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Hospitality expert says boomer boom looming

LV resorts should prepare for influx of older customers 

By the time Las Vegas finally recovers from the economic meltdown, the region will face another costly challenge -- accommodating a generation of older customers who will have a hard time navigating the huge, multibillion-dollar resorts that sustain the local economy.

It's a problem that could be costly because it requires a choice between spending untold sums retrofitting today's resorts or alienating a lucrative demographic that will represent as much as a third of the potential Las Vegas customer base.

"It will just develop quietly; within 10 years it will suddenly be a major issue," said Jeffrey Catrett, dean of the Les Roches School of Hospitality Management at Kendall College in Chicago.

Catrett, 49, said that by then 36 percent of Americans will be older than 50 and 17 percent will be older than 65.

The inevitable decline in vision, hearing, mobility and strength will make it difficult for many, especially those on the upper end of the age spectrum, to navigate features common in major Las Vegas hotel-casinos -- everything from heavy doors to loud restaurants to long lines at hotel front desks.

And, like Catrett, the upcoming generation of older people will be more likely than their parents to rebel against what they perceive to be shabby treatment by businesses.

"If I get treated as I've seen my dad get treated, there is going to be a lot of hell to pay," said Catrett, whose speech at HotelWorld Expo and Conference at the Las Vegas Convention Center drew just a few listeners.

The apparent lack of interest in a subject that will affect virtually every aspect of the hospitality business only reinforced Catrett's argument that the industry is slow to recognize the pending demographic shift.

"I love the hotel industry, but it is an industry that is, by its very nature, very conservative," he said.

The significance of the shift in customer demographic became clear when Catrett started showing all the ways that hotels make visits difficult for older guests.

Everything from long walks between parking areas and rooms, to long lines at check-in, to rooms too crowded with furniture can be problematic.

Older customers can also have trouble with round doorknobs, slick or overly textured flooring, small or hard-to-find light switches, poorly lit stairways and crowded restaurants.

"We need to simplify everything," he said.

Although Las Vegas resorts are big on long walks and loud, chaotic spaces, the resort corridor also includes lots of escalators and moving walkways, which are a big help to older customers.

More escalators and moving sidewalks "will lend itself well to an aging clientele," he said.

M Resort, the most recent hotel-casino to open in Las Vegas, includes a pharmacy on property with two full-time pharmacists, three technicians and two clerks. Customers will be able to apply slot club points to medication purchases, according to the resort's description of the service.

But retooling Las Vegas for the new demographic wave will take more than cosmetic changes and a pronouncement that a property is friendly for older folks.

That's because, to be successful, companies also will need to accommodate the "great boomer lie," Catrett said.

The lie, according to Catrett, is that even as current boomers enter retirement, they are unwilling to acknowledge limitations of age.

Companies and destinations will need to make their facilities and attractions easier to use without overtly saying it is an attempt to accommodate senior citizens.

Catrett cited the Westin hotel chain as an example. The company has upgraded beds and bathrooms for comfort and ease-of-use but doesn't acknowledge the obvious benefits to older people in its advertising.

One Las Vegas hospitality business that's already walking the fine line between adventure and comfort is the Pink Jeep tour company.

General manager Alix Reed says the firm recently unveiled a Flower Power Trekker Tour that's aimed at boomer-age clients who want to experience the wildflower blooms in Death Valley.

And Reed says it may be time to revive one of the company's former marketing slogans that seems to fit with boomer sensibilities. The slogan "off road has never been this civilized" taps into the sense of adventure but hints that the trip won't strain creaky joints.

"They aren't your parents' parents," said Reed of the upcoming boomer boom.

The next generation of older people will expect better customer service and more choices than the World War II generation.

"They've grown up with a little bit more control over their products," she said.

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

"It will just develop quietly; within 10 years it will suddenly be a major issue," said Jeffrey Catrett, dean of the Les Roches School of Hospitality Management at Kendall College in Chicago.

Catrett, 49, said that by then 36 percent of Americans will be older than 50 and 17 percent will be older than 65.

The inevitable decline in vision, hearing, mobility and strength will make it difficult for many, especially those on the upper end of the age spectrum, to navigate features common in major Las Vegas hotel-casinos -- everything from heavy doors to loud restaurants to long lines at hotel front desks.

