What's next after Resorts World?

Aria has been feeling older to me for quite some time because the rooms are overdue for a refresh or at least touch up the chipped night stands and desks but they are working on updates currently. What I am wondering is since Cosmo values their rooms at a pretty high value maybe resorts world may attract some of their customers. I'm curious what kind of offers Resorts world gives out

 

If age of casino really mattered, nobody would be sitting at Harrah's/LINQ/CircusCircus .. but they're not empty.
RW and Circa are not for everyone, not even close. If anything, they added some color to the variety of entertainment lineup.
Also, nobody just hangs out at one casino the whole time. Strip walking, casino hopping, etc. Everyone does it. Families with small children may be the only ones who stay put.

 

Or Mirage, or any of the MGM spots south of Tropicana. I do think many of the properties you mentioned need room refreshes, but that's different from the age of the overall property.

 

I know they're not exactly next door neighbors, but I wonder if the Northern Strip development will continue developing northwards and someday (way in the future) "connect" with downtown. If that's the long-term plan I could see the Southern Strip places being replaced with something further on the north end.

 

Bellagio already started renovating all of their rooms. The Aria Sky Suites are being renovated now and are supposed to be finished before the end of the year. I don't know about the rest of Aria. Park MGM is fairly new. Luxor recently renovated rooms using old Bellagio furniture. You would think the Excalibur would be ready for an overhaul. I can't see them selling the property being so close to the stadium and arenas.

 

I think that’s been envisioned over the years but north of Sahara it’s tough to actually do. There are a lot of small properties with various owners so it’s difficult to assemble all the land large enough to do anything close be able to build a resort, maybe at best a small one.

Although I do think RW will likely help get the other empty properties/failed projects on the north end a jump start and we’ll see some new casino resorts finally get finished and open up there (like the Drew or whatever it’s now supposed to be called), and likely before any of the older places further south get imploded.


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I think room updates will be the biggest change we see. When it comes to casinos I like the old adage "A joint is a joint". You can dress up the lights and displays but at the end of the day you still have the same games with varying odds.

De-theming, as we saw recently with Harrah's will be the new thing. Conventions don't really care much for themes and most, if not all, of the Strip resorts are convention resorts now. (or will be, when conventions return full chat.) I'm pretty sure that means Luxor will be the first to fall because how does one de-theme a Pyramid? MGM could go full Park MGM with Excalibur and totally remake it as a budget option.

I don't see downtown doing much outside of what's been already announced in reaction to Circa. We know Fremont is planning on halving their number of rooms and turning them all into suites, but I still think DT is geared toward a different crowd. While I like Circa and plan to spend some time there in the future I really think Derek is going to run into the old problem that "You should never own the nicest house in a bad neighborhood". I still cannot see the type of big players that he's marketing to foregoing the Strip and choosing to move their tack to Circa long-term.

 

I have a feeling resorts hits Venetian and aria hard. It’s not going to impact cheaper resorts and bellagio/Wynn are bucket list places.


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The next hotel looks like a sure-fire winner,

 

Curious what San Manual will do with the Palms in a year Or 2 once that sale Goes they and they reopen.

 

I have to admit I play where I stay. If I venture out it's for shopping or a meal not to gamble but mostly I stay at my resort and enjoy the pool, spa and casino.

 

I was thinking that too although Stations has just remodeled it so not sure they need to revamp much. I think their business plan is to market towards their regular so cal customers who go to Vegas.


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Circa did not age every other casino on Fremont 10 years. They aged them 40 years!

MGM never wanted to own Circus Circus. It just came with the buyout of the Mandalay Resort Group. Which MGM wanted in order to get more land, own the MB Resort and finally acquire the other half of Monte Carlo, in which they went halfsies on the build.

MGM sold the land that Excalibur sits on to MGM Growth Properties in another one of those REIT deals. And just 2 days ago, VICI (which was the spinoff REIT arm for CET) just bought out MGM Growth Properties. Which is to say, the landlord for all those CET properties is now the landlord for all these MGM properties. Which is weird.

It will be that much harder to sell off Excalibur, when you don't own the land any more. And you would have to think long and hard before dumping a ton of money into redeveloping the place, when you are just a renter.

City Center was absolutely the right move for MGM, back in summer 2006 when they started building it. They had no way of knowing the Financial Crisis of 2007 was just over a year away. That isn't on them, as it was the right move at the right time. But, ever since CC completed, they have been moving more towards cash stock piling then building or reinvesting.