Plans to convert The Hotel at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino into Delano Las Vegas may be shelved for good reason. MGM Resorts International needs a room.
The growing convention and meeting business at the adjoining Mandalay Bay Conference Center is an indication that the casino operator, which owns The Hotel and Mandalay Bay, has booked a visiting requirement to fill The Hotel’s 1,100 suites. Mandalay Bay has more than 3,300 hotel rooms and suites.
In a research note to investors, Stern Age gaming analyst David Bain said MGM Resorts may hold off on rebranding, which is expected to begin later this year. Bain recently met with officials at MGM, Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts’ Las Vegas resort operations.
“We believe MGM may delay the hotel’s room remodeling,” Bain wrote. “The delay in vacating rooms later this year, in our view, demonstrates MGM’s high visibility and confidence in the group booking trend for the 2014 calendar.” 에볼루션 바카라사이트
Chairman Jim Muren promoted the extensive reservation convention calendar ahead of 2014 during the two most recent MGM Resort quarterly earnings conference calls with analysts and investors. Mandalay Bay has one of the company’s largest convention facilities in Streep, along with MGM Grand. Aria, the city center’s 4,004-room Centerpiece hotel-casino, is also becoming a popular conference venue.
Merren has publicly said sound convention and meeting business was a key component in rebuilding the company’s strip business after the recession that gripped the tourism and gaming industries.
“Strip is on a positive pace,” Merren said in August.
MGM Resorts has reinvested in 10 strip properties, remodeled rooms and added attractions, including $100 million to turn MGM Grand’s closed Studio 54 nightclub into Hakgasan nightclubs, restaurants and lounges.
The company’s most ambitious upgrade is its $100 million outdoor retail, dining, and entertainment zone, which will be created on a strip between New York and Monte Carlo. The attractions include the New York Burger Stand Shake Shack, Hershey’s Chocolate World, SBE Entertainment’s roadhouse-style bar, double barrel, and other retail and dining offerings.
The square will lead to a central park that will serve as a $350 million gateway for the 20,000-seat Sports and Entertainment Arena MGM Resort to build behind the two resorts with national arena developer AEG.
New York-New York, Monte Carlo is also expected to upgrade, and the old strip looks have already been torn off.
“Our goal is to reinvest in the assets we hold to induce higher cash flow,” Muren said in February.
The Delano brand is owned by Morgan’s Hotel Group. More than a year ago, MGM Resorts and Morgan’s announced plans to transform The Hotel into Delano Las Vegas through room upgrades and renovation of the strip property’s common spaces. MGM and Morgan’s also planned to transform the bar, lounge, restaurant, and spa into Delano-branded amenities.
Some of the renovations, including the nightclub operator Light Group, have already been carried out in parts of the adjacent Mandalay Bay. Light Group closed its China Grill and Red White and Blue restaurants and replaced them with Citizen Kitchen & Bar and Kumi Japanese Restaurant and Bar Akira. Also, Light Group renovated the Red Square restaurant.
Closed Rum Jungle Nightclub reopened this year as Light Nightclub, a 38,000-square-foot venue with state-of-the-art production, lighting, sound, and special effects. The company also opened Daylight Beach Club in the swimming pool area of Mandalay Bay.
Morgan has been itching to get the Delano brand into Las Vegas. The concept was part of a failed Echelon development that halted construction in 2008. The site will house the planned resort world Las Vegas.
In August 2012, Morgans Hotel Group CEO Michael Gross said in a statement, “We have been keeping an eye on Las Vegas for years and have finally found the right place and opportunity.”
Bain said in a report to investors that Win Las Vegas and Encore were also experiencing similar “absurd” trends in 2014 convention bookings.
An analyst writing for Seeking Alpha.com called Mandalay Bay the “third most important property” in MGM Resorts’ portfolio of strips. Turning the hotel into Delano Las Vegas will help improve the outcome of the entire property.