And, like Catrett, the upcoming generation of older people will be more likely than their parents to rebel against what they perceive to be shabby treatment by businesses.

"If I get treated as I've seen my dad get treated, there is going to be a lot of hell to pay," said Catrett, whose speech at HotelWorld Expo and Conference at the Las Vegas Convention Center drew just a few listeners.

The apparent lack of interest in a subject that will affect virtually every aspect of the hospitality business only reinforced Catrett's argument that the industry is slow to recognize the pending demographic shift.

"I love the hotel industry, but it is an industry that is, by its very nature, very conservative," he said.

The significance of the shift in customer demographic became clear when Catrett started showing all the ways that hotels make visits difficult for older guests.

Everything from long walks between parking areas and rooms, to long lines at check-in, to rooms too crowded with furniture can be problematic.

Older customers can also have trouble with round doorknobs, slick or overly textured flooring, small or hard-to-find light switches, poorly lit stairways and crowded restaurants.

"We need to simplify everything," he said.

Although Las Vegas resorts are big on long walks and loud, chaotic spaces, the resort corridor also includes lots of escalators and moving walkways, which are a big help to older customers.

More escalators and moving sidewalks "will lend itself well to an aging clientele," he said.

M Resort, the most recent hotel-casino to open in Las Vegas, includes a pharmacy on property with two full-time pharmacists, three technicians and two clerks. Customers will be able to apply slot club points to medication purchases, according to the resort's description of the service.

But retooling Las Vegas for the new demographic wave will take more than cosmetic changes and a pronouncement that a property is friendly for older folks.

That's because, to be successful, companies also will need to accommodate the "great boomer lie," Catrett said.

The lie, according to Catrett, is that even as current boomers enter retirement, they are unwilling to acknowledge limitations of age.

Companies and destinations will need to make their facilities and attractions easier to use without overtly saying it is an attempt to accommodate senior citizens.

Catrett cited the Westin hotel chain as an example. The company has upgraded beds and bathrooms for comfort and ease-of-use but doesn't acknowledge the obvious benefits to older people in its advertising.

One Las Vegas hospitality business that's already walking the fine line between adventure and comfort is the Pink Jeep tour company.

General manager Alix Reed says the firm recently unveiled a Flower Power Trekker Tour that's aimed at boomer-age clients who want to experience the wildflower blooms in Death Valley.

And Reed says it may be time to revive one of the company's former marketing slogans that seems to fit with boomer sensibilities. The slogan "off road has never been this civilized" taps into the sense of adventure but hints that the trip won't strain creaky joints.

"They aren't your parents' parents," said Reed of the upcoming boomer boom.

The next generation of older people will expect better customer service and more choices than the World War II generation.

"They've grown up with a little bit more control over their products," she said.

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

By BENJAMIN SPILLMAN

As casinos' revenue falls, vendors see business disappear

Brian Tyrrell uses a colorful adage to describe the wide-ranging impact that Atlantic City's casino slump is having on the New Jersey economy.

"When the Atlantic City casino industry sneezes, expect the region and the state to catch a cold," said Tyrrell, director of the New Jersey Center for Hospitality and Tourism Research.

Among those getting sick are the thousands of vendors and suppliers that depend on casinos for their livelihood. The faltering economy and a handful of aborted casino construction projects will cause "significant reductions" in business this year for those vendors, Tyrrell predicts.

The gaming industry purchases about $3.5 billion in goods and services each year, with $2.2 billion going directly to New Jersey-based companies in all 21 counties, according to the New Jersey Casino Association.

But the ripple effect has been jeopardized by the worst economic crisis since casino gambling began in Atlantic City in 1978. Statistics magnify just how gloomy things have been for the casinos in the past 12 months: Revenue has tumbled  7.6 percent, hotel occupancy is off 3.1 percent and nearly 3,000 jobs have been lost.

Casino vendors - a diverse group of construction contractors, service companies, food suppliers, entertainers and more - have their own dismal statistics. "We're just trying to hang in there," one businessman lamented. In other words, they have a terrible "cold," and it could take a long time before they finally get better.

By: Donald Wittkowski

Casinos losing millions over bad gambling debts

As the economy worsens, local casinos are taking bigger-than-ever losses from gamblers. In some cases, it may be just a few hundred dollars. But in others, high rollers are walking away from gambling debts worth millions.

