Casinos hope spring break crowd is finally giving Las Vegas chance

Calf roping and National Finals Rodeo always have been a sure-fire hit in Las Vegas.

Ditto for electronic gizmo shows.

Even nuclear testing in the 1950s drew crowds.

But the city's collective marketing acumen has never figured out how to fully tap into college spring break.

Is this the year?

The Palms and, to a lesser degree, MGM Resorts International will try to lure students to fill the soft spot in the calendar between the early-year crush of conventions and summer vacations. The Palms is hosting MTV Spring Break, which started Sunday and runs through Thursday.

"It'll be pretty spectacular," said owner George Maloof. "You can expect to see 3,000 people that want to have a good time."

Spring break business has been building at the Palms , Maloof said, but this was its first formal promotion.

Still, that hasn't convinced other resort operators to join the party. Boyd Gaming had a potential spring break tie-in by booking the West Coast Conference basketball tournament at The Orleans Arena but decided to pass.

Instead, the sales pitch was directed at alumni and basketball fans, spokesman Rob Meyne said.

"That's really not our market," he said of college students. "Many of them are under 21, and we generally don't market to them."

AGE RESTRICTIONS

Indeed, Maloof was careful to point out that the Palms would only try to draw students who could legally attend parties and enter clubs. Both Las Vegas police and the Nevada Gaming Control Board said they have not seen anything to warrant extra vigilance, despite problems that have cropped up in places such as Florida.

"The licensees are very aware of what the standards are, and I think the kids know what they can't do if they are under 21," said Jerry Marking, chief of enforcement for the board. "So we get an older crowd than Florida, and I think that saves some problems."

In the past, age restrictions on drinking and gambling, plus the lack of a large body of water and beaches essential to most spring break magnets, have dampened the city's allure to students.

Whether the city can overcome those hurdles over the next few years is a question mark, said Jeff Jacobsen, president of Student Travel Services of Glen Burnie, Md.

"There is interest," he said. "What I've found is that the hotels are a lot more open to it because of the economy, but they still don't promote it much."

MTV BROADCASTS

Perhaps the biggest potential stimulus is the MTV effect. Although it rotates among different cities, Maloof said spring break interest in a location typically spikes the year after a broadcast. He hopes interest in the Palms will carry over to next year.

Jake Kelly, a student at Gonzaga University, came for the basketball tournament and headed home to Phoenix soon after it ended Monday night.

"Vegas is a little out of my element. I'm 19, and there's not much you can do."

Some his friends over 21 would go on to Southern California and stay with friends, because it was a lot cheaper than the Strip, he said.

But Victoria Kurt said she decided to come to Las Vegas because it lies off the beaten path.

"It's kind of like we wanted to do something different by coming to Las Vegas, since so many people go to other places," said Kurt, a 22-year-old senior at Bowling Green University in Ohio.

Stephen Barwick, a 25-year-old doctoral student at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, likes a venue where more people were his age.

"I didn't even know MTV was going to be here until a couple of days ago," Barwick said, as he headed to the poolside stage, beer in hand.

According to tripsmarter.com, colleges and universities with 5.2 million students have scheduled spring breaks in March, three-fourths of them this week and next. Places promoting spring break have found that students generally stay in their region, with those in the West hitting places like Baja California, Southern California, Colorado and Lake Havasu in Arizona.

MGM sent news releases about its spring break promotions, which do not include top-line properties Bellagio and CityCenter, to college media outlets , spokesman Shant Apelian said.

MGM did not engage in any other direct marketing, he added. However, MGM discounts start on March 12, after the first peak week, and extend through April, after the tans have faded. Because of a huge construction industry convention, the discounts are hard to find in the week starting March 20. Where convention attendees on expense accounts spend more than the average tourist, college students spend less.

The Hard Rock Hotel hosted season debut parties and events for MTV's "Real World" reality show, which appeals to college students, but did not gear any promotions specifically to them.

LUKEWARM WELCOME

Spring break has spawned a love/hate relationship with some cities made famous by it. Daytona Beach and Fort Lauderdale both discourage college students in favor of K-12 kids under parental supervision, said Lori Campbell Baker, spokeswoman for the Dayton Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau.

Even officials in Panama City Beach, Fla., where spring break is a cornerstone of tourism, had become concerned that publicity about hordes of college students engaged in Charlie Sheen-style partying scared off other business, said Dan Rowe, president of the local convention and visitors bureau.

