People are itching to get back. The conventions that no one wanted to go, now everyone is fighting to go.

I would not stay off the strip unless I had a convention to go too, and even then I might still stay at Bellagio like I’ve been doing for 10 years and I loved getting Hyatt stay credits. Hopefully mlife partnership stays but I doubt it. I’ll just move my stays to the Cosmo.

There's real value for meeting planners to work with the National Sales Offices of large hotel groups (Hyatt, Hilton, Marriott, etc). Any planner that coordinates a reasonably large annual convention will have a dedicated contact. Unless the convention changes drastically year-to-year, all the planner needs to do is approve the Request-for-Proposal (RFP) and the Sales contact will do all the work.

Additionally, the quotes the planner receives might be slightly better because hotels within a given hotel group will share information. (I've seen this from working in hotel sales.) For example, it would be normal for a sales manager at one Hyatt hotel to call the last Hyatt hotel where a group stayed to get some details. Hotels won't (or at least shouldn't) share actual pricing, they will provide generalizations about whether the group caused problems or how accurate their numbers turned out to be.

If the hotel completing the RFP knows that the group picked up 90% of the requested room block instead of the normal 60% for that type of meeting, the quote will be more accurate. More accuracy might mean slightly better rates and/or cancelation terms.

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Of course, nothing stops a meeting planner from engaging this process with one of the Las Vegas casino groups. But starting from scratch with a new company is a pretty big task. (The information needed to get an accurate quote is very detailed. And, it always involves a credit check.)

If a meeting planner can add Las Vegas to the fix of convention cities by just making a single phone call to they Hyatt National Sales Manager, they will do that instead of spending hours compiling information for Caesars or MGM.

I'm not into the doom and gloom prognostications that the world has changed forever. Conventions will return, as will cruises.

Is there a world where mlife runs the gaming loyalty program at this new property? I'm not sure there is such an arrangement anywhere else.

I'm not sure I understand the question? Anyone could be contracted to manage the property (just as how for the last ~2 years since its sale by Caesars, it was leased back to Caesars).

Whether MGM would be interested is of course a different story.

From Vegas Review-Journal newspaper -

<<A Hyatt spokesperson said Thursday that the Hyatt Regency hotel is expected to open in 2023.>>

So only 2(+) years away. 😕

The hotel will be managed by Aimbridge Hospitality.

https://www.aimbridgehospitality.com...rio-las-vegas/

Looking at their portfolio, this is not a good sign in my opinion...

https://www.hospitalityonline.com/ai...lity/locations

It's primarily limited service properties, but there are a few interesting properties in the list, such as Windsor Court (NOLA). Of the others, the few that I know, such as the newish HP Canton (Ohio) and HP Downtown Minneapolis seem reasonably good.

Hypothetically.....since they say the first year (2023?) they’ll remain a Caesar’s property; if you happen to be Diamond in Caesar’s reward program (or even better, Seven Stars), you can stay there in slow/inexpensive times of the year WITHOUT paying resort fees. (To clarify, at that rewards level, you can stay in any Caesar’s property, anytime, without paying resort fees.) Now, you’re racking up Hyatt stays at the most “inexpensive Hyatt” in the world, since extremely cheap rates are common in Las Vegas in the dead of winter/middle of the summer. (Again, with NO resort fees, if you’re fortunate enough to have high status in Caesar’s player’s club.) Fingers-crossed this comes to fruition !

I don't know about those two, but I have stayed at (it looks like at least 6) of their other HPs and HHs and they are some of the dumpier ones out there.

The real question is do they even have a clue about running this large of a casino/resort type of complex.

No, that's not a correct reading - the final year of the current leaseback contract with Caesars (that now extends into 2023 due to the lockdown) is an owner option. Ownership certainly won't pick up the option if they are choosing a different management team (and IMO it's likely that they will terminate the existing contract early).

They run a few casino properties, including the hotel at the Bike in California and a Marriott with an attached casino in Curacao. I didn't look through the entire list but they have multiple 500+ room hotels and a few 1K+ room hotels including the Westin Bonaventure in LA and the Roosevelt in NYC. They manage a bunch of HRs: Sonona, Sarasota, Deerfield, Louisville, Buffalo, Tulsa, Houston Galleria, IAH, North Dallas, Dulles, Milwaukee, and Coco Beach.

I wouldn't say I'm particularly excited about the possibility of them operating these hotels, but I'm also going to be realistic. This is going to be a low-yield, low-price HR that will probably end up as a Cat 3. The other hotel will probably be a Cat 2/3 HP.

From the Las Vegas Review-Journal last month.

<<After years of rumors that the property was up for sale, Caesars sold Rio to Dreamscape in late 2019 for $516.3 million. The agreement allowed Caesars Entertainment Inc. to manage the off-Strip property for two years at an annual rent of $45 million and an optional third year at $7 million.Caesars and Dreamscape have since extended the initial lease agreement an extra year because of COVID-19 pandemic complications, potentially pushing back Dreamscape’s full takeover as late as Dec. 15, 2023.>>

Reread the bolded from your very own quote.

And again, the option may not even come into play as I would not be surprised to see the current owners seek to terminate the leaseback contract early (depending of course on the extent of renovations and how they progress).

