Las Vegas expects a record crowd for New Year"s Eve
Las Vegas is dealing a full house this weekend at what could be its biggest-ever New Year"s Eve bash.
A record 314,000 out-of-town partyers are expected to descend on the Strip and elsewhere Saturday night, paying higher prices at sold-out hotels, packing nightclubs to see the Kardashians, Black Eyed Peas and Stevie Wonder and capping a year of continued rebound from a steep economic downturn.
RELATED: Ring in the new year with stars in Las Vegas
RELATED Las Vegas" Bellagio fountains learn new dances
That single evening of revelry will translate to non-gaming revenues of nearly $193 million and puts the city on track to host 39 million visitors in 2011, vs. 39.2 million during the high-water year of 2007, says Kevin Bagger, senior director of marketing for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
"While the recovery has been gradual and spending has taken longer to recover, visitor volume has been strong," Bagger says. Average hotel rates have risen steadily over the past 20 months, he adds, despite a 1.2% boost in room inventory thanks to the openings of The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and CityCenter lodgings.
The city expects to fill 98% of its 150,189 rooms on New Year"s Eve, up .4% from last Dec. 31. A search on Kayak.com Thursday afternoon for a one-night stay, checking in Dec. 31 and out Jan. 1, showed rates ranging from $75 at the Howard Johnson Inn Las Vegas Strip to $1,240 for the Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa.
Although some rates are lower than last year, many others are sharply higher: Rooms at the Bellagio that rented for $659 to $799 on New Year"s Eve 2010 are going for $1,199 to $1,998 this year, says Yvette Monet, spokeswoman for the Bellagio"s parent company, MGM Resorts International.
"Based on current booking trends, this New Year"s weekend is anticipated to be one of the best in quite some time on the Las Vegas Strip," says Monet. "At some MGM Resorts properties (which include the ARIA Resort & Casino, Mandalay Bay, MGM Grand and The Mirage) it could be one of the best of all time, in terms of visitor volumes and room rates."
Through October, the aver