegas was that a regular middle class person could FEEL like a rich person. That doesn’t work when you are priced out of everything.
The whole trick behind Vegas and Casinos is to make a poor man feel rich. If you feel rich, you’re more likely to spend. So, they bait you with cheap hotels, cheap food, and free drinks. Then, when you’re at the roulette wheel, you’ll be more inclined to bet big.
This is how I’ve been feeling about tourist places in general. So many shallow attractions trying to get easy money mixed in with the real interesting stuff, and everyone is competing for a spot with the good stuff, which drives prices to ridiculous levels and still there’s a large line and crowd.
I much prefer places tuned to attract locals because they have to at least be good enough to be worth future visits.
Two major things that are hurting Vegas today
International visitors are down due to the orange moron.
Attendance at conventions and corporate meetings are down due to the above stupid decisions. It was a cheap place to hold a large meeting: flights, transit, hotels, meeting hall rental and food were all 30%+ less than anywhere else.
Yeah, my company could offer me a fully covered trip with extra free time to explore or have fun in the US and my answer would still be no.
To expand on Vegas’ woes, online gambling has exploded. Why bother driving several hours or take a plane to a desert city to play in several casinos when you can bet on a game or a bunch of outcomes by just using your phone?
That’s a great point to bring up.
I wonder why Vegas companies didn’t push back against the legalization of online gambling like we saw alcohol and tobacco companies do with marijuana. Perhaps most of them already have their hand in that pie, which is why it’s okay. Same thing with how tobacco companies stopped fighting legalization of weed once they became the dominant players.
That was driven by Vegas companies, I remember seeing Bally’s and MGM logos on a bunch of online gambling sites/apps when it was first getting started. I don’t think they realized just how viral the internet is, and how fast another entity can spin up and eat their lunch.