Las Vegas Events 2011
by Bill Becken
Despite its risque reputation and slowly vanishing water supply, Las Vegas powers along, renewing itself, still building an occasional new hotel, casino, or shopping plaza. It also continues to please with an array of new events and attractions.
Hitting Vegas to attend one or more of these can be a source of both relaxation and business promotion for clients. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors’ Authority (LVCVA) reports that 16 percent of visitors utilize an agent. An agent’s Vegas business can easily become its own franchise: 80 percent of visitors are repeaters.
The Simmering Skinny
Ostensibly, a client may travel here for a particular event, attraction or show. But tastes vary, so that one client may relish an in-your-face experience with plenty of resort shows and gaming; another, an experience in which the destination event is central, with shows and gaming more peripheral. To satisfy different tastes, value-added packages are key, says Jeff Eisenhart, vice-president for leisure sales at MGM-Mirage. “Packages combine shows with hotel nights to ensure the satisfaction of particular guests.”
A notable hotel/venue opening late last December: the luxury Cosmopolitan Hotel on the Strip (Las Vegas Blvd.), taking its place among other brand-new hotels such as the Aria, Vdara and Mandarin Oriental. One of the Cosmo’s first basic package deals, “Toast On Us,” runs through June 30th and includes a two-night stay, bottle of wine or champagne, $50 for in-room snacks and $50 resort credit applied at reservation for about $300. For more information, call 877-551-7772 or go to www.cosmopolitanlasvegas.com
A compelling attraction has just opened at the remodeled but revered Tropicana (www.troplv.com). The Las Vegas Mob Experience features artifacts from the estates of underworld figures such as Meyer Lansky, Sam Giancana, Bugsy Siegel and Tony “the Ant” Spilotro.
In the same vein, set to open this summer just a block or so from downtown’s “Fremont Street Experience,” is the city’s $50 million Las Vegas Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement. Tabbed by locals as the Mob Museum (www.themobmuseum.org), it will reside in the city’s old post office and former federal courthouse. Guests will find immersive exhibits spread over three floors of this neoclassical, mid-1920s edifice, in a scheme created by the company that produced the Spy Museum in Washington, D.C. With the revamping of the Lady Luck Hotel Casino (now underway) and the revival of the Fremont Street East District, downtown shines as never before.
Mark Your Calendar
Here is a short list of events taking place here over the next few months (not to forget Vegas for upcoming seasonal special periods or holidays, such as Superbowl Weekend and Valentine’s Day):
Jan. 6-Jan. 9, 2011—International Consumer Electronics Show (CES)—Regarded to be equally as much an event and business meeting. The world's largest consumer technology tradeshow. To learn more about the show, visit www.CESweb.org
Jan. 15, 2011—90th Annual Miss America pageant, Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino. Presented by Designer Shoe Warehouse and other sponsors. To learn more, go to www.MissAmerica.org
Feb. 7-10, 2011—Mesquite Branson Fest Out West. Town-wide event in Mesquite, about half an hour out of Vegas. Featuring musical acts Apple, Elvis, The Cats Pajamas on Feb. 7, 8, 9 respectively. For more information, go to www.mesquitebransonfest.com
Feb. 12-13, 2011—USA Sevens Rugby Tournament, Sam Boyd Stadium. Largest rugby event in North America, featuring 16 teams, 44 matches, professional players. Special room rates available at Tropicana, Palms, Vegas Hard Rock and other hotels. To learn more, go to www.USASevens.com
March 4-6, 2011—NASCAR Weekend, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, featuring Lowe’s Kobalt Tools 400 and Sam’s Town’s 300 events. Las Vegas NASCAR package available at www.raceawayhospitality.com. To learn more about NASCAR weekend, go to www.LVMS.com
March 4-7, 2011—West Coast Conference (WCC) Basketball Championships, Orleans Arena. Playoffs of this exciting eight-team conference. To learn more, go to www.wccsports.com
March 8-12, 2011—Mountain West Conference Basketball Championships. Thomas & Mack Center. Features 18 men’s and women’s teams. Winners move on to the NCAA Basketball Championship. Participating hotels include MGM Grand, Vegas Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Luxor, and Southpoint. To learn more, go to www.themwc.com
Las Vegas, New & Renewed
By Bill Becken
Despite its risqué reputation and the Presidential reprimanding of bank executives for indulging in its excesses, Las Vegas is also known for being in a continuous state of self-renewal—mostly by building new or refurbishing hotels, casinos, dining spots, theaters, spas, shopping malls, attractions, even amusement park-type rides.
For many travelers, a trip to these resurgent desert digs can be their own hegira of renewal. For travel agents, the potential pay dirt is undeniable: the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors’ Authority (LVCVA) reports that 16 percent of visitors have utilized an agent to plan and purchase their stay here. One’s business with a client could easily build into a franchise: the LVCVA reports that 80 percent of visits are repeats.
