Despite having a rather sluggish year in the gaming industry in 2008, holiday crowds still surprised many, creating new hope among casinos that the new year might be even better. Las Vegas’ New Year holiday weekend was especially huge, attracting nearly 300,000 visitors using the hotel and gaming floor. The turnout exceeded 284,000 visitors in 2007, but was still slightly below the 305,000 crowd in 2006. Casino operators, however, were still overjoyed, especially on New Year’s Day, when Pete’s seat was often filled to capacity, leading casinos across the country to report a good turnout. Casino operators hope this is a sign that Las Vegas’ economic downturn is starting to turn around, but not everyone is so sure. 온라인카지노
The holiday season has traditionally been one of the busiest in the casino industry, but many hotels have had to cut room rates and each customer spends less on average than in previous years. Philip Shalala, head of marketing at Hard Rock Hotels & Casinos, reports that his hotel had its best December, up 6 percent from last year. This may in part be due to the creative marketing that many Las Vegas casinos have begun to utilize in hopes of getting ahead of the competition. A good example would be Hard Rock’s Holiday Party, which offers two hours of beer and wine for free. Due to the promotion, many visitors also bought food and gambled. This led to the hotel being roughly 10 percent above its estimate. But someone who once spent more than $10,000 now spends less per person, only about $5,000. Hard Rock didn’t significantly lower room rates, but it did offer additional benefits such as free concert tickets and shopping discounts.