Las Vegas may seem like a city of endless parties, but it's actually driven by business. Sure, lots of people visit Sin City just for fun, but an awful lot of Vegas tourism comes from trade shows, business meetings, and other work gatherings.
Those business reasons give people an excuse to go to Las Vegas, and they're huge drivers for Caesars Entertainment (CZR), MGM Resorts International (MGM), and the Venetian, which is owned by Apollo Global Management (APO).
All those Las Vegas Strip-based casino operators have convention centers and meeting spaces designed to accommodate those events.
Conventions are incredibly lucrative for casino operators because they fill hotel rooms at higher-than-usual prices while also driving restaurant and casino business. When, say, Caesars Palace or MGM Grand hosts a business event, that hotel/casino increases its entire business while also making money renting the convention space.
The Las Vegas Strip has dominated this business because downtown Las Vegas, the Fremont St. area, hasn’t had the capacity to bid against Strip properties for these conventions and business meetings (albeit only the smaller ones).
That’s about to change as Circa-owner Derek Stevens plans to add a large new convention space to his modern, Strip-like property.
“I’m proud to be entering this next phase of Circa’s development to introduce a meeting and convention space that really complements what already exists in the market," Stevens said in a statement to TheStreet. "We’ll be a great option for smaller meetings and events with a capacity of up to 1,500. We’re also bringing more meeting options to downtown Las Vegas, which is great for all of the neighboring businesses in the area. Our hope is that Circa’s new meeting space not only brings new business opportunities for us but also drives visitation and business for the entire region.”
TheStreet
Circa Wants to Make Downtown a Strip Alternative
Until Circa, downtown Las Vegas offered an experience very different from the one found at the Strip casinos operated by Caesars, MGM, and others.
Centered on the lights and lasers show, the Fremont Street Experience, downtown has a sort of never-ending party feel. It’s grittier than the Strip, with a nightly street party featuring multiple live music areas as well as DJs, and a healthy selection of Las Vegas characters (everything from the Naked Cowboy to showgirls, Pikachu, and all sorts of other oddities looking for a few bucks for a picture).
Downtown also has a selection of casinos that are more old Las Vegas than new Las Vegas. The D has some Strip-like glam, but Four Queens, Binion’s, and the Golden Nugget fit more into the classic Vegas category with lower table limits, more locals, and staff who have worked downtown for decades.
Circa changed all that. It’s a glitzy, glamorous Strip-quality casino that just happens to be downtown. It has top-tier restaurants and a tiered Stadium Pool that serves as part of its sportsbook.
Before Circa, Fremont St. was sort of slumming it. Higher-end customers might stay there for a night or two, but it lacked the prestige of the major Caesars and MGM properties on the Strip.
Now, Circa gives downtown a casino/hotel that can compete for customers with those Strip properties (again, only for the events 1,500 people and under), and Stevens plans to build out a convention/meeting space that can compete for some of the business events that drive so much business.
Circa Wants to Be an Option for Smaller Meetings
When you attend a convention at a Las Vegas casino, that property becomes your home base. You may leave to eat a meal, see a show, or visit a tourist attraction (or a dispensary). But the sheer size of these casinos means you will eat a lot of meals and gamble (if that’s something you do) at the property hosting the event.
Circa wants a piece of that business and plans a third-floor convention area that will have customizable ballroom space and 15 meeting rooms that could accommodate up to 1,500 people, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
“We think meeting and convention space demand is coming back,” Stevens said in an interview. “Based upon the size of our property, we think this matches up pretty well.
"One thing that’s really changed quite a bit over the last 10 years, but in particular the last five, is technology, and it has really changed dramatically. So we will have all the latest audio and visual technology that meeting planners want.”
Circa’s convention/meeting space will offer “6K LU laser projectors, retractable screens, audio tie lines, patchable ethernet tie lines, strands of patchable single-mode fiber in pairs on LC connectors, quad outlets and LED screens,” according to the paper.
Compared with, say, the Sands Expo Center at Venetian or the conference space at Caesars Palace, Circa has a relatively small meeting space. That means it can’t compete for most events, but Las Vegas hosts meetings ranging from the hundreds of thousands that fill the Las Vegas Convention Center to small gatherings. That leaves plenty of targets for Circa to go after,
“Since our opening (in October 2020), we have been working tirelessly to meet this next phase of growth and provide a remarkable experience for meeting planners and attendees,” Stevens told the Review-Journal.
“At our core, we love to throw a great event, and we’ve thought through every detail to help you do that on any scale, with our resort as a backdrop.”
