A quick scan of hotels.com shows many recognizable Las Vegas hotels offering rooms for as low as $20/night on weekdays and even $40/night on weekends. Consequently, The Sahara and Binion’s have closed most or all of their hotel rooms. It was determined that it makes better business sense to close the rooms than offer rates lower than $20/night.
Binion’s has closed all 365 of its hotel rooms and The Sahara has closed two of its three room towers. The situation at Binion’s seems to be direr since they have also cut 100 jobs and have no plans to re-open the rooms anytime soon. In addition to the rooms, Binion’s Original Coffee Shop is also closing and keno will no longer be offered. However, the casino, sports book, and poker room will remain open.
The Sahara hopes to re-open some of its rooms after the lull in demand during the winter months. A loophole in the law requiring casinos with non-restricted gaming licenses to have hotels allows Binion’s to close their rooms. Since Binion’s was open before the regulation was approved it can legally close its hotel.
The Sahara will keep the 1,720-room Tangiers Tower open. When the current owners purchased the iconic Sahara in late 2007 for $331.8 million they probably never envisioned they would have to close rooms as a business strategy. Closing rooms during non-peak times of the year is not a new concept, but it is a far cry from announced plans to build a new 1,000-room hotel tower. The renovation plans have been tabled for now, but the hope is to revisit them when an economic turnaround occurs.
Creativity is Key
click here to see most Popular PagesIf current economic conditions continue, don’t be surprised to see other establishments follow in the footsteps of Binion’s and the Sahara by closing entire sections of their hotels. Places like the Tropicana, Hooters, the Stratosphere, and Circus Circus are currently offering rooms for as low as $25/night. One has to wonder how much lower rooms rates can go before these establishments also determine that it makes more sense to just close some or all of their rooms.
Closing hotel rooms, limiting hired entertainment to weekends, cutting weekday restaurant and lounge hours, and even cutting back on things like the number of free bottles of shampoo are all creative ways that mid-to-low tier hotel-casinos will have to examine the longer this current recession continues.
