Gaming resorts have proved time after time to be an excellent choice for group conferences and events, primarily because they are natural attendance-builders. However, it’s not unusual for some association board members to turn up their noses when a gaming facility is under consideration. Therefore, planners should note that almost all gaming properties have made their facilities even more attractive and fit for serious business meetings by carefully listening to meeting professionals and responding accordingly.

For instance, some properties moved all casino action away from meeting rooms so that there is a natural barrier separating the serious side of meetings from the fun and excitement of the gaming resort. In addition, gaming resorts are continually upgrading and renovating to stay up-to-date with their non-gaming counterparts. Thus, luxurious state-of-the-art spas, upgraded championship golf courses, improved audio-visual enhancements and gourmet dining are standard fare nowadays, and often under one roof or onsite.

Now that planners are back in the driver’s seat and the deals are plentiful, we’ll begin this update in Las Vegas, the king of the gaming resorts.

Las Vegas

Last April, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) held its annual convention at the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino in Las Vegas and attracted a record 5,800 attendees. ISRI is also holding this year’s meeting at Mandalay Bay, and expects to attract a near-record number of attendees and exhibitors. ISRI plans to return to the Mandalay Bay again in 2012.

During its 21 years of existence, ISRI has held about half of it annual conventions in Las Vegas mostly for two reasons: Attendees prefer the entertainment, gaming and pizzazz of Las Vegas, and the city’s gaming resorts offer value that’s tough to beat.

“They gave us incentives for repeat business that included considerations for food and beverage minimums, guest rooms, space within the hotel and more days for load-in and load-out for exhibitors,” said Chuck Carr, vice president of member services for ISRI, a Washington, DC-based association of companies that process, broker and consume scrap commodities.

The relationships Carr developed over the years with Las Vegas gaming resorts is paying off in his effort to get value during the current economy. “By developing the working relationship we have with that property, I feel comfortable going to them when I need things. More importantly, there are few other venues around that can offer the variety of entertainment and dining opportunities, and the convention facilities were more than sufficient for our needs,” said Carr, who plans ISRI’s annual convention and its education, training and board meetings.

Carr added that he has ample negotiating clout because casino resorts need business and are competing hard for it. “It’s a great meeting planner’s market in Vegas and around the country. I’m getting marketed by casino resorts and other hotels large and small. I’m seeing e-mails and phone calls about deals, and you get on the phone with somebody and the deals get even

The highly anticipated 4,004-room Aria Resort & Casino, the centerpiece of Las Vegas’ CityCenter, will take the definition of “gaming resort” to new heights when it opens in December. Photo courtesy of Aria Resort & Casino

nicer,” said Carr.

Casino resorts are as good a meeting value as ever for association meetings. Gaming venues still offer several advantages: Attendance rates tend to be higher at gaming destinations in large part because they offer the best of both worlds — a wide variety of onsite entertainment, gaming and amenities under one roof and plentiful offsite activities. Gaming resorts save on meeting budgets, transportation costs and the time that meeting planners put into screening and selecting offsite venues. Casino properties can be flexible with rates, hotel rooms and meeting space rental partly because gaming is such a large part of revenue. Gaming hotels are offering sweetened deals for meetings in 2010 and beyond to groups that booked events in 2009.

“The hotels are definitely wheeling and dealing, particularly for 2009 but also for 2010, to get meetings on the books,” said Gail Fitzgerald, vice president of hotel sales and marketing for Aria Resort & Casino, which is scheduled to open in December 2009. “Room rates are lower. Las Vegas is definitely occupancy-driven. We want to make sure we have people in our hotels.”

The gaming industry believes its flexibility will help buffer the economy’s impact and the widespread negative public opinion about Las Vegas and other resort destinations in the wake of the

Double the pleasure — together, Wynn Las Vegas and Steve Wynn’s new Encore offer more than 250,000 square feet of meeting space and a total of 4,750 guest rooms and suites. Photo courtesy of Las Vegas News Bureau

AIG effect.

