IAAPA Attractions Expo will go to Las Vegas in 2009

Finally!

Off topic a little, but Atlanta was chosen as the location for my high school band trip this year. It cost $900 for the entire trip (including the 12+hour bus ride from Detroit). In comparison, the NYC trip the year before was $700. Pay $900 just to be one person out of hundreds of other at the Peach Bowl halftime show while the country watches commercials on TV or save the money for college.

Long story short, WHY Atlanta? What's in Atlanta? That's like next year's show being in Detroit. I live there and I'll be the first to say, there's nothing to do. Especially in November.

Orlando and Las Vegas are year round happening cities, and both have more things to do than one can do in a week.

While I love Vegas,(upcoming trip report), there is a potential downside to this. Going into 2009, here are hard facts:

The Stardust and Frontier will be demolished in leiu of newer and much larger properties. A loss of 3000 rooms. The Riviera is seeking new ownership, and whatever the outcome, the property needs replaced. A loss of another 2700 rooms.

Here is the kicker. The Las Vegas Hilton has been granted a demolition permit, and another 3,174 rooms will be landfill. This is fact, as I was in Vegas when this story ran. Even after the massive and expensive upgrades, the Stardust and LV Hilton was or is deemed easier to replace than rebuild and compete.

My thought here is that IAAPA didn't do the math, and potentially unless you stay at Circus Circus, virtually every property within walking distance is very expensive. The next major locations are the Wynn and the Venetian.

I had the privledge and nightmare of staying in the Courtyard Marriot across from the LVCC for 3 weeks at a crack with the CES going full tilt, and traffic is a nightmare, both foot and car. If you rely on the monorail to whisk you away to the remaining inexpensive properties such as Tropicana, Imperial Palace, and the Flamingo, well, we know what happens.

But on the bright side, Hooters did a great job.

Who was staying in those properties anyway? I stayed at the Venetian (conference) and Caesars (vacation) this year, and I have to say that the places I prefer to go are all from the Wynn and south. The north half of the strip just isn't nice, so it doesn't surprise me in the least that there's an effort underway to replace those older properties.

Considering the show is in November, I would think the tourist crowd would be smaller, and I think the monorail is pretty cool, even in the middle of July.

Vegas has over 120,000 hotel rooms....I can't see how the loss of a few thousand is really going to matter. I don't see Comdex moving, so I am sure there is plenty of room for IAAPA. It's a great move for IAAPA and show attendance should return to the 30K+ levels it had several years ago. It's a great move. Orlando and Vegas are two best convention sites in the U.S.

Let's see, the Sahara will still exist and is a quick monorail ride. The Hilton demolition is still just in rumor stage. Echelon place, Encore, and Project City Center will use up a lot of the available construction work. So the Hilton should also be available. The Palazzo Tower will be up by then. MGM, Excalibur, Mandalay Bay, Luxor and NYNY are all pretty easy to get to the convention center with the monorail. As I live barely a mile away from the Hilton, I usually park there and use the monorail to go to the G2E convention. G2E seems to have moved to November for this year and next. I wonder how the IAAPA will affect it. Also don't forget the Renaissance hotel right next to the convention Center. Lot's of rooms here. Not gonna be a problem.

Regardless, I think Atlanta was a bad idea after having it in Orlando for five years. Let's face it, people like to play when they go to these big trade shows, even more so considering the business these folks are in. It's not like you get to attend three or four shows every year... this is it. Keep it in places where the grown ups can play!

Looks like I'll finally get to see one of these things (unless I can ever talk the wife into moving back to the Midwest). Stratosphere is usually reasonable...but Jeff is correct that this is not the best end...though they are moving in the right direction. Nov typically is one of the slower months...though conventions can change that on a dime. There indeed will be plenty of rooms...what you pay MAY not be fun though.

Is this event all inside? The reason I ask is that weather is random out here in Nov. It can get quite cold.

P.S. They are doing the time share thing all over the place out here. You can often get deals for free rooms IF you are willing to sit through the spiel. It is not my thing...but I know some people do it all the time. Right now...most the time shares are south...but there are some behind MGM going up.