Does anyone feel that heart of las vegas strip is dying?

Question

i feel that vegas is changing drastically. theyve knocked down alot of old school casinos that made vegas what it is. ive always felt that no matter when you go time didnt matter and i also felt like i was in the 50's 60's 70's 80's 90's even though its 2004 ect but now that feeling is gone and i really dont ike the idea that its being populated by all these fancy hotels without casinos that probably cost too much for an average person to stay in. vegas is starting to suck

Answer 1

Well I am with you 120 percent on this.  Until this year I was going to Vegas 2, 3, or 4 times a year every year; and have been there at least once every year since about 1980.  So I remember when you actually had to drive from one hotel to the next and I remember when many of the hotels there now were vacant lots collecting wind blown trash.  I remember when one of the attractions of Vegas was to see all of the flashing neon hotel signs and you could pick out individual hotel signs.  I think the junkyness started when they built the Mirage right next to Caesars Palace.  Then the next bit of junkyness was when they built the Paris right next to Ballys; and putting the Eiffel Tower and Arch de Triumph right on the Strip just made it worse.  I think the new "Center City" is going to really make it a mess and make it look and feel like the downtown of a big city, like NY and/or Chicago.

In addition, in the "old days" it seemed to me that the hotels and casinos were more inclined to provide real service, or cater to you.  I know that Vegas has gone through some stages where it originally catered in its early days to a mature crowd of people in their mid thirties to forties and up.  Then they tried for a few years in the 1990's to cater to families and hotels like the MGM built amusement parks and all of the new hotels opening included an arcade of some sort.  Then it seems to me that Vegas now caters to a younger crowd of people in their twenties and thirties, with big emphases on night clubs.  The last few times I visited the majority of the people strolling the Strip and playing tables were young people.  Years ago it was never like that.

Now I don't think the hotels cost a whole lot more than they did 10 years ago or so, but what I have noticed is the hotels don't care any more whether you get a great room or not.  They seem to me to do more bait and switch and mis-advertising.  For example, you get a mailing or email from them that they have rooms for $69. a night, but when you look at their hotel rate calendar you see that room rate is available only one night of the week, and it much higher all of the other nights, or its not available on consecutive nights.  So you really cannot plan a trip to get that room rate.  And the last couple times I was there I checked in expecting one thing and got something different; things like sorry "we're don't have any non-smoking rooms in the tower", so I  ended up in a less desirable location.

The biggest thing that bothers me is how the cost of food has skyrocketed.   Cheap food was always a Vegas attraction.  I remember when the Rio Hotel buffet first opened the breakfast buffet was only $1.97.  Now its $12.  At one time you could go to Vegas and eat all day in buffets for about $10.  Now $10 MAY get you one meal.   One of the ways to get around high buffet prices was to eat in the hotel coffee shops.  But now they have jacked up their prices too.   In addition, all of the big hotels now have multiple fancy restaurants that have menus with no prices; so you know they cost BIG bucks.  I remember when there may have been one high priced eating place in the big hotels; now they all have several.

And then don't get me started on gambling paybacks from the slots.  I remember when you could play a quarter slot for about 20 minutes with a roll of quarters.  That was because they didn't give you a big hit, but a bunch of small ones and you could sit and play a while.  Now you pop a twenty in a slot and you can play it all and not get one hit.  And its gone in less than 5 minutes.  So I have pretty much given up on playing anything but quarters and lower.

So you are right and its not just the hotels and their room rates.  Vegas in now trying to squeeze every dollar it can out of you at every turn.  You are right about your feeling and I share it.  So what I have done is cut back on my visits to MAYBE one a year and instead of Vegas I go on a cruise during one of those time frames that I once reserved for a Vegas trip.  I  think the energy crisis is going to hit them big and they will get what they deserve.

PS:  I ran across this web site with a good presentation of the history of the hotels on the Vegas Strip:  http://www.lvstriphistory.com/ie/   You may want to take a look!!!

Answer 2

Even here in Germany I heard about Las Vegas loosing its potential. It seems as if the city was broke, but I don't know how serious it really is, though I always wanted to take a trip to Vegas.

Answer 3

I think what you are saying has been going on for quite some time. The Dunes becoming Bellagio ... the Sands quickly became the Venetian soon Boardwalk witll be City Center. Those were three places you could get the old style deals on rooms and food. Instead you have to shell out big bucks to even stay one night. The $3.99 dinner buffet at Boardwalk (though awful tasting) will soon be replace by $$$$ fancy restaurants that the only thing full when you leave will be their cash registers.

Luckily we still have downtown Vegas. Aging but still maintaining what was. When you could stay at the Westward HO for less than downtown disappeared. I thnk it signaled a change for the end of discount vacations on the strip.We all admit is was a bit of a dump but for some it is all they could afford.

The strip hotels are now learning that they are the ones that are going to struggle from now on and the downtown and off the strip properties are the future for Vegas. It was the millions of little men that built Vegas. not the few money throwing high rollers. Downtown is not struggling like the strip properties. I think the mistake with the path the strip hotels have taken will result in a boom for downtown and the near end of the building of the luxury resort.  

Answer 4

Not to mention that the building of these new condos/timeshares/hotels, is completely obstructing the view.  Now when you walk on the walkway between New York- New York and MGM Grand, and try to look down the strip, you can't see a thing.  You used to be able to look from there and see the hotels (at least the tops of them) for a ways down the strip.  It feels much more claustrophobic now and not near as open.  It's like walking down the street in New York City where all you see on any side of you is very tall building.

Thankfully, the traditional themed hotels are still offering great discounts on stays to offset the fact that those condos are going to be charging so much.  I still don't pay more than $50/night to stay in Vegas.

I wonder if they are trying to force people to buy timeshares in order to be able to afford to stay out there for vacation...

Answer 5

- There is a lot of concern that Vegas has departed too much from their core business, which was to offer a working man in Southern California an inexpensive place to enjoy a few days away and enjoy a show or some dancing. Even older entertainers like Bob Newhart says he misses the gangsters (or "the boys" as he calls them).

- A family wrote in the newspaper about taking their daughter and her friends out to a nightclub to celebrate her 21st birthday. The bill was over $800, but really griped them was that they shelled out over $600 in tips. The tips were more like shakedown money than gratuities.

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There is no sign that the three remaining 1950's era casinos will be imploded. The Sahara, The Riviera, and The Tropicana. The destruction of the old places has been so complete , and the site of the Stardust and the New Frontier are now just empty lots and partially built buildings. Plans are probably to keep the old buildings and refurbish them. Knock down the oldest hotel towers, and try to build new ones.

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With the Echelon Placed on hold now, there is no concrete plans to build anything other than some small non-gaming hotels after 2009. There are at least a dozen multi-billion dollar mega-projects that have been announced, but no financing has been secured (or not publicly announced). The M resort is probably going up south of South Point casino and hotel.

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It looks like Phil Ruffin may be one of the smartest developers ever. He sold the land under the New Frontier for a billion dollar proft (in less than eight years). Now someone else is stuck with the problem of how to develop it in the current economy.

Answer 6

The Evolution of vegas is destroying the very base of what created.

A elegant and fancy place to gamble and dine.

Unfortuneatly, we are also to blame for the destruction of old school vegas, per say.

We want brand new rooms or suites that over look the strip, everything has to be sooo new, New, NEWWWW.  Not alot of people appreciate the originality anymore.  

I personally like to stay at either Tropicana or sometimes Freemont's casinos.