The "Cosmopolitan" Opens Today

Today is the day the "Cosmopolitan" next to City Center opens it doors to the public the 3.8 billion dollar resort set on 8.7 acres on the Las Vegas strip finally takes in its first guests to its 2995 rooms. As with most big resort openings there will be big crowds waiting to be the first to enter the resort at 8pm when the doors open. The art filled resort with private balconies on most of its room will face a uphill battle for Deutsche Bank to recoup the money spend on it although the fact they finished the resort instead of leaving it empty i give them kudos.

Will "City Center" save Las Vegas?

As most likely the last major resort that will open in Las Vegas for a while the new City Center has been garnering a lot of press from local and national news outlets the question is will City Center save Las Vegas from its current economic slump? The easy answer to the question is no it won't but its more complicated than that. Las Vegas is hurting because of the economy and the fact that its core customer drawing area Southern California is really hurting which has decreased the weekend traffic when Las Vegas hotels get higher room rates. Because of City Center opening a few people may decide to visit to see what all the fuss is about but it wont bring huge numbers and the people that do come may decide to stay there instead of staying at another property which is a bit older. I think in the long run City Center will do fine but instead will draw customers from other properties such as MGM's own MGM Grand and will depress room rates across town. A huge problem for City Center and the other casinos is beyond there control and that is airfares and, flights to Las Vegas. Airlines have spend the last few years cutting flights and they try to force up airfares which they have done. A return ticket from Southern California used to be $140-$160 return now its that price one way and America West which had a huge presence at Las Vegas has steadily been cutting flights there ever since it became US Airways. MGM which is deep in debt better hope that City Center steals traffic from Harrah's which is also in debt rather than its own casinos or they could have problems. In the long run City Center will do fine but its not the solution to all Las Vegas problems.