As prosecutors look at the flood of new cases coming their way, News 3'sSteve Crupi reports that it's a financial crime that hurts all of us The way Las Vegas casinos have always worked is that gamblers get their chips on credit. They sign a marker that legally is the same as a bank check. Now, those checks are bouncing in record numbers.

Deputy District Attorney Bernard Zadrowski thinks the bad economy is partially to blame.

"On a daily basis, we see large amounts that people gamble and don't repay," he says

The most stunning case involves a high roller accused of cashing checks for more than $14 million during visits to Caesars Palace and the Rio Hotel. The criminal complaint filed last week against millionaire Terrance Watanabe of Nebraska shows he received numerous casino markers ranging from $200,000 to $875,000.

Watanabe's is the biggest case of unpaid gambling debts prosecutors in Las Vegas have ever seen. And it's not just the casino corporations that are paying the price. In this time of cutbacks and layoffs, everyone who works at the hotels - even everyone who lives in Las Vegas - could be considered an indirect victim of deadbeat gamblers.

"It's those people that suffer as a result of people not paying their gambling debts," confirms Zadrowski.

But rather than put these deadbeat gamblers in jail, prosecutors work hard to negotiate payment plans. However, that strategy is becoming more difficult as more of the defendants in these cases are saying they cannot afford to pay anything at all.

Clark Count's Bad Check Unit currently receives about 500 new cases each month. That figure, however, does not include the many gambling debts that casinos attempt to collect without pursuing criminal charges.

2010 clock strikes 500 days to kick-off

In exactly 500 days, about three billion eyes will watch in anticipation as the coveted event touches down in Africa for the first time in history.

While such a spectacle will always draw its skeptics and share of pessimists, it is the responsibility of the public, private and business sectors, as well as the public at large to cast aside blanket views of failure for the country.

One of the most positive spin-offs for the country is the massive influx of foreigners destined for South Africa’s sunny shores, and the investment they bring with them.

Among those industries set to boom in a massive way over at least the next five years are the hotel, tourism, transport, restaurant and catering industries, and of course, what is referred to as South Africa’s second economy, small scale entrepreneurs and artisans.

One of South Africa’s biggest challenges is ensuring public transport is efficient, tourists and South Africans are safe, and world cup matches kick off without hindrance.

Local Organising Committee (LOC) Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Dr Danny Jordaan, maintains preparations are coming along well and stadiums are between 60 – 90 percent complete already.

Airport infrastructure, which is another vital part of ensuring a smooth and co-ordinated event, is also up to speed with upgrades taking place at OR Tambo International, Cape Town and Durban International Airports as well as the building of La Mercy Airport.

The South African government has made available more than R31-billion to support preparations for the tournament, and these funds are being spent to deliver on the 17 guarantees the Government made to Fifa.

Jordaan said the world cup alone will create about 450 000 jobs helping to alleviate poverty and stimulate the local economy at a time when much of the developed world heads into economic recession.

The Government’s 2010 Unit on Sunday highlighted that Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban is sitting at 69 percent complete, Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane is 55 percent complete, Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg is 64 percent complete and Cape Town’s Green Point Stadium is 38 percent complete.

Nelspruit’s Mbombela Stadium is currently at about 61 percent complete and Port Elizabeth’s Nelson Mandela Stadium is slightly further along at 70 percent completion.

“More than R136-million has been allocated by the Department of Minerals and Energy to the 9 Host Cities for the upgrading of the electricity networks.

“All upgrades will be completed in the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup host cities and other 2010 Fifa World Cup host cities by April/May 2009,” the Government’s 2010 unit reported.

As a Fifa requirement, all stadiums being used during the world cup have to run primarily off generators, with grid electricity as a secondary power source.

All generators will be arriving in February 2009 and be installed and commissioned by March this year.

Accommodation and the number of available rooms, as specified by Fifa’s appointed hospitality and accommodation company MATCH, was a concern to organisers but plans are in place and thousands of non-hotel rooms are being graded for the world cup.

“To date, more than 4 673 non-hotel rooms and 25 602 hotel rooms have been signed up and the grading process continues. Base camps hotels have now been identified by MATCH and are waiting final approval from Fifa,” the Government’s 2010 unit said.

