Customer perceptions that Las Vegas is simply too costly could also be off, gaming analyst says | Tourism

A gaming business analyst’s report on shopper perceptions about Las Vegas dismisses the concept the town’s resorts aren’t a great worth proposition and says that vacationers are nonetheless very inquisitive about visiting the town.

Barry Jonas, an analyst with Atlanta-based Truist Securities, stated a survey of practically 800 vacationers finds that individuals are nonetheless anxious to return to Las Vegas and that the notion that the town is overpriced is improper.

Jonas revealed the 14-page report and distributed it to traders on Wednesday.

Most of the survey respondents have been from California, Texas, Florida, New York and Ohio.

The report analyzed perceptions about resort room charges, resort charges, meals and beverage, leisure, playing minimums and transportation.

Getting higher

“Interestingly, 65 percent of respondents’ perceptions of Vegas have improved (38 percent ‘Much better’ and 26 percent ‘Slightly better’),” Jonas’ report stated. “From there, 27 percent of respondents viewed Vegas about the same, with just 8 percent thinking Vegas has gotten worse (7 percent ‘Slightly worse’ and 1 percent ‘Much worse’).”

The report additionally stated shoppers are delighted with the brand new all-inclusive pricing fashions which have been launched by some resort corporations.

While most guests acknowledge costs are going up, the survey revealed that the rise hasn’t been sufficient to discourage journeys.

“Given the recent cycle of negative newsflow on Las Vegas value, this was surprising to us,” Jonas stated.

“We honed in on the value question and interestingly 56 percent of respondents answered ‘Las Vegas offers good value for what I pay.’ Still, 37 percent answered ‘Prices are rising and value is eroding’ while just 7 percent answered ‘Prices are too high and I no longer see value.’”

MGM Grand hottest

The survey additionally gauged at which properties most guests stayed probably the most with MGM Grand, Caesars Palace and Bellagio probably the most and The Cromwell (within the strategy of rebranding), The Linq and Fontainebleau Las Vegas the least.

“We asked what property our respondents most frequently stay at, with MGM Grand at 11 percent, Caesars Palace 7 percent, Bellagio 6 percent, Harrah’s 4 percent and Casino Royale 4 percent the most selected properties,” Jonas wrote. “When cross referenced with annual respondent household income, we applied a proprietary grading system to assign points to each property – 1 point for ‘Below $50,000,’ 2 points for ‘Between $50,000 -74,999’ … up to 7 points to more than $500,000+. By this metric, MGM Grand, the largest individual hotel on the Strip, was a clear winner, followed by Caesars Palace and Bellagio.”

The age of the customer additionally performed a task in notion.

“The 35-44 age group had the highest rate of positive perception change for Las Vegas, with 74 percent of respondents in this cohort indicating their most recent perception was ‘Much better’ or ‘Slightly better’ compared to visits in 2022-2024,” Jonas stated. “This in comparison with about 71 p.c for ages 21-34, 55 p.c for ages 45-54, 49 p.c for ages 55-64 and simply 32 p.c for ages 65+.

“On the flip side, the 65+ age group had the highest combined response rate of ‘Much worse’ and ‘Slightly worse’ perceptions of Las Vegas compared to 2022-2024, with 15 percent of respondents in this cohort selecting these negative options, vs. each other age cohort in the 8-9 percent range.”

Price bundling favored

The new development of bundling costs — the all-in price ticket for a resort room, meals and a few type of leisure, provided at some properties by MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and downtown’s Plaza — was applauded by survey respondents.

“With news in the past quarter that operators were trying more bundled or all-inclusive pricing, we asked about how appealing the concept of that was,” Jonas stated. “Responses were overwhelmingly positive, with 88 percent stating it would be appealing (53 percent ‘Very’ and 35 percent ‘Somewhat’) with 9 percent neutral and just 3 percent negative. We also asked about what price ranges customers would consider good value for hotel, F&B and entertainment. Responses were generally bell curved with $201-300 the highest (25 percent), with a longer tail towards higher pricing.”

Are skilled sports activities driving extra visitation to Las Vegas? Not as a lot as what one may suppose.

Jonas stated the Las Vegas Raiders draw probably the most guests to city.

Perceptions on sports activities tourism

“With Las Vegas having National Football League and National Hockey League teams, with Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association on the way, we asked about respondents’ feelings towards Las Vegas’s burgeoning sports culture. Most (47 percent) stated they had not travelled to Las Vegas primarily to attend a sporting event, though 29 percent answered ‘Yes’ for a Las Vegas Raiders (NFL) game, 17 percent said ‘Yes’ for a Vegas Golden Knights (NHL), and 7 percent answered ‘Yes’ for any other sporting event.”

When requested the place Las Vegas ranked by way of leisure journey, 80 p.c answered the town was of their prime 5 most popular locations (21 p.c No. 1, 35 p.c top-three and 24 p.c top-five). That’s larger than those that attend for enterprise at 62 p.c (16 p.c No. 1, 27 p.c top-three and 19 p.c top-five), although a bigger element had by no means been for work functions (18 p.c vs. simply 1 p.c for no leisure).

Contact Richard N. Velotta at [email protected] or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.