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Posted by on Dec 12, 2021 in Blog, Las Vegas | 2 comments

Is Resorts World Already in Trouble?

 

Resorts World opened only six months ago. It’s already experiencing restaurant and retail closures. Not a good sign. At $4.3 billion, it’s the MOST EXPENSIVE property ever built in Las Vegas, yet what we experience now is a deeply scaled-back version of its original far-most costly grand vision.

I’m not here to victory dance on the grave of Resorts World. In fact, it pains me to read and write about its (apparent) struggles. I reviewed it back in August, giving the sparkling new property a mixed grade. I’m enthusiastic about developing that stain on the Las Vegas Strip between Fashion Center and Sahara, which has been an eyesore for decades. I was thrilled to see the new resort open up, which hopefully still might transform a blighted neighborhood and spur more activity in what’s arguably the biggest real estate void in the entire global casino sector.

But it’s hard to be sympathetic to the clueless greed of charging $390 a night (plus taxes and resort fees!) on a typical Saturday evening for a simple hotel room. Oh, and that’s the CHEAPEST room in the ghetto tower (Hilton). More upscale Crockfords and the Conrad charge higher rates.

I just don’t get it. Casino developers continue slicing a sliver of the pie while ignoring the much bigger gambler-tourist cake. They go after that marginal niche market of 27-year-old Tesla-driving slim suits, you know, the bottle-service swilling party-goers who think nothing of dropping $300 on dinner of $3,000 in a nightclub. But how many of these supersnits exist, and besides, aren’t they already packed like sardines into Jewel and Hakkasan? Didn’t Resorts World learn ANYTHING from the quick collapse and $27 million disaster-closure of the flop nightclub at The Palms? (blame it on Marshmellow’s contract)  READ MORE HERE

It’s becoming increasingly clear Resorts World has become….drumroll and dreaded comparison coming….SLS II. Recall the SLS opening up in 2018 with much fireworks and fanfare, and then being essentially a ghost town since Day 2. Tables with $100 minimums, shitty blackjack, no marketing effort whatsoever targeted at locals — no wonder this floundering casino-resort (now Sahara) is a graveyard.

One would think casino moguls would LEARN FROM HISTORY. One would think these “experts” might AVOID THE MISTAKES of the past.

But no.

It appears Resorts World is doubling down and about to lose far more on the investment. I can’t even imagine what the much-maligned Fountainbleau will do when (and if) it ever opens.

On the other hand, show headliners could be the Resorts World wild card. Celine Dion, Carrie Underwood, Katy Perry and others will spur traffic. But will they fill the restaurants, the tables, the rooms, and blow $1200 on a pair of sunglasses in the mall?

I don’t know.

Comments are welcome.

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2 Comments

  1. I heard a story recently about how in the ocean you have totally different species living in their own ecosystems at different depths in the ocean and the fish do not wander out of their depth without becoming totally out of place. You can apply that concept to on land as well. We all gravity to our own level of affordability, etc, and can not feel comfortable outside our comfort zone. I’m just a well educated poor boy a long way from home and they do not pay retired Soldiers enough to wander recklessly far and wide. I guess, like most people, I just can’t relate to the opulent lifestyle.

  2. “… doomed to repeat it” WCick

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