Las Vegas thread and MSE guide 2010

gamboller

January , February

• January 13, 2010 Monorail Files for Bankruptcy: As was speculated in this column back in mid-December of last year, the Las Vegas Monorail has now officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Reports say that there will be no interruption to service.

SOURCE: Lasvegasadvisor.com

duchy

March

Yes I saw that Ferf -might ring later and see what happens
You don't ask -you don't get. Phone call is free so won't have lost anything

ferf1223

April

gamboller wrote: »

• January 13, 2010 Monorail Files for Bankruptcy: As was speculated in this column back in mid-December of last year, the Las Vegas Monorail has now officially filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Reports say that there will be no interruption to service.

SOURCE: Lasvegasadvisor.com

I read that too...I am not surprised, the monorail has been in dire financial straits for ever...made worse by their decision to jack up prices when they weren't making enough money...which just put more people off using it.

I really hope that they go bust and the hotels get together and buy the monorail and provide free or discounted tickets to hotel guests or something similar. We like the monorail, but it's too expensive if there are 2 or more of you we think...especially as it's not terribly convenient to get to a lot of the stations.

TangoBunny

September

We may possibly move our Vegas trip to November rather than end of Sept.....mainly because we are trying to fit 4 holidays in this year and as we were thinking of doing a Nile cruise but it seems the one we fancied is not available for later in the year hence the possible juggling of Vegas to Nov.
My question is do the hotel pools close at all or do they just lessen their hours of opening....we will probably stay at the IP but not sure yet as it really depends on what offers are available for that time.
What is Vegas like in Nov....the first time we went we stayed up to 4th Nov so have a rough idea just wondered....I realise it's best to avoid thanksgiving but are there any other dates that are a no no

ferf1223

April

duchy wrote: »

Yes I saw that Ferf -might ring later and see what happens
You don't ask -you don't get. Phone call is free so won't have lost anything

If you do call, and if you wouldn't mind - would you ask them about this part:

Earn $50 in Reward Dollars by playing your favorite slots and table games during your trip and get $150 in Reward Dollars!

We've never been sure if that means that you would earn $150 reward dollars that you could use that trip to pay for the room or if the reward dollars wouldn't be credited until a later date...because if they're earned that trip and can be used that trip, then it's a particularly good deal if someone was going to gamble there...though I can't remember how the Resorts club works in terms of coin-in per point and how the points translate to Reward Dollars.

ferf1223

April

TangoBunny wrote: »

My question is do the hotel pools close at all or do they just lessen their hours of opening....we will probably stay at the IP but not sure yet as it really depends on what offers are available for that time.
What is Vegas like in Nov....the first time we went we stayed up to 4th Nov so have a rough idea just wondered....I realise it's best to avoid thanksgiving but are there any other dates that are a no no

It depends on the hotel...some have year round openings and others don't...this might help.

http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/nevada/las-vegas/las-vegas-pools

Erm...OK - not sure how good that info is after all - they say Bally's pool is 'always open'...it's not...it closes in October and reopens in March...though guests can use the pool at Paris in the interim.

Personally I think it would be too cold in November. I don't necessarily think you need to avoid Thanksgiving - though it may be busier than normal. We used to always go early November until a big convention started coming in during our 'normal' time. Just checked and it's there again this year - 110,000 attendees from the 2nd to the 5th...so hotel rates might be quite high then.

wdyw

ferf1223 wrote: »

I read that too...I am not surprised, the monorail has been in dire financial straits for ever...made worse by their decision to jack up prices when they weren't making enough money...which just put more people off using it.

It only seems like 2007 when Fitch said about the monorail

"Fitch said it expects cash reserves now covering losses "to only last, at best, three years," to 2010.
Last year, the credit rating firm expected the monorail to start having problems paying off some low-tier bonds as soon as 2008 and entirely run out of cash by 2012, absent a financial turnaround that doesn't appear imminent.
Fitch said it expects the monorail to burn through its reserves "slightly more rapidly than was previously estimated."
The monorail has approximately $69 million in reserves on hand, the firm estimated, down from $89 million last year."