The Las Vegas Convention Center, one of the largest convention centers in the world, offers 241,000 square feet of meeting space in 144 rooms and more than 2 million square feet of exhibit space. The LVCVA recently recommended that the facility’s $737 million overall expansion plan be suspended due to the economic recession. However, all projects currently in progress will be finished, and the LVCVA will reconvene to establish a new timeline for the completion of the overall project in the second quarter of 2010. The expansion and redesign, which began in 2006, will add 145,000 square feet of meeting space and a 100,000-square-foot ballroom, among other improvements.

Las Vegas is also a huge economic engine, according to Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman. The city hosts 22,000 meetings a year, pumps $28 billion into the city’s economy and accounts for about one-third of local jobs. The economic strength of the gaming industry is likely only to strengthen in the years ahead as The Las Vegas Strip welcomes more casino resorts and other projects that will add jobs and attract more groups and visitors.

CityCenter, an $8 billion joint venture between MGM Mirage and Dubai World, is scheduled to open by the end of this year. MGM Mirage operates 11 Las Vegas properties, including Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino, which offers 2,775 rooms and 1.5 million square feet of meeting space at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center. CityCenter will feature Aria Resort & Casino and three non-gaming hotels — Vdara Hotel & Spa, the Mandarin Oriental and the Harmon Hotel & Spa. Construction on the Harmon Hotel & Spa has been postponed until late 2010. CityCenter will also include Veer Towers, a residential development, and The Crystals, a 500,000-square-foot retail, dining and entertainment complex.

Aria, the crown jewel of CityCenter, will showcase a new Cirque du Soleil production celebrating Elvis Presley’s musical legacy. Aria will include 4,004 guest rooms, and 300,000 square feet of meeting and convention space with four ballrooms.

Another new hotel, the $1 billion M Resort Spa and Casino, opened in March. The resort features 390 guest rooms, more than 60,000 square feet of meeting and conference space, and a 92,000-square-foot casino.

Steve Wynn’s new $2.3 billion Las Vegas property Encore opened in December and connects to the adjacent Wynn Las Vegas. Groups at either property can have access to both the 60,000 square feet of meeting and event space at Encore, and the 200,000 square feet of meeting space in the 2,716-room Wynn Las Vegas. Encore offers 2,034 suites and an onsite casino.

The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino is undergoing a major expansion scheduled for

Double the fun In Atlantic City — The Water Club, the newly opened Signature Hotel by Borgata, and the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa offer 2,800 guest rooms and a total of 70,000 square feet of meeting and event space. Photo courtesy of The Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa

completion by this spring. The hotel is adding 75,000 square feet of meeting space to increase the total to 82,000 square feet, including the Muse and Artist Halls. The Hard Rock is also adding 860 hotel rooms to raise the total to more than 1,525 rooms. The property’s expanded concert facility, The New Joint, reopened on April 19th with a celebratory concert by Sir Paul McCartney. The renovated venue can accommodate up to 4,000 guests.

Las Vegas Meetings by Harrah’s Entertainment includes seven properties that have long been cornerstones of the city’s meetings market: Bally’s Las Vegas, Caesars Palace, Flamingo Las Vegas, Harrah’s Las Vegas, Imperial Palace, Paris Las Vegas and Rio All Suite Hotel & Casino. The properties combined offer 20,000 guest rooms and 1 million square feet of meeting space. The company recently introduced a system designed to streamline the catering and reservation process across all seven properties. The 20-person catering and restaurant sales team will allow planners to work with one contact to coordinate dining plans and options for groups. Harrah’s also offers streamlined billing and one point of contact for planners who choose to use multiple venues within the Harrah’s family of properties.

Las Vegas casino properties of all types — existing, new, most expensive, least expensive — are all willing to discuss ways

The pool complex at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino offers a refreshing respite after a day of meetings. The 500-room gaming resort in South Florida features 40,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space, including a 16,000-square-foot grand ballroom divisible into eight sections and several smaller rooms for breakouts or board meetings. Photo courtesy of Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

to provide better value. Derek Jenks, CMP, the director of operations for McLean, VA-based Meetings Management Group, offers this bold advice to association meeting planners: If you booked a meeting before this year, try to negotiate lower room rates.

