A gaming industry analyst’s report on consumer perceptions about Las Vegas dismisses the idea that the city’s resorts aren’t a good value proposition and says that tourists are still very interested in visiting the city.
Barry Jonas, an analyst with Atlanta-based Truist Securities, said a survey of nearly 800 travelers finds that people are still anxious to come to Las Vegas and that the notion that the city is overpriced 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 about hotel room rates, resort fees, food and beverage, entertainment, gambling minimums and transportation.
Getting better
“Interestingly, 65 percent of respondents’ perceptions of Vegas have improved (38 percent ‘Much better’ and 26 percent ‘Slightly better’),” Jonas’ report said. “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 also said consumers are delighted with the new all-inclusive pricing models that have been introduced by some resort companies.
While most visitors acknowledge prices are going up, the survey revealed that the increase hasn’t been enough to discourage trips.
“Given the recent cycle of negative newsflow on Las Vegas value, this was surprising to us,” Jonas said.
“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 most popular
The survey also gauged at which properties most visitors stayed the most with MGM Grand, Caesars Palace and Bellagio the most and The Cromwell (in the process 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 visitor also played a role in perception.
“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 said. “This compared 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 ‘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 trend of bundling prices — 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 past quarter that operators were trying more bundled or all-inclusive pricing, we asked about how appealing the concept of that was,” Jonas said. “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 professional sports driving more visitation to Las Vegas? Not as much as what one might think.
Jonas said the Las Vegas Raiders draw the most visitors to town.
Perceptions on sports 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 asked where Las Vegas ranked in terms of leisure travel, 80 percent answered the city was in their top five preferred destinations (21 percent No. 1, 35 percent top-three and 24 percent top-five). That’s higher than those who attend for business at 62 percent (16 percent No. 1, 27 percent top-three and 19 percent top-five), though a larger component had never been for work purposes (18 percent vs. just 1 percent for no leisure).
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on X.
