Is Vegas, Like, Totally Going South Beach On Us?

March 18, 2013 at 5:31 PM | by juliana | Comments (8)

With last Friday's news about Gansevoort Las Vegas (and, if you haven't heard, this is what Bill's will become), we couldn't help but wonder -- Is Las Vegas going totally South Beach these days?

The additional upcoming openings of SLS Las Vegas and Delano at Mandalay Bay as well as the already here presence of Bagatelle and STK (both in SoBe, too) sure makes it seem like it. Heck, Las Vegas even has a Fontainebleau, totally abandoned, of course. And, both cities have a Canyon Ranch spa, too!

True, Gansevoort is first and foremost a New York City kid (named after a street in the Meatpacking District), but for a few years, they had a huge hotel in South Beach and it was quite the party monster. (Until they couldn't make their mortgage payments and were kicked out by the bank. You can read that drama here on HotelChatter.)

For those that haven't been to Miami in recent years, the city has come a long way from the Golden Girls/Cocaine Cowboys days of the 1980s. The South Beach vibe today is now known for its nightlife (especially big clubs like the Liv at the Fontainebleau), its ever-changing boutique hotel scene (Ocean Drive along the beach is the heartbeat, but so are Collins Ave and the up-and-coming Brickell area), its celeb-frequenting, celeb chef-helmed restaurants, luxury shopping and its eclectic international denizens (both the permanent and seasonal kind).

Oh, and we can't forget about the water and the heat which are the two biggest reasons why most folk in South Beach are nearly naked at all times. Sound familiar? With the exception of hurricanes and Miami's terrific art and design scene, we'd say Las Vegas and Miami are freakishly identical, after all.

But, is this what Vegas Visitors really want? One VegasChatter commenter thinks not. He writes:

Las Vegas is TOO UPSCALE now... all the down-to-Earth cheap-o hotels are gone... Frontier, Stardust, Sahara, O'Shea's, Barbary Coast, etc. Vegas is becoming like Fifth Avenue NY or something. TOO many high-end hotels, shopping, etc.

I miss the old-school Vegas. The Vegas where you can go from Bellagio to the Frontier and then to Slots of Fun.*
I've been to the Gansevoort in NY and it is a good brand and very hip but we have SO MANY hip places in Vegas. Enough already! Wynn, Venetian, Encore, Palazzo, Mandarin Oriental, Aria, Bellagio, Nobu, etc. etc. etc. That's TOO MUCH. Bring back Westward Ho!! (just kidding)

Other VegasChatter commenters were put off by the unpronounceable name. It's GANS-(like Danny Gans, RIP)-ZA-VORT. While some were excited by the presence of a hip new boutique hotel. We have to admit, it's gonna look WAY prettier than Bill's ever did. But this comment sent chills down our spine:

In other words... a regular room will cost more than what I got the John Wayne Suite for at Bill's. That's progress. Didn't the casino companies get in trouble by building for peak times before? Seems like they are setting themselves up to get burned again.

Eeee!

South Beach or NYC vibes aside, we are in favor of spiffing up the Strip, but we worry it might be too much of the same thing. We're afraid that one day we could go from Caesars to the Mirage and across the street to the Palazzo and not ever notice the difference except for the "themes" of the buildings. But, we guess if this does happen, then there's always downtown.

This concludes our session of Deep Thoughts for today. Now share yours in the comments below!

*For what it's worth, you can still go from Bellagio to PBR Rock Bar and then onto the Hawaiian marketplace for 4 a.m. karaoke. Kinda similar, no?

(PHOTO: TravelChannel.com)

Comments (8)

Return to » Is Vegas, Like, Totally Going South Beach On Us?

Miami just isnt what it used to be, it used to be the club mecha, now its nothing but s**ty hip hop clubs from weekenders coming down from Atlanta. And the only two decent clubs, Liv and Space are over rated. (seems they went from an experience to just wanting cash, like some of the clubs that died off here in Vegas). This year's WMC / Ultra was beyond weak, the DJs were not even "trying". Right now in Florida, the scene in Miami is a joke, now Ft. Lauderdale and Orlando and toping the spots for the music scenes. (even EDC is there). I love miami and the weather, and the beaches, but the thug mentality at the clubs and all the rip off stores there make it very unwelcome. (and having clubs shut down in Miami Beach at 3am kinda sucks, especially when coming from a 24 hour party town). And with all the up and coming pool scenes we have here, more and more people are flocking to us.

I make it a point not to stay in hotels that I can't pronounce, but up-scaling the Strip isn't a bad thing. The market will determine room prices and if it will sustain higher-end, then a salute. But my guess is it won't and companies will be forced to offer discounted, up-scale rooms, which we will be able to take advantage of, not suffer from (like you do at the Quad, oops).

Like tcjr456 said, if people will pay $250 a night then the hotels will charge it. Before the economy crashed luxury hotels were around the $199 rate and that was almost 10 years ago. Those prices went down to under $100 (Wynn/Encore).

Occupancy at many (if not all) of the luxury properties on the strip are around 90%. That's a sign that the majority of visitors don't mind paying for quality.

I live things getting makeovers but properties seem to be all going for the same vibe now. You could take part of Hotel A, B C and 'The D' and put them all together and they'd fit in decor wise.

Not that I watch circus themed places but I liked it when properties each had a very distinct style.

If I want South Beach, then I'll go visit South Beach.

I do like the room design of the Gansevoort but why would I pay $200+ starting price for a room that size on a noisy corner when I can get a large suite at the Venetian or Signature condo with balcony for for less than that?

Maybe it is my experience of working and opening a property in Vegas that had been renovated and not built new. Old buildings with facelifts are still old buildings. We can make Joan Rivers look 20, but let's face it, her bladder and motor skills are of that of someone in their 70's. Buildings and their plumbing and electrical wiring are similar. Don't get me wrong, I'll take more high end rooms to further saturate a market and drive down prices as such. That corner suite I once landed at Aria for $159/night, I'll be back. KEEP 'EM COMING!!

Although the planned rooms look nice I don't see them pulling 250 a night at this place. You can get a 5 star all day for under 110, sometimes under 90 on the discount sites. The young rich(or die trying to act it) crowd will flock to this place for a year, tear it up, then the old blue collar crowd will come back and make it their house again. This average everyday 30 something will stick to the ends of the strip and downtown for my rooms, hit the dive bars for my partying, and gamble wherever these shoes take me. Another thing to ponder will be how "Jersey" this summer is going to be with "The Shore" destroyed. May to October looks to be an interesting one without a doubt.

Gansevoort is a nice hotel. I've been to the one in NYC but $250 for Vegas, no way. I can stay at Wynn for $109 + resort fee. If I was paying that much I'd go to the Mandarin Oriental... it truly sounds like an amazing hotel. I've never tried a non-gaming hotel but it sounds great to be just-far-enough to avoid the smoke and noise.

@tcjr456 and the rest:

When the building boom of last decade was in progress, I got the same thing from my readers: "Vegas is going to be too expensive".

I basically said "No it isn't, there are not enough well-off people to pay for all these rooms, you'll get to stay in great rooms at a fraction of what it would cost in another city". Obviously, I turned out to be right.

Especially with <strike>Vegas World</strike> Resorts World coming on board, room rates will stay depressed for much of this decade.

However, as long as the clubs keep raking in the kind of money they make, Vegas will be South-Beachy until the possible saturation thins the herd and all the patrons get too deaf to hear the thump-thump music.

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