That’s what Jenks did for Debt Buyers International, which attracted 1,400 attendees to its annual convention in February at the MGM Mirage. “We contracted two years ago for a certain room rate and they ended up giving us a lower rate. They came down about $38 each room for four nights. We were over our room block and they didn’t want people staying at other hotels,” said Jenks. “It’s a planner’s market overall, but in Vegas it definitely is,” he added.

The National Agricultural Aviation Association (NAAA), secured a good deal for its annual conference in December at the South Point Hotel, Casino & Spa. The hotel offers 2,163 guest rooms, a 70,000-square-foot conference center and 80,000-square-foot exhibit hall. Prior to last year’s convention at the South Point, the NAAA had last met in Las Vegas in 2001.

The Washington, DC-based NAAA returned to Las Vegas largely to increase attendance. “We know that Las Vegas offers our biggest draw of any city we ever go to,” said Peggy Knizner, the NAAA’s assistant director and meeting planner.

Why did the association choose South Point? The facilities were ideal for the NAAA’s 1,400 attendees, who attended sessions, industry meetings, a trade show and awards banquet, said Knizner. “They have plenty of space for what we wanted and our space was set up appropriately for our group. They offered us the convention center at basically no cost. That makes a big difference for us. Room rates were good, and they offered us a good package on food and beverage.”

A dedicated executive meeting specialist is ready to help planners at The Westin Casuarina Las Vegas Hotel, Casino & Spa, which features 826 guest rooms and 15 meeting and event spaces totaling 20,000 square feet, including the Acacia Ballroom, a 6,700-square-foot divisible hall.

Atlantic City

Atlantic City, one of the nation’s most popular gaming destinations, is located in southern New Jersey within a comfortable driving distance (or a short hop in an airplane) from several major Northeast cities, including Washington, DC, and New York City, which are home to hundreds of associations. Flying to Atlantic City will soon become even more convenient because the Atlantic City International Airport is undergoing a long-term improvement project which includes expanding the number of gates from seven to 14, and adding a 1,400-space parking garage. Plans for future development of a hotel and conference center near the airport are on the drawing board as well.

Atlantic City offers a plethora of activities and sights, including the famous Boardwalk, the Atlantic City Historical Museum, the Atlantic City Aquarium and deep-sea fishing. But the main attraction, of course, is Atlantic City’s 11 casinos.

New and noteworthy projects include The Water Club, a $400 million Signature Hotel by Borgata that sits next door to the impressive Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa. The newly opened property has 800 rooms and 18,000 square feet of meeting space. Guests can also enjoy five pools, a 26,000-square-foot spa and six upscale restaurants. The Borgata features 2,000 guest rooms, 20 meeting rooms and 161,000 square feet of gaming space. Combined, both properties offer a total of 70,000 square feet of meeting and event space.

Attracted by the Borgata’s many meeting-friendly attributes, the New Jersey Healthcare Financial Management Association (NJHFMA) will return to the Borgata again in October for its annual conference.

The NJHFMA’s board decided to return based on feedback from attendee surveys. “They said they liked the ease of getting there, the accommodations, the entertainment, the casino and the spa. They feel that one way to attract younger members is with a location that attracts that membership base,” said Larry Huttinger, CMP, director at D. Lawrence Planners in Atlantic City.

The Borgata provided incentives for the NJHFMA to return. “They gave us room rates that were comfortable. It was a negotiated special room rate. We negotiated terms of the meeting space rental. They offered hotel room comps that included different levels of suites and upgrades, and they worked with us on food and beverage,” said Huttinger.

The conference included workshops, a general session, banquets and trade show exhibits. Dueling piano players entertained at one banquet and a classical guitarist performed at the other. “We do take a fairly big chunk of meeting space because they want to do things beyond the general session. The meeting space is top notch and allows the group to have an entire package experience,” said Huttinger.

Another property, the Trump Taj Mahal, opened a new $255 million, 39-story tower last October with 782 rooms. With the addition, the hotel now offers a total of 155,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space and 2,032 guest rooms and suites.