The solution involved calling the Florida Highway Patrol to handle traffic issues, freeing local police to walk the beat to maintain order, he said.

But Maloof said Las Vegas is accustomed to large crowds and keeping them from getting out of hand.

Contact reporter Tim O'Reiley at toreiley@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5290.

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Comments

Note: Comments made by reporters and editors of the Las Vegas Review-Journal are presented with a yellow background.

1. Drew777 Mar. 9, 2011 | 4:45 p.m. Report Abuse

   They trash rooms. Don't gamble and they buy beer at Terrible's gas stations. That's a real good idea to generate revenue for the Palms. Las Vegas doesn't need those lowlifes to survive.

2. Tom.Reynolds Mar. 9, 2011 | 12:43 p.m. Report Abuse

   @ mrability: assuming the casino security will LET them!

3. VegasDude2010 Mar. 9, 2011 | 10:01 a.m. Report Abuse

   Give me a break. Las Vegas is dreaming if it thinks it's a spring break destination. 99% of all college students can't afford to come to Las Vegas, and 99% of them are under 21, so why in the world would Las Vegas have the audacity to think it's a spring break destination? When I was in college, we went to Florida, usually Ft. Lauderdale. That's what spring break is about, cheap hotels, free beer, and lots of women.

4. mrability Mar. 9, 2011 | 9:28 a.m. Report Abuse

   Loser Vegas always trying to suck a buck out of any losers,,lol
   
   I hope its a bust casinos are greedy and i hate them

5. MMM Mar. 9, 2011 | 9:25 a.m. Report Abuse

   Spring breakers don't come to LV because it costs too much and is strict about under age activities. Lets be honest and frank here. Kids go to these spring break locations to get drunk and have lots of sex, thy pack in 10 kids into a room intended for 2 and only eat cheap junk food. Age at most destinations is largely ignored as long as you look like you might be in college the beer and the drugs flow freely.
   
   If Vegas really wants more of this it has to stop trying to be high end and get rid of the high prices, taxes, resort fees, and age limits. It has to get cheap, dirty, and turn a blind eye to everything the kids are doing like other places like Florida and Mexico do.
   
   If we really want that and if the casinos are going to accept that most of these kids have little cash and no interest in the casinos, just want to dance drink, pop, sniff, and jump from bed to bed. Then we really need to dumb down the entire LV Strip, get cheap and raunchy and let them go everywhere mostly for free and leave mountains of trash.
   
   Perhaps we should think again as to why we want the college kids and if they really fit into what the city wants to attract. High end resorts often loose out in spring break attractions but it may pay out in the long haul if kids grow up and want to come back with thicker wallets to the places they went as kids and lived on fast food and trashing rooms.
   
   Think carefully before we try to attract this crowd, they price may be too high with little payback.

6. Marky Mark Mar. 9, 2011 | 9:10 a.m. Report Abuse

   It's too cold here for spring break. In Mexico they can drink and won't freeze in the water...

7. ping jockey Mar. 9, 2011 | 8:46 a.m. Report Abuse

   Somebody buy that girl in the black bikini a sandwich!

8. Tahoe.DI Mar. 9, 2011 | 8:36 a.m. Report Abuse

   Most college kids are under 21 so why is LV pushing to get them out here, we all know that "most" college kids will engage in drinking alcohol, the hell with the under 21 law...! There WILL be hundreds of counterfeit ID cards or driver's licenses. Calf roping...? Why not "cow milking" ??? One thing that WILL go up and that is: reports of sexual assault, a lot of these young women will get sooo drunk that they will be victimized !!!

9. Tom.Reynolds Mar. 9, 2011 | 7:52 a.m. Report Abuse

   The continued inability of some casino management to see reality, even when it is pointed out to them, never ceases to amaze me. This very article points out two key elements that management does not yet seem to understand. First, that a lot of students are too young to come to Vegas. And second, that Vegas is TOO EXPENSIVE. Surely it is common sense that it is not possible to market Vegas as an elite, world class resort destination that caters to the luxury/whale crowd, but still expect people like poverty-stricken students to come? In the words of the immortal Pink Floyd, "Hello? Is there anybody in there?"

10. n7v.blogspot.com Mar. 9, 2011 | 7:47 a.m. Report Abuse

    Don't these kids have mid-terms to study for? College is one big social scene.
    
    I never understood how kids could afford to go on week-long vacations to Florida, Palm Springs -- even Cancun. But I've noticed that more and more *public* college undergrads are driving Beemers.
    
    Abolish NSHE.

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