#allineverywhere – IS THE LAS VEGAS GHOST TOWN VIBE BACK?

‘The only time I saw The Strip emptier, was during the pandemic.’ a local friend claims. The City of Sin and Enjoyment has been a bit dull lately. International tariffs and inflation are obviously to blame for the insane price surges over the last year or two. Add some solid corporate greed and throw in a bit of international political resentment towards the U.S. in general, and one ends up with a top recepie for declining visitor numbers resulting in a kind of local recession compared to the golden years of post-Covid recovery.

Like always, the rich will be fine. The wealthy can maybe sustain corporation greed a bit better than normal wallets but they won’t bring back the VEGAS, BABY! vibe. We usually reach Diamond or Diamond Plus status at Ceasars Rewards and, although it sounds and looks pretty cool to have one those cards, they have become surprisingly near to useless. Skipping the resorts fee is basically their main function by now – but what use can you make of that if you refuse to go stay on The Strip? We used to get four complementary drinks every 24 hours for example. Even those are gone. Wondering how Caesar is looking at all this cheapness from his tomb 🙂 The added services keep vanishing and the price differences are not that amazing anymore. In 2024, we got to openly talk to a Caesars Rewards casino host about it. She confirmed that they’d rather focus on very-high-tier customers these days. These guys rake in low 6 figures of revenue per person per visit on average for Caesars Entertainment. It’s the only thing that counts since standard visitors gamble less and less due to cultural changes and general consumption habit evolution.

People don’t hate Vegas all of a sudden. People hate the fact that a simple beer is 10+ USD on The Strip these days… served in a plastic cup by a grumpy waiter who openly expects you to tip 25% after you paid for parking and resort fees. Let’s face it: The Strip has become a tourist-trap-land in many places. All these things are in the process of changing but too slowly and too late. The general public cow has been milked too much too aggressively over the last decade and the cow is now starting to massively turn its back to Milk City. It’s still a lot of fun to be in Vegas when you’re wealthy but if you are alone on the casino floor or on the streets, it gets a bit dull.

In order to try to fill the gaping late summer visitor hole, whole Sin City goes on sale these weeks. IG is full of offers… and also full of rants. Las Vegas Jaunt, one of our hotel deal partners offers decent deals all year long – not waiting for popular revolt to offer fair prices.

The casino corporations specifically target locals with special offers at the moment. As a matter of fact, it is very easy to rip off one-time visitors with insanely exaggerated prices but the locals have almost completely turned their backs to the Strip. Me included I must say, although I am only a semi-local. I still love going to The Strip but only for my games or for a very specific reason. I don’t chill their anymore. Prices are insane in some places. So obscene that it makes you feel not welcome and makes you wanna spend your money somewhere else even if you are a big winner. Or is a 14-USD-expresso justifiable in any way? I don’t think I am being a nit there.

We are and have always been huge DTLV fans all in all and, when it comes to fancier venues, our personal favourite resorts in town at the moment, are the Station Casinons-run Durango and Red Rock – both off-Strip, both with good service to locals and visitors alike, both with great hotel and restaurants offers featuring free parking a located in entertaining parts of the city. Sure, the Wynn/Encore is awesome, the new Venetian Poker Room is great and Aria remains in our top choices to play cards. It’s the general vibe on The Strip that has been a bit off lately.

Together with Michelle Richey Real Estate Services, we are committed to offering fun and affordable offers for temporary or permanent stays in Las Vegas. Visiting for a few weeks and need a nice place to stay for good? Get in touch for great housing solutions and leave the chaotic Strip behind.

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