Paul Szydelko
It certainly wasn't what Don Voss was anticipating when the Las Vegas Raiders played their first-ever home National Football League game against the New Orleans Saints on a Monday night in mid-September. But it was satisfying nonetheless.
Voss, Treasure Island (TI) Hotel & Casino's vice president of hotel sales and marketing, saw fans dressed in their teams' colors gather hours before game time, staring at the big-screen TVs at the casino-resort's newly expanded and reimagined Golden Circle Sportsbook & Bar.
"There was a lot of energy," said Voss, despite the capacity limit imposed by the state of Nevada in response to the pandemic. "It's funny when they're rooting for the teams behind their masks because it's all muffled. It makes for an interesting way of celebrating your team, but it's been really well-received. It's more of an entertainment venue than it is just a betting place.
The 12,000-square-foot area on the casino's main floor can accommodate 750 (when there are no restrictions), and food is served from noon to 10 p.m. daily.
The resort on the Las Vegas Strip is constantly adjusting operating hours of restaurants and other venues to respond to demand, Voss says. It is implementing suggestions from frontline employees about the flow of guest traffic and placement of directional signs and social distancing reminders. Compliance with health and safety protocols has steadily built since reopening in June, he says.
"Early on, it was a more of a learning curve for everyone -- staff and customers," Voss said. "But it is ubiquitous now, over the last two months. People come here knowing exactly what to expect in terms of the social distancing guidelines and make sure they're wearing masks everywhere. Do we have occasional violators? Sure, but it's really not a big conflict. You've just got to remind them. And usually it's like, 'Oops, I forgot,' or 'Hey, I've a drink in my hand' kind of thing."
Rather than "new normal," Voss likes to call the current situation a "temporary shift of the paradigm" until a vaccine is developed. November and December are traditionally slow in Las Vegas. Without large conventions and the National Finals Rodeo this year, expectations have been adjusted accordingly.
Voss says most large conventions won't return until mid- to late-2021. He fully expects Cirque du Soleil's "Mystere," at TI since 1993, to resume when a 50% occupancy limit in the 1,600-seat theater is allowed.
"We've gone now from June through October, where all the major events and conventions have obviously canceled or moved to next year," Voss said. "So, the current customer that's coming in is more of a leisure, individual traveler -- a Covid-fatigued traveler. I don't think the clientele that's been coming here for the last three or four months is going to change dramatically over the next couple of months."
Voss says his 2,884-room, Radisson-affiliated resort and others on the Strip are running at less than half of full occupancy.
Las Vegas welcomed 1.7 million leisure visitors in September, up 10.9% from approximately 1.5 million visitors in August, according to the latest statistics provided by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Occupancy averaged 46.8%, with weekend occupancy at 66.1% and midweek occupancy at 38.5%.
Average daily rates among open properties reached $108.13 (up 9% from August), while RevPAR was $50.60 (up 19.4% from August). Average daily rates and RevPAR were down 21.1% and 58.2%, respectively, compared with September 2019.
"We're going to see a relatively steady -- again low, much lower than normal -- occupancies, as we've seen for last few months, with the similar types of customers," Voss said. "There is some pent-up demand for travel, but people obviously are still very cautious, especially with the recent spikes in the cases and all the drama around the current election season. Once that's over which may not be until Thanksgiving, by the way and/or they have more definitive plans on a vaccine potentially coming out, that mindset might change a little bit."