Keeping it Fresh
In perhaps the most notable development to happen within the last year, the Strip has become home to the posh, brand-new Aria (www.arialasvegas.com), Vdara (www.vdara.com) and Mandarin Oriental (www.mandarinoriental.com/lasvegas) hotels at the gargantuan Project CityCenter, which opened in December. CityCenter’s creation leveraged the talents of five-world-class architects, who collaborated to devise and implement a unified vision, representing one of the largest, most ambitious LEED-certified hospitality, shopping and entertainment complexes in the world. Visit www.citycenter.com. On the refurb side, a more subdued but equally noteworthy alternative is the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino (www.montecarlo.com). The Monte Carlo has updated many of its restaurants and even added a free tram stop, which connects it to CityCenter and the Bellagio resort (www.Bellagio.com). The stop is located at the hotel’s recently renovated Street of Dreams, an array of shops and venues. There is also a new VIP concierge level, Hotel32, occupying the top floor. H32 guests receive roundtrip limousine service to the airport, a personal suite assistant, private check-in and lounge access.
Newly present on the skyline is the 1,200-suite Westgate Resort at Planet Hollywood, Harrah’s latest venture in Las Vegas. The condo hotel offers upscale suite accommodations that carry on the chic motifs of the PH name with floor-to-ceiling windows, retro red and white décor and convenient kitchen appliances not found on the hotel side. Visit www.phtowers.com.
December marks the opening of the Cosmopolitan, a $3.9 billion, 2,995-room tower with 13 restaurants, a spa, nightclub, 150,000 square feet of meeting/convention space, retail stores and casino. Large outdoor terraces adjoining its guestrooms will offer spectacular views of the Strip and of the Bellagio’s famed musical fountains. The pool complex here, overlooked by a three-story bar, will be large enough to host outdoor concerts and sporting events.
Finding the Right Vegas Experience
The seasoned visitor may recall Vegas’ classic tawdry gaming teasers, such as the nickel cup of coffee, the 99-cent breakfast, and the 50-cent beer. Now, by contrast, there’s a dizzying array of properties and attractions, with their own personalities, catering to clients’ diverse tastes and preferences. Travel agents can (and should) more easily match their clients’ tastes to the venues’ latest features.
“Agents and their clients should look not only at the price categories of hotels, but at the widely different experiences offered in Las Vegas,” says Chris Ames, director, product and sales, U.S. Airways Vacations (www.usairwaysvacations.com). For example, one client may relish an in-your-face experience with lots of shows and casino action at, let’s say, the MGM Grand (www.MGMGrand.com). Another might like a more intimate experience in which the gaming table has a more restrained role, like at the Monte Carlo.
What about pricing? Normally, it’s important to book clients at the best places they can afford—or at least “where they are sure to receive tremendous value when booking their vacation,” says Jeff Eisenhart, vice-president for leisure sales at MGM-Mirage. “This becomes a more attractive proposition thanks to value added packages. Such unique packages combine shows, spa and shopping, with several nights lodging, to ensure that the guest enjoys all aspects of their vacation experience.”
Meanwhile, the crazy, dizzying pace of change continues throughout the city. Not just with new, over-the-top lodgings such as Planet Hollywood, Palazzo at the Venetian, (www.PalazzoLasVegas.com), Palms Place (www.PalmsPlace.com) and Trump Las Vegas (www.trumplasvegashotel.com); but also with more attractions; more dining spots; more gossip and spirit-drenched ultra-lounges; and more casinos and booking rooms, both on and off the Strip. Off-Strip action is plenty lively, particularly the “Fremont Street Experience” downtown, where the new Rush Tower at the Golden Nugget (www.goldennugget.com) is wowing patrons looking for some of the Strip’s sparkle and panache at bargain prices.
Not to forget the Las Vegas Valley’s highly congenial chain of Station Casinos, well-patronized by locals, which also offer chic, newer properties such as the Red Rock Spa & Casino (www.redrocklasvegas.com) and the 202-room Aliante (www.aliantecasinohotel.com), the chain’s latest, which opened in North Las Vegas in 2008.
Things to Do
In April, the Stratosphere opened their 855-foot high SkyJump ride, the world’s highest. Riders, suited up, dive into a controlled free fall, closely resembling the experience of skydiving or base jumping for $99 per person. Visit www.skyjumplasvegas.com, call 800-998-6937 or visit www.stratospherehotel.com
The Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil has a handful of shows here, including the Beatles-focused LOVE. In January, the group opened an Elvis-themed oeuvre at Aria that has taken the town by storm. A larger-than-life film retrospective capsulizes Elvis’ life while enlisting dancers in energetic numbers and musical interpretations. In “Believe,” which has played at Luxor for more than two years, magic similarly meets muscle in a haunting admixture of mystery, mind, music and genius—another unforgettable creation.
So goes the Vegas saga throughout the valley and, via buzz and promotion, the world. Whether you’re behind that velvet rope or thankfully past it anticipating a good time, the city molts and renews with every clock tick and beat of the heart. That pulse itself creates in visitors an astonishing proclivity to return again and again to this incomparable place.