I have to agree they're going to need to improve the restaurant situation. If they want to sell this as a conventions hotel they're going to need to both improve what they have and do better with slightly lower price point options as well. I'm sure the rooms need updated but Hyatt in my experience has been pretty good with key upgrades in rooms when they bring new potential into the fold. There are those groups who really want to have a more insular convention experience for their own purposes so with the right sales team and the right upgrades/improvements I would have to agree Rio could potentially find a very lucrative conventions niche. Up their spa game along with their restos game and market to those who want to see the ruckus on the strip but not feel stuck in the middle of it could be a secondary niche for them. I have family who would eat that up with the right package deal.

Their plans could certainly change, but I don't think HP is what Hyatt considers a 'full-service brand' in their portfolio. It seems clear to me that their intention is the other hotels will be higher-end than the HR (because their isn't a lower-end they can go from HR and still be 'full-service').

I believe HP is considered a full service brand.

I think that’s just Hyatt being grateful to get an award :)

If Hyatt Place isn’t select service (/is considered full service) then what exactly is a select service Hyatt?!

Hyatt Place is select service as per their brand page: https://www.hyatt.com/development/ourbrands/hyattplace

I see. By their definition, then, the other hotel won't be a HP. Of course, things can change...

It looks like they target limited service brands, but it sounds like this hotel is targeting meetings that are not big enough for the convention center, and those are frequently held at the kind of hotels in their portfolio. Based on my stays from that list I’ve had good stays. And the HH Plymouth Meeting and Marriott Lancaster are near me and I’m very familiar with them and find them particularly well run.

They have some decent properties on the list, so I wouldn’t be tooooo worried. Even if there weren’t many full-service properties on the list, anything can be better than the HP LAS north of the airport.

anybody stay at Rio Las Vegas lately?

Any Caesar Diamond SUITE upgrades?

Inquiring about potential construction noise / issues now.

This isn't the place to inquire about the Rio.

RIo will get busier in Q4 2023 when Dreamscape/Hyatt takes over.

There doesn't seem to be any mention of Hyatt in recent news updates.

It's a total dump now and it'll be a total dump in Q4 2023. It needs a multi-year renovation to be even remotely acceptable.

So is Excalibur. Besides, I'll bet 90% of Excalibur and Luxor reservations were ghost stays...the same will be true for Rio.

That could be true but I can assure you 100% that NO Flyertalk members participated in any ghost stays during the long fruitful Hyatt/MGM partnership.

lol


https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fly...3dcb7ea66.jpeg

Over at VMB, the head of Dreamscape gaming (formerly the head at Cosmo gaming) recently stated that Hyatt points/redemptions are being worked on and will be released later.

The difference is Excalibur is still on the strip and Rio is not.

What's the percentage of occupancy at Excalibur and Luxor are ghost stays though ? You know these two properties are NEVER lack of very long lines once it hit the 3pm check-in time from families with children on a tight budget, and I had been to Luxor many times even at 11pm there is still a long line waiting to checkin, and it is not because there are only a few front desk people working but every counters are open, you rarely see that happen in Rio

You may have missed my point.

The Rio will be available for Hyatt nights post MGM relationship. Those needed Hyatt nights and doing MR/ghost stays could care less if Rio is a dump and off the strip. And I'm guessing 90% of FTers staying at Excalibur and Luxor are MR/ghost stays.

You may be right, but that 90% of FT'ers doing ghost stays probably represent a de minimis amount of the hotel overall booking levels. Maybe a bit more in Nov/Dec when people were topping off to get to Globalist or whatever, but even then, not a meaningful amount.

Will be interesting to see what the Rio partnership will end up being/looking like. At one point, at least a part of the hotel was going to be a full on Hyatt (Grand or Regency I think).

Regardless, unless they somehow turn the Rio into a 5star hotel after the remodel, I would never go to Vegas and stay off-strip, just defeats the experience (ridiculous as it may be) for me. For a ghost stay, no problem.

Same, I'm not staying at Rio...said that when Rio/Hyatt was first announced. If I needed Hyatt nights, I would check-in there then Uber over to the strip.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/busine...ealed-2870764/

Doesn't exactly sound like a close tie up with Hyatt is imminent.

Uh, what are all the ghost guests doing?

To bridge the gap between the link-up with MGM ending and Rio opening, maybe Hyatt could open an “EQN-ATM” in an obscure strip mall somewhere in Henderson that allows self-checkin into a virtual hotel. One night stays only, and an attached beverage “vending” machine will dispense water bottles to eligible elites. RealID required for checkin.

Too funny. Some excellent ideas suggested.

Well at least it is mentioned in the story. But certainly won't be a Hyatt branded hotel.

"Eventually, he said, a new loyalty program would be rolled out and the property will have an affiliation with Hyatt Hotels, which will give the Rio the advantage of being able to market to that company’s loyalty card membership and strengthen convention business."

I think some rooms will be a Hyatt Regency, similar to a setup like ResortWorld w Genting and Hilton.

I think they said multiple Hyatt brands which makes me curious what they'd choose.

My guess would be a Conrad equivalent brand, which would be Grand Hyatt. Maybe Thompson or Unbound.

Then something high end, like an Alila or Andaz. Can't see a casino Park Hyatt happening.

The Drew was also planned to be three brands, with JW Marriott one of them.