As Las Vegas handles a Memorial Day weekend crowd projected at nearly 350,000 visitors spending more than $430 million, surveys show room rates have trended up. Furthermore, they will continue to do so over the summer on the Strip as tourists, especially those from abroad, continue to flock to the city. Visitors from foreign destinations traveling through Harry Reid International Airport are up 26% for the year.
Barry Jonas, an analyst with Truist Securities, said second-quarter online rates for leisure customers on the Strip through the end of June are up 15% year over year. MGM’s rates increased 10%, Caesars Entertainment’s 6%. At Wynn Resorts, which caters to high-end customers, rates continue to show “significant growth,” up 36% year over year for the second quarter.
Weekend rates were 14% for the Strip for the properties surveyed, while weekday rates were up 12%.
“Recent commentary from MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle on CNBC noted continuing bookings momentum into the summer pointing to mid-90s occupancy, up about 200 basis points year over year,” Jonas said. “Hornbuckle also noted room rates were trending up mid-single digits in the 90-day booking window, suggesting revenue per room up HSD for the summer months.”
Jonas noted signs of growth that corroborate management’s commentary and that some of MGM’s solid performance could be attributed to its agreement with Marriott International put in place in October that brought 40,000 MGM rooms at 17 resorts under the Marriott hotel-booking umbrella.
The Truist Securities room-rate survey is conducted weekly, by tracking 13 weeks of forward internet room rates for 28 casinos on the Strip.
The data show rates are near parity to the prior June’s for both MGM and Caesars following a strong May: a 12% increase at MGM and 17% at Caesars’, benefiting from an advantageous event calendar.
Off the Strip, Jonas said the room-rate momentum at Durango Casino & Resort in southwest Las Vegas has slowed somewhat, down from April highs. But they were still in parity with Red Rock’s, the flagship of Red Rock Resorts properties.