Spot on!

BTW the same report reports that when ticket prices were lowered the increase in traffic did not make up for the lower fares.

Until they complete the airport link it will never be in a position to repay its construction costs (and interest etc), but all reports say it is currently operating at a level where it pays for the day to day operations.

ferf1223

April

wdyw wrote: »

BTW the same report reports that when ticket prices were lowered the increase in traffic did not make up for the lower fares.

Well...they may have lowered prices marginally recently - but only after they jacked them up dramatically not long after it opened.

The fare was originally $3/one way - $5.50/return with an all-day pass for $10...three day pass for $25 and the 10-ride pass was originally $20.

Then it was good value...then, less than a year after opening....

It went up to $5 single, $9 return...all day pass to $15, 3-day pass to $40 and 10-ride pass to $35.

Personally, that's when they went wrong I think...because people like us decided it was no longer good value for money...it hadn't been open long enough to establish a good user base and they increase prices dramatically.

I can see that they're now $5 single, $14 all day and $30 3-day...and they killed the 10-ride pass completely some time ago...that was the nail in the monorail's coffin for us. There are 2 of us - so 2*$14 for a one day pass each = $28...that's 2 taxi rides which would get us from door to door...so using the monorail isn't really worth it.

pebblesmax

October , November

Re the monofail.

We used it a couple of times in the early days when it wasn't so expensive. The current prices are so far off! You can get a 24 hour bus pass for $7 pp. If you don't use the Deuce, you can get that for even less. We use the non-strip buses quite often when we don't have a car.

I doubt very much if there will ever be an extension at either end. Who would want to pay for construction when at best they will cover daily operation costs. They'd never get their money back. JMHO.

wdyw

ferf1223 wrote: »

Well...they may have lowered prices marginally recently - but only after they jacked them up dramatically not long after it opened.

The fare was originally $3/one way - $5.50/return with an all-day pass for $10...three day pass for $25 and the 10-ride pass was originally $20.

Then it was good value...then, less than a year after opening....

It went up to $5 single, $9 return...all day pass to $15, 3-day pass to $40 and 10-ride pass to $35.

Personally, that's when they went wrong I think...because people like us decided it was no longer good value for money...it hadn't been open long enough to establish a good user base and they increase prices dramatically.

I can see that they're now $5 single, $14 all day and $30 3-day...and they killed the 10-ride pass completely some time ago...that was the nail in the monorail's coffin for us. There are 2 of us - so 2*$14 for a one day pass each = $28...that's 2 taxi rides which would get us from door to door...so using the monorail isn't really worth it.

Here is the true picture of how fares/revenues varied over the 6 years (with a few middle years left out).

2006-07
In its report, Fitch said its pessimism stems from "continued declines in monthly revenues" in the first half of 2007, caused by a combination of ridership losses and fare discounts.

Those discounts dropped the average fare collected from riders to $3.11 last month, down from $4.44 in the same month in 2006. That offset a 26 percent jump in June ridership from 2006 to 2007.


2008-09
January to May year-to-date average daily ridership decreased by 23.6% to 17,027 from 22,238 in 2008, primarily due to an increase in the unlimited daily fee to $13 from $12 which now accounts for 28% of tickets sold, down from approximately half that in 2008. The decrease also reflects lower visitor volumes, air traffic, and convention attendance overall in the region. The average fare in May 2009 increased to $4.45 from $3.52 in May 2008. Despite the toll increase, average daily revenues decreased by 5.9% to $76,105 for the first five months of calendar 2009. Some of the reduction is likely attributable to the economic downturn given that average fares are now at levels comparable to 2006 and ridership and revenue numbers are approximately 16% below 2006 levels. Additionally, overall visitor volume in Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. was down 4.4% in 2008. Given the trend in ridership in the first five months, Fitch believes there is a strong likelihood that total fare revenues for 2009 will be lower than last year.

Most analysts still reckon the only way for the project to really increase its ongoing income is to build the proposed airport link.