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Sep. 13, 2008
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Laughlin. IT'S LIKE YOU OWN THE PLACE

Struggling gambling town launches new ads

By BENJAMIN SPILLMAN
REVIEW-JOURNAL
ON THE WEB
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Laughlin, as seen from Arizona, looking west across the Colorado River.
Photo by Craig L. Moran



Actress Kelly Marchand, right, will be featured in the new Laughlin ad campaign.

Faced with increased competition from Southern California Indian casinos and reeling from the rocky national economy, the Colorado River gambling town of Laughlin launched a new multimillion-dollar marketing campaign Friday.

It's part of an effort to reverse a tourism slump that's gripped the low-cost, desert vacation community that is attracting 35 percent fewer visitors than it did in 1994.

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    • The latest gambit by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority to revive interest in isolated Laughlin is a $2.5 million outreach effort in California and Arizona.

    It emphasizes the opportunity for visitors to spend time drinking, gambling and partying along the Colorado River at a fraction of what it costs to let loose in Las Vegas.

    The campaign won't include any paid advertising in Las Vegas, the closest major city to Laughlin and a major source of customers.

    That's because the visitors authority, which gets most of its revenue from room taxes at Las Vegas resorts, says it wants to attract customers from outside Nevada to Laughlin.

    "We're what Las Vegas used to be, of course (the authority) doesn't like us to market it that way," said Lloyd Shires, director of hotel marketing for the Riverside Resort, which is owned and operated by Laughlin town founder Don Laughlin.

    The authority's campaign itself is built around the tagline, "Laughlin. It's like you own the place." Television ads emphasize the low cost of hotels, restaurants and gambling in Laughlin, as well as the location of most of Laughlin's resorts on the western bank of the Colorado River.

    The ads are aimed at the 40- to 60-year-old demographic of people who, market researchers say, have disposable income but are wary of overspending.

    "They are a little bit more frugal," said Julie Grau of the advertising firm R&R Partners, which conducted the research behind the campaign and produced the ads.

    The average daily room rate in Laughlin was $46.87 in July, compared to $105.97 in Las Vegas, according to the latest Southern Nevada visitation reports.

    Grau said Laughlin already has a core group of loyal customers, but their numbers are shrinking and the community needs to broaden its appeal.

    "The customers are actually getting older," she said. "We were not, I guess you could say, refilling the pipeline."

    Laughlin visitation peaked at more than 4.7 million visitors in 1994 and has been in decline in all but two years since.

    In 2007, Laughlin attracted about 3 million visitors, fewer than Las Vegas drew in 1970, the first year the authority measured visitor volume. The Laughlin visitors generated about $631 million in gambling revenue at 10 resorts.

    The numbers are small compared with Las Vegas, but maintaining visitation is critical to the estimated 8,000 people who work in Laughlin, many who live across the river in Bullhead City, Ariz.

    But it is getting harder to attract visitors.

    The town is 95 miles south of Las Vegas, 215 miles northwest of Phoenix and 236 miles east of San Bernardino, Calif., the heart of California's Inland Empire, a major source of Laughlin visitation.

    The Arizona and California markets have been heavily saturated with Indian casinos since the late 1990s, and many have grown into full-service resorts in recent years.

    A jump in the price of gasoline in the past year has exacerbated the problem. Laughlin visitation is down 6.5 percent so far this year compared to 2007.

    "The reality of it is, we need more visitors," said Sean Hammond, president of the Laughlin Tourism Committee and vice president of player development at the Aquarius resort.

    Hammond says the resort recently spent $46 million on renovations and is about to spend $20 million refurbishing the hotel rooms.

    He's hopeful the authority will change its mind and air some Laughlin ads in Las Vegas. Laughlin resorts can and do advertise with their own money in Las Vegas. But Hammond said an overall campaign through the authority would also be effective, even if it ruffles feathers among Las Vegas casino operators who are also chasing local customers.

    "We hope that changes going forward," Hammond said.

    With limits on Las Vegas outreach, Laughlin resorts continue to hustle business from further afield.

    Management at Riverside Resort has stepped up the number of tourists it flies directly into the Laughlin area.

    Shires said the resort and Sun Country airline offers fly-and-stay deals from 64 cities in 29 states. Much of the focus is on attracting Midwestern tourists from Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Ohio. There is also outreach to the Pacific Northwest.

    Shires said three- and four-night Laughlin packages, including airfare, are less than $400.

    The resort is offering about 45,000 packages this year, up from 37,000 in 2007, he said.

    Roy Honeycutt, 71, of Alamosa, Colo., said Laughlin's greatest asset is its people.

    Honeycutt, who organizes an annual rodeo in Laughlin, said people will continue to visit as long as the area is an affordable, friendly alternative to larger destinations, even if they lose money in the casinos.

    "They may take your money but they will smile while they are doing it," he said.

    Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861.