Last year, the 2,590-room Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City Hotel & Casino completed its $550 million

Double your pleasure, double your fun in Connecticut — the MGM Grand at Foxwoods and Foxwoods Resort Casino feature more than 160,000 square feet of meeting space. Photo courtesy of MGM Grand at Foxwoods

expansion project, which includes a 44-story, 960-room hotel tower that is Atlantic City’s tallest building, and 172,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space.

Despite the planned growth, the economic downturn has had an impact: MGM Mirage is delaying construction on the $5 billion, 3,000-room MGM Grand Atlantic City. In addition, construction continues on Revel Entertainment’s new 3,800-room casino resort, but the interiors are “on hold” until financing is secure.

Tribal Gaming Resorts

Elsewhere in the Northeast, Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, CT, is offering incentives that have cut the cost of some group meeting packages by up to 25 percent, depending on the size of the group. Foxwoods, one of the world’s largest casinos, offers

The new 15,000-square-foot Orca Ballroom at Tulalip Resort Casino near Seattle, WA, is divisible by three and features an attractive, prefunction 4,800-square-foot foyer. Photo courtesy of Tulalip Resort Casino

340,000 square feet of gaming space. The casino is next to the $700 million, 825-room MGM Grand at Foxwoods, which opened last May. Foxwoods and the MGM Grand at Foxwoods offer more than 160,000 square feet of meeting and function space, including the largest column-free ballroom in the Northeast at 50,000 square feet.

Connecticut’s other large casino resort, the Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, is also a popular gaming destination for many groups in nearby New York, Boston and Hartford. Last August, the Mohegan Sun opened its new 64,000-square-foot Casino of the Wind. Currently, the Mohegan Sun offers 1,200 guest rooms and 100,000 square feet of function space.

The Mohegan Sun competes with nearby big-city destinations on value. For example, a three-course dinner at the Mohegan sun costs $37 to $65, compared to $110 to $127 in New York City, $57 to $89 in Boston and $59 to $93 in Las Vegas, according to the Mohegan Sun’s price comparisons. Furthermore, the Mohegan Sun’s in-house survey shows catering costs are up to 60 percent lower and room rates are 15 to 40 percent less expensive than in comparable properties in Boston and New York City.

Pam McKenna, CAE, president of McKenna Management Inc., recently held a joint conference in March at the Mohegan Sun for three regional college bookstore associations — Campus Stores of New England, the College Stores Association of New York State and the Middle Atlantic College Stores Association. About 600 people attended the conference.

Designed by legendary Tom Fazio for guests of Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, MS, Fallen Oak, an 18-hole championship golf course, is billed as “510 acres of pure heaven.” Photos courtesy of MGM Mirage

McKenna, who plans and manages meetings for associations, chose the Mohegan Sun over non-gaming destinations and some other gaming resorts for two distinct reasons:

First, said McKenna, “Everything is all under one roof. Nobody ever has to step outside for anything. They have a 30,000-square-foot ballroom which allowed us to have 198 exhibitors. And the place excited people and they looked forward to having fun, which is important in this economy or at anytime.”

Second, she said, “They offered us an attractive overnight room rate. The onsite parking is complimentary. They work with you on rebates in various areas. They work with you on identifying what is important to your group. For us, it was making it affordable for our members to go.”

Among other Native American-owned gaming resorts, the Cherokee Casino Resort in Tulsa, OK, is undergoing a major re-branding and expansion that will convert the property to the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa. The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa will include a new 18,000-square-foot convention center, opening May 1st, and a new 19-story, 200-room hotel tower. When the property opens in May, it will offer more than 350 guest rooms and more than 30,000 square feet of meeting space. The new Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa is owned by Cherokee Nation Enterprises, which also owns several gaming properties throughout Oklahoma.

Atlantis Paradise Island features 3,400 guest rooms, 200,000 square feet of meeting space and 100,000 square feet of outdoor space, a 50,000-square-foot ballroom, countless attractions and casino gaming.  Photos courtesy of Atlantis Paradise Island

Tulalip Resort Casino, owned by the Tulalip tribe of Washington, is the largest meeting and gaming destination in the Pacific Northwest. Located near the scenic Cascade Mountains and Puget Sound, Tulalip Resort Casino is a one-hour drive from Seattle. The resort offers 370 guest rooms, 30,000 square feet of flexible meeting space including the 15,000-square-foot Orca Ballroom and the 5,000-square-foot Chinook Junior Ballroom, as well as more than 190,000 square feet of gaming.

