Hard Rock Casinos new owner

Yah it's great news. Branson is an innovator. And, he has his airline to bring in people with special deals, rates, events. He's also expanding the pool area and parties. The original pool party was started at Hard Rock.

Also he's into the music business so that means some great events at The Joint. The deal comes with all the memorabilia.

He's going to tear down the Hard Rock restaurant which has been closed a year now.

Its good news.

 

will rebrand to Virgin Casino (mildly amusing name), so I wonder how much of the rock and roll vibe it will keep.

 

I'm guessing with the Virgin tie in we'll see more of an international - and more mature crowd. It's a smart buy for Branson and good for the City I think. Hard Rock's clientele were not big gamblers, didn't spend money on food or shopping. Another good step for Las Vegas, the town is really on a hot streak. We'll be out first week in May.

 

I question whether it's a great buy. Everything off the strip seems to be struggling these days. It's pretty far from the "action." If Branson wants to kill it, and I certainly think he does, I think he'll have to get the place back on TV some how.

 

stupid question: how are casino licenses assigned? could he be buying the license, not the property, with a plan to move the license to the strip?

 

The owners have to be approved to get a license. If you buy a place you still have to go through the approval process. In fact there's been issues before, lately with the SLS. So, people have bought a casino and then had problems getting a license. And no, he has no plans to move it. He's enlarging parts of it.

There's a renovation project also going on now at the Palms. So, off Strip properties are also on the come back in terms of investment. Aside from the AllNet area area and the area directly across from SLS on Sahara which is owned by MGM, there's no more available land on the strip to build a new place onto. You would have to buy an existing place and convert it. And, that's just what Branson is doing here so it makes no sense.

I think he's going to tie the airline into the property. So, it maybe a bit of a win-win on two fronts.

I think the Virgin brand is superior to Hard Rock. So, this will help attract a better and more affluent clientele also.

 

My guess is Branson is thinking "Bundling". I agree the Hard Rock Brand is a shadow of its former self. Something is going to be built in that corridor between McCarren and the Hard Rock. At one time it was in the running for the new stadium. That will have a salutary effect on that corner of the town.

 

I don't know everything about Virgin but one of the things that helps hotels in Vegas is loyalty programs and "points". People are saying that the new Drew hotel will have a huge advantage over if someone else took it over because it's going to be part of Marriot. Marriot has an enormous amount of existing customers with points that can be used or earned by staying at the Drew vs other hotels. People who like to stay at Marriot to get points or to use their points will now have a hotel in Vegas to go to.

My thinking is Virgin may do something like this in connection with the airline or other shared partner airlines. There has to be some marketing gimmick between the this hotel (which is Virgin's first) and the airline and brand.

 

I fly Virgin 2 or 3 times a year to Vegas, this might be great news if there’s a tie up!


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Janet and I in town May 5-9 if anybody available and interested in a cocktail.

 

He has such an interesting approach to keep every single venture under its own business entity, but they all leverage the Virgin name and other assets. We'll see.

Matt