The bright lights and opulent hotel casinos bring about 40 million visitors to Las Vegas every year, but certain times are better to visit than others.
Sin City's decadence is more suited for big party scenes, and while the city has made strides in recent decades to become more family friendly, it is still mostly a playground for adults.
Christmas is more of a family holiday, New Years on the other hand is more of a party one, and room rates in Las Vegas are reflecting the difference
A new report from the Las Vegas Review-Journal shows that room rates for the New Year's Eve weekend will be about three times higher than Christmas weekend.
So if you want to go the Vegas for the cheap, Christmas weekend is the time to go.
Room rates in Vegas for a Friday through Sunday stay, which includes Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, averaged $127.73 a night, based on hotels.com listings.
For the same period the following week, New Year's weekend, the average is a whopping $371.14 per night.
The Review-Journal's analysis included 67 properties for the Christmas holiday and 65 for New Year's.
Las Vegas Price Differences
Apparently the discrepancy is normal, with Las Vegas leaning into the New Year's celebration with its "America's Party" fireworks show on the Strip.
But this year's prices may be a little higher as more people pile into the city since New Year's Eve and Day fall on a weekend.
“When the holiday falls at midweek, like on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, people have to take off from work to come and you’ll see a wave of people that will come before the holiday and then another wave that comes after the holiday,” John Swissman, a founding partner of Vegas-based Strategy Organization, told the Review-Journal.
“This year, they should all be here Saturday and Sunday because they don’t have to take time off from work to party here.”
In past years generally 320,000 people visit Vegas for New Year's. A static supply with higher demand equals higher prices for people looking to party in the desert to bring in the new year.
Vegas Is Back Baby!
The Las Vegas Strip literally went dark in March 2020. The massive casinos owned by Caesars Entertainment (CZR), MGM Resorts International (MGM), Wynn Resorts (WYNN), and other Strip operators turned their lights off, closed their doors, and told their employees to go home.
In May of 2020, the covid-related closure order was lifted but what happened next was hardly a return to normal. The Strip reopened under strict capacity, social distancing, and