Although South Africa is only 500 days from hosting the most watched sporting event on the planet, the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup, featuring the six continental giants, the current world champions and the world cup host nation, is a mere four and a half months away with palpable excitement growing.

New rooms provide reasons for optimism in Las Vegas

‘If you build it, they will come’ has worked in Vegas; will it work now?

Although pessimists don’t expect Las Vegas’ Strip economy to fare better in 2009 than it did in 2008, there are rays of hope that Vegas’ tourism industry will improve this year.

The reason: Las Vegas thrives when resorts open. Just look back to when Luxor and Treasure Island opened in 1993 and when Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, the Venetian and Paris Las Vegas opened in 1998-99.

The number of rooms that opened during those periods will be eclipsed in 2009 by the next wave of resort openings, highlighted by MGM Mirage’s CityCenter at year’s end. The $9.2 billion project will add more than 6,000 hotel rooms and residential units.

But there are other projects due to open that will make 2009’s room boom the biggest in the city’s history.

The parade starts in March with Anthony Marnell III’s M Resort at St. Rose Parkway and Las Vegas Boulevard South. The $1 billion project will add 390 rooms.

A new tower at Caesars Palace is expected to open in the middle of the year. The $1.3 billion project will add 665 rooms and raise Caesars’ capacity to about 4,000 rooms, bumping it into the top five largest properties in Southern Nevada.

In August, Planet Hollywood is due to open its Planet Hollywood Towers by Westgate, a $1.2 billion project that will put an additional 1,228 time-share units on the Strip.

The $760 million Hard Rock Hotel expansion in September will beef up that property by 875 rooms, and downtown’s Golden Nugget should complete its $150 million, 500-room addition by the end of the year.

Representatives of Fontainebleau, the nearly 4,000-unit, $2.9 billion project being built on the Strip, say construction is on schedule for a late 2009 opening.

Add in a number of smaller suite hotels being built across the valley and Southern Nevada — the Cabana, Staybridge, TownePlace, Holiday Inn, Comfort Inn, Hampton Inn, three Springhill properties and the boutique Indigo — will have nearly 14,000 hotel rooms with investment totaling more than $16.5 billion. That’s quite a leap from the 8,600 rooms that came online in 2008 worth an estimated $6.6 billion.

The question: Will tourists come?

That’s what has occurred traditionally when new resorts open their doors. But 2008’s economy was far from traditional.

Lower gasoline prices toward the end of last year certainly provided some optimism that the drive-in market could get stronger. But forces are at work to increase the cost of oil. How successful those efforts are should determine how strong the drive-in market will be and whether Californians are willing to see the new resorts or be content to stay close to home at tribal casinos.

The fly-in market is another story.

Capacity at McCarran International Airport was down about 15 percent in 2008, which makes the decline in passenger volume of 7 percent a little easier to comprehend.

Will capacity come back at McCarran? Most aviation experts are skeptical, noting that the airline industry is having as difficult a time as ever because consumers aren’t flying as much.

Some stories that should have an effect on aviation in 2009 involve McCarran’s big carriers. Will US Airways, which cut its Las Vegas capacity by about half in 2008, come back? Most experts are saying no.

How about Southwest Airlines? It made some minor capacity cuts at McCarran. Going forward, there could be some optimism because Southwest will enter a new major market, Minneapolis-St. Paul, in March and New York’s LaGuardia International Airport later in the year. At the end of 2008, Southwest Chief Executive Gary Kelly said there are “decent odds” Southwest would add another major airport destination in 2009. How that would play out for Las Vegas is an unknown.

But Southwest also should make some headway in 2009 with its announced code-share agreements with Canada’s WestJet and Mexico’s Volaris, moves that could boost international traffic to the local airport.

WestJet, in fact, has been one of McCarran’s bright spots in 2008 with 57 flights a week between Las Vegas and eight Canadian destinations added in the past 12 months.

Another airline that has Las Vegas’ best interests in mind is locally based Allegiant Air, which has seen passenger volume increase despite fewer flights into the local market. The story to watch in 2009 is whether the airline’s growth will be heavier in some of the other resort communities the airline has chosen to serve in addition to Las Vegas.

The Hawaiian market has always been strong for Las Vegas and Honolulu-based Hawaiian Airlines will capitalize on that once again next month when it introduces a new four-times-a-week nonstop round trip between Honolulu and McCarran.