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Sahara closing some towers
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Apr. 10, 2012 | 10:17 a.m.
The Sahara has closed two of its three hotel towers for the winter season because of low demand, but the casino and other attractions will remain open, a property spokeswoman confirmed.
"Two towers of the Sahara Hotel will remain dark based on demand through the holiday winter," an e-mail statement said late Monday. "Upon further demand, Sahara Hotel will make more rooms available."
Property spokeswoman Verena King could not say how many rooms were shut or how many workers might be laid off because of the closings.
The Tangiers tower will remain open at the Sahara, which opened in 1952 and has 1,720 rooms.
Michael Zaletel, owner of travel site i4vegas.com, said hotels often shut rooms during slow seasons to help reduce expenses and salaries.
Sahara also shut down its buffet last week, as it does every year at this time.
The Sahara is privately owned by SBE Entertainment of Los Angeles and private equity firm Stockbridge Real Estate Funds of San Francisco. They purchased the Rat Pack-era Sahara in late 2007 for $331.8 million.
Before the economic downturn, the new owners planned to build a new 1,000-room hotel tower. The renovation plans also called for demolishing the 200-room Tunis tower, and renovating the 17-acre property.
The Sahara does not release its financial information, but nearby mid- and lower-tier hotel-casinos have struggled during the recession.
The Riviera's revenues declined 28.9 percent the first nine months of the year while its room rates dropping 20.8 percent. The Stratosphere's revenues fell 17 percent and room rates dropped 31.3 percent, and Circus Circus saw revenues drop 21.9 percent, with room rates dropping 32.3 percent.
Binion's downtown closed all of its hotel rooms Monday and cut 100 positions. The downtown casino company also blamed the decline in visitor traffic and revenues for the closing.
Contact reporter Arnold M. Knightly at aknightly@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893.
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JustDoIt is on the right track. It is absurd that this state allows prostitution only in sparsely populated areas. The Mormons won't allow it in the cities but if they did, it would bring in serious revenue to the State.
Sahara has two open towers -- turn it into a brothel and they'd be full on the weekends for sure and see pretty high occupancy on weeknights as well.
The Sahara is NOT unique in its action. There are other hotels doing this same thing at this, the slowest time of the year,recession or no recession.
la grande lumiere... This is big news. As reported, gaming revenues were down for the first nine months of the year at nearby resorts. They are not just talking Decembers annual drop. Survival of the fittest. Borderline resorts will see an increase in closings come the new year. Is this a good thing? Perhaps, but it also eliminating properties that the average Joe can afford. How many can afford to stay at the Encore or Aria?
This is such a non news story. Why is slow business in December even considered news? Traditionally, gaming is very slow from Thanksgiving until New Years's Eve. It then dips again until Super Bowl and then business continues to increase for the rest of the year.
So, the Sahara closed some hotel rooms to compensate for the time of the year, BFD. All of the alarmists will come out of the closet for this one.
Now which of the oldies but goodies will be imploded?