In Hollywood, FL, the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino features 40,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space, including a 16,000-square-foot, rock ’n’ roll-themed grand ballroom divisible into eight sections; a 7,000-square-foot poolside function area; and multipurpose space suitable for exhibitions, concerts and sporting events. In addition, the Seminole Hard Rock features a variety of entertainment options, such as gaming, a spa, and a tropical pool area with a theme park-style water slide and authentic Seminole chickee poolside cabanas.

The Gulf Coast

The Mississippi Gulf Coast and its gaming resorts, which have bounced back quickly from damage sustained during Hurricane Katrina, offer top-notch resorts and gaming along with a wide variety of activities, including water sports, deep-sea fishing, golf and trendy restaurants.

Beau Rivage Casino & Resort, in Biloxi, MS, an MGM Mirage property, is the only property in Mississippi to make Travel + Leisure magazine’s 2009 list of the Top 500 hotels in the world. The 1,740-room resort has a 72,000-square-foot casino and 50,000 square feet of meeting space, which includes three ballrooms and 16 meeting rooms.

Also in Biloxi, Harrah’s Margari­taville Casino & Resort, which was scheduled for completion by early 2010, has been indefinitely postponed. Margaritaville is a brand owned by singer Jimmy Buffett, a Mississippi native.

Efforts to attract groups will get a boost from more space at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum & Convention Center, located across from the beach in Biloxi. The center is undergoing a renovation and expansion that will more than double meeting and exhibit space from 180,000 square feet to more than 400,000 square feet when completed in October.

Casinos in Mississippi and Louisiana, like gaming destinations in other areas of the nation, do big business with regional associations. For example, in January the Louisiana Travel Promotion Association (LTPA) held its annual convention attended by 400 participants at the Paragon Casino Resort in Marksville, LA. The Paragon’s 531 guest rooms and more than 15,000 square feet of meeting space more than met the group’s need for value.

“Our meeting costs were down considerably from other facilities that we have met in. We met in New Orleans last year and had a fabulous conference. It was a major convention hotel and obviously the price was higher. We were able to get the same quality conference by spending a little less money,” said Darienne Mobley, co-director of the LTPA, who plans the annual conference and more than a half-dozen other meetings a year. “We paid very little meeting room costs. Food costs and audio-visual costs were down. I think they are able to do that because they make up for it with the gaming revenue,” added Mobley.

Caribbean

The Caribbean serves up casino resorts with a tropical flavor. Atlantis Paradise Island, the largest casino resort in the Bahamas, has five hotel towers with 3,400 guest rooms, 200,000 square feet of meeting space and a 50,000-square-foot ballroom. Another 100,000 square feet of meeting and function space is available outdoors. Last fall, Atlantis completed its latest expansion project — a $10 million upgrade of suites in the Royal Towers and Beach Coral Towers. Attractions include marine habitats, Cove Beach, plenty of water slides and pools and Aura, a 7,000-square-foot nightclub.

Atlantis Paradise Island was the first choice of the Gases and Welding Distributors Association for its September convention, according to Tawnee Shuey, meeting manager for Fernley & Fernley, a Philadelphia-based association management company that helped plan the event. The association chose the Atlantis after selecting the Bahamas as the 2008 destination for their convention, which attracted 840 people for exhibits, meetings and a general session. A steel-drum band entertained at the opening reception and a band playing Jimmy Buffett’s hits played at the closing-night banquet.

Added value was a big plus. “They were doing a room rebate offer in connection with the Grand Bahama Island Tourism Board. We got a very decent room rate. Our meeting and exhibit space was complimentary. We had started the RFP process in 2007 and locked in that year’s food and beverage prices for the September meeting,” said Shuey, who expects the group to return to the Bahamas again.

Final Thoughts

Sometimes, planners are reluctant to select a gaming resort for a serious business meeting. Most often, however, planners report that gaming resorts succeed beyond their expectations because of the overall value, built-in entertainment options and the “under-one-roof” concept.    ACF