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    ron smith wrote on September 21, 2008 07:50 AM: I live on the East coast of Canada and try to get to Vegas 1 or 2 times a year flying out of Manchester NH with Southwest. We usually spend our week-ends in Laughlin to take advantage of the lower rates compared to Vegas. This year we are going end January 09 and will stay in Vegas for the whole week. We have found Laughlin no longer attractive as the hotel rates, cost of meals, etc. are not worth the trip from Vegas.
    We spent a winter in Phoenix a few years ago and really enjoyed Laughlin. We have also encountered very rude staff including one incident at the Colorado Belle where my son, who is an RCMP officer went to a senior manager to complain about a cashier's rudeness to my wife. We have enjoyed our trips to the Avi native casino and will probably enjoy some of the attractions near Vegas with our rental vehicle. "tight" machines seem to be the norm of all the casinos now and big and fancy seems to be the reason why the average joe has little luck in the casinos.
    Freemont still seems to be fun and we plan on spending Super Bowl Sunday at Binion's to be with, what we hope, a fun crowd for Super Bowl.


    Laughlin-Bullhead Booster wrote on September 13, 2008 09:49 PM: Ms. Eaton --- Both Sun Country Airlines (via the Riverside) and Allegiant Air (via Harrah's) have had Bellingham WA packages for Laughlin.
    Hilobamacaine --- Laughlin doesn't want the "drunken idiots." Let them stay in Vegas. There is more to do around our Tri-State area than drink, gamble and fish. We just don't need to do it at the same hectic pace as LA, Vegas or Phoenix.
    Re: R&R's newest campaign for us --- the jury is still out. When the theme was unveiled to locals during a town meeting a couple of months ago there were groans in the room. Many of us still think R&R & LVCVA have a tradition of holding us back lest our local properties take a teeny, tiny sliver of Vegas' business away. We are clearly LVCVA's stepchild despite what their officials say.
    Mr. Spillman, there are actually between 10,000 and 12,000 Laughin casino/hotel white and blue collar jobs, not 8,000. Yes, most live across the river. But that's because federal restrictions freed up Laughlin land for homes more slowly than in Bullhead/Ft. Mohave. The tradeoff is that most of the non-gaming commercial growth is also on the Bullhead side.
    And BTW --- the only tribal casino in Nevada is in Laughlin. It's the Avi, owned by the Ft. Mojave Indian Tribe, about 10 minutes south of the main part of town. FMIT also owns two nearby casinos in Mohave County and has proposed a fourth casino in the west side of Needles CA along I-40.


    ex gambler wrote on September 13, 2008 09:33 PM: It appears that most of the casinos are getting very tight. They will tell you it is random, but those of us who play alot know this is not the way it is. This is our entertainment and we enjoy it, but if you are not entertained, you might as well stay home and giver your money to the local Indian casinos

    Bada bing! Why travel hundreds of miles and spend valuable gambling money on transportation? You can lose just as fast and easy at your local casino. McDonalds is just as good (or bad?)as many casino restaurants.


    david wrote on September 13, 2008 04:01 PM: lAUGHLIN IN MY ESTIMATION IS A 10!


    Lawrence Smith wrote on September 13, 2008 02:41 PM: I enjoy getting a $5 tour from LV that encludes a buffet. I visit the outlet mall, take a boat trip on the river play an hour on the slots. Then sleep on the bus on the way back ready for another evening in LV. My only complaint is that the trip was free a couple of years ago!


    Donna Eaton wrote on September 13, 2008 09:17 AM: You should make an effort to attract visitors from Bellingham Wa..Canadaians fly into Wendover as it is a very reasonable package you cab stay for 4nights with airfare and buffet daily for $179.00 which is a nice little trip we recently had a three night stay with airfare for $99.00.
    We have been to Laughlin and really enjoyed the place The people are very friendly and even though we drove in from Vegas it is a well kept secert. Donna Eaton


    hilobamacaine wrote on September 13, 2008 09:15 AM: john:who else but drunken idiots would support a place like laughlin what other business is viable there fishing vacations?move to kingman


    Frank Drebbin wrote on September 13, 2008 06:54 AM: More incompetence from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The slogan "It's like you own the place" suggests that nobody wants to go there. What's next, "Laughlin - It's Unappealing" ? Thanks LVCVA for hurting Laughlin.


    Bruce wrote on September 13, 2008 06:28 AM: We also enjoy going to Laughlin, we find people friendly, accommodations are reasonable, but the food is only acceptable. We like many seniors play the nickel video poker and keno. But I must say, playing nickel keno/poker has become very tough. The casinos have taken the fun out of playing. We come to have fun. If you cannot win a reasonable hand once in a while, you might as well stay home. We just went to Black Hawk for the 4 day weekend from Michigan. Spent lots of money getting there. In four days we had 5 $12.00 hands playing nickel poker. No hands playing keno. Never again. Black Hawk after many trips is off our list of places to play or visit. It appears that most of the casinos are getting very tight. They will tell you it is random, but those of us who play alot know this is not the way it is. This is our entertainment and we enjoy it, but if you are not entertained, you might as well stay home and giver your money to the local Indian casinos.


    JLOKC wrote on September 13, 2008 06:16 AM: They don't smile while they're taking your money. That is one of Laughlin's biggest unaddressed problems. I go to Laughlin a couple times a year, and always the workers are some of the least happy & friendly I've seen. They aren't talkative, say they live in Bullhead City, and want to leave. The Laughlin leadership should put a priority on friendliness. And a smile.


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