A gaming industry analyst’s report on consumer perceptions of Las Vegas dismisses the idea that the city’s resorts are not a good value proposition, saying tourists are still very interested in visiting the city.
Barry Jonas, an analyst at Atlanta-based Truist Securities, said a survey of nearly 800 travelers shows that people are still eager to come to Las Vegas and that the perception that the city is too expensive is wrong.
Jonas published the 14-page report and distributed it to investors on Wednesday.
Most of the survey respondents were from California, Texas, Florida, New York and Ohio.
The report analyzed perceptions of hotel room rates, resort fees, food and beverage, entertainment, gaming minimums and transportation.
Getting better
“Interestingly, 65 percent of respondents’ perceptions of Vegas have improved (38 percent ‘Much better’ and 26 percent ‘A little better’),” Jonas’ report said. “From there, 27 percent of respondents saw Vegas about the same, with only 8 percent saying Vegas has gotten worse (7 percent ‘somewhat worse’ and 1 percent ‘Much worse’).”
The report also said consumers are happy with the new all-inclusive pricing models introduced by some resort companies.
While most visitors acknowledge that prices are going up, the survey found that the increase has not been enough to deter travel.
“Given the recent cycle of negative news flows about Las Vegas value, this was surprising to us,” Jonas said.
“We honed in on the value question and interestingly, 56 percent of respondents said ‘Las Vegas offers good value for what I’m paying.’ Yet 37 percent said ‘Prices are rising and value is being eroded’ while only 7 percent said ‘Prices are too high and I no longer see the value.’
MGM Grand most popular
The survey also measured which properties most visitors stayed at the most with MGM Grand, Caesars Palace and Bellagio the most and The Cromwell (which is changing), The Linq and Fontainebleau Las Vegas the least.
“We asked which property our respondents most often live in, with MGM Grand at 11 percent, Caesars Palace 7 percent, Bellagio 6 percent, Harrah’s 4 percent and Casino Royale 4 percent the most chosen properties,” Jonas wrote. “When cross-referenced with the respondent’s annual household income, we applied a proprietary rating system to assign points to each property – 1 point for ‘Under $50,000,’ 2 points for ‘Between $50,000-74,999’ … up to 7 points for more than $500,000+. By this measure, the largest single trip, MGM Grand was a clear winner over S. Caesars Palace and Bellagio.”
The age of the visitor also played a role in perception.
“The 35-44 age group had the highest rate of positive change in perception for Las Vegas, with 74 percent of respondents in this cohort indicating their most recent perception was ‘Much better’ or ‘somewhat better’ compared to the 2022-2024 visits,” Jonas said. “This compares to about 71 percent for ages 21-34, 55 percent for ages 45-54, 49 percent for ages 55-64 and just 32 percent for ages 65+.
“On the flip side, the 65+ age group had the highest combined response rate of ‘Much worse’ and ‘Somewhat worse’ perceptions of Las Vegas compared to 2022-2024, with 15 percent of respondents in this cohort choosing these negative options, compared to each other’s age cohort in the 8-9 percent range.”
Price bundling is favored
The new trend of package pricing — the all-in price tag for a hotel room, meals and some form of entertainment, offered at some properties by MGM Resorts International, Caesars Entertainment and downtown’s Plaza — was applauded by survey respondents.
“With news in the last quarter of operators trying more bundled or all-inclusive pricing, we asked how appealing the concept of that was,” Jonas said. “Responses were overwhelmingly positive, with 88 percent indicating it would be appealing (53 percent ‘Very’ and 35 percent ‘Somewhat’) with 9 percent neutral and just 3 percent negative. We also asked what price ranges customers would consider good value for hotels, F&B and entertainment. Responses were generally bell-shaped with $201-250 percent higher, with a higher tail.
Is Professional Sports Bringing More Visitors to Las Vegas? Not as much as you might think.
Jonas said the Las Vegas Raiders draw the most visitors to town.
Perceptions of sport 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 respondents about their feelings about Las Vegas’ burgeoning sports culture. Most (47 percent) said they had not traveled to Las Vegas primarily to attend a sporting event, although 29 percent said ‘Yes’ to a Las Vegas game (NesFL) for one game. a Vegas Golden Knights (NHL), and 7 percent said ‘Yes’ to all others sporting event.”
When asked where Las Vegas ranked for leisure travel, 80 percent said the city was in their top five favorite destinations (21 percent No. 1, 35 percent top three and 24 percent top five). That’s higher than those participating in business at 62 percent (16 percent No. 1, 27 percent top-three, and 19 percent top-five), although a larger portion had never been for work purposes (18 percent versus just 1 percent without leisure).
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