New Year's Eve Gamble
This New Year's Eve was supposed to be the party to out do all the others, The Grand Daddy of them all in Las Vegas. This is the millennium and it was thought that people from all around the world would flock to the city to celebrate. But a funny thing is happening as the day approaches, people are staying home instead. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority slashed its estimate of visitors to the city to 240,000 from 750,000. This projection is lower than last years 250,000 visitors.
About five years ago I thought it would be nice to spend New Year's Eve 1999 in Las Vegas. So did a lot of other people. Many started calling as early as two years in advance trying to book a room for the big party. Although most casinos will not except reservations more than a year in advance they did take notice of the early interest in Las Vegas as a New Year's Eve destination
The casino business is built on mathematics. The house has the edge on the games and that is how they make their money. The casinos don't gamble. That is until this year. The casinos decided to gamble on room rates. They thought they had a sure thing and raised the rates figuring everyone would be more than willing to pay high prices for the honor of celebrating in Las Vegas. At the beginning of this year the hype started. People were told to book early because most rooms would be sold out. The casinos also set minimum stays of three or four nights for their packages.
When people saw the published prices for New Year's Eve they started having second thoughts about going to Las Vegas. Now with New Year's Eve less than a week away the casinos are also having second thoughts about the prices they were charging. There are still plenty of rooms available along with tickets to big name shows. Earlier this month the Las Vegas Review Journal reported that prices were dropping fast. Some casinos have cut their prices 50 to75 percent.
Two weeks ago I started receiving e-mail from several casinos offering me special rates for New Year's Eve. In September the Las Vegas Advisor published the going rates for New Year's Eve and I thought I would compare the new rates with the rates published then.
The Tropicana offered me a room for $175 a night for a two-night stay. The September rate was $2,250 for a three-night stay. If you are interested you can book their Internet Special for $199 per night for a two-night stay. Caesars Palace has cut their nightly rate from $2,000 to $950 for two nights The Monte Carlo changed their $2,250 three-night package to $315 per night. Local casinos are more affordable as well. The Palace Station cut the rate for a three-night stay form $900 to $499. CBS Channel 2 from Los Angeles reported more examples in their story about prices hitting rock bottom. If you are interested in going to Las Vegas I advise you to check out many of the Internet specials being offered by the casinos.
Its Common Sense, not the fear of Y2K that is keeping people home this New Year's Eve. Greed has been the downfall of many gamblers. The casinos got greedy and tried to gamble on the room rates. The casinos lost.
Have a safe and Happy New Year!!
Until next time, remember:
"Luck comes and goes...Knowledge stays forever."