Las Vegas has been built around iconic names and brands.
You have your Las Vegas Strip leaders Caesars Entertainment (CZR) and MGM Resorts International (MGM), which each own multiple storied casino properties. But Vegas' icons include people (Wayne Newton, Penn & Teller, and, of course, Carrot Top to name a few) as well as shows — everything from showgirls to Cirque du Soleil — and famed experiences like the canals at Venetian or the fountains at Bellagio.
Sin City has also seen big names come and go. Caesars, for example, will be bringing the Horseshoe name back to the city, and to the Las Vegas Strip for the first time, when it rebrands its Bally's property later this year.
Another icon of the city, the volcano at The Mirage, will meet its demise later this year to make way for a Hard Rock Guitar Hotel (which brings that brand name back to the city after a multi-year absence).
Las Vegas is a city where name brands matter — until they don't. The pandemic heightened that as some big names departed the city (maybe forever, but in Las Vegas, nothing feels forever except for ill-advised tattoo decisions).
Now, a famed name and a very visible off-strip property appear ready to return just time for one of Sin City's biggest weekends: the NFL Draft.
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Welcome Back Palms Hotel
The Palms may not be on The Strip, but it operated for 20 straight years before closing due to the pandemic. Unlike Caesars and MGM's properties on the Las Vegas Strip, the off-Strip Palms did not reopen when the city began to welcome visitors again.
That's at least partially because the casino and hotel, which offers more than 700 hotel rooms and suites, multiple casual and upscale dining options, meeting and convention space, a 2,500-seat theater, pool and spa, and Palms Place condominiums, changed owners during the pandemic. It became the first Las Vegas casino owned by a Native American tribe when it was purchased by The San Manuel Gaming and Hospitality Authority (SMGHA), an affiliate of the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians in December 2021.
“It’s such an honor to reach this milestone today. As we forge ahead, it's important we bring forward the strong values and culture of the Tribe into everything we do at the property,” said Palms General Manager Cynthia Kiser Murphey in a press release. “From team member culture to exceptional guest service, it's our intent to create a lively and fun environment not only for customers but our dedicated staff as well.”
Now, about a third of the way into 2022, the Palms has a reopening date, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The property will reopen on April 27, just before the NFL Draft, which is expected to be one of the biggest events in Las Vegas history. That was an important date for The Palms to hit because it's "just up the block "from where the major Draft events will be held.
“We know it’s more challenging to open when it’s really, really busy,” Murphey said. “I think the most important thing for us was to get people back to work. We balanced knowing that the draft was going to be in town against the idea that we really needed to get open.”
The Palms Joins a Crowded Las Vegas
With the pandemic becoming less of a concern, crowds have been flocking back to Sin City. That's good news for big players Caesars and MGM, which suffered during the pandemic because they both had so much exposure in Las Vegas.
Caesars COO Anthony Carano talked about crowds beginning to normalize during his company's fourth-quarter earnings call.
"Despite an increase in COVID-19 cases in late December and into January, we remain encouraged by booking trends into 2022 and beyond," he said. "While group attrition remains elevated, we began to see conventions return to Las Vegas in the back half of '21, and the segment represented approximately 10% of occupied room nights, a dramatic improvement versus the first half of '21. In Q4 '21, we booked a record $160 million of new business in the group segment company-wide."
MGM CEO Bill Hornbuckle echoed those remarks during his company's Q4 earnings call.
"Cancellations, while elevated, were mostly concentrated in a very short term with limited impact beyond March. CES in January was the most visible event this year with attendance down approximately 70%," he said during the February call. "Cancellations are declining, and group lead volumes are normalizing. Forward hotel book has been stable over the past few weeks and are once again starting to outpace 2019 levels."
Hornbuckle was very optimistic for the future.
"I expect that given positive COVID trends in Nevada, we will start to see meaningful loosening of COVID restrictions in the very, very near future, consistent with what we have seen in other states. Furthermore, our weekends have remained very strong" he added.
That means that, perhaps, the Palms has picked the perfect time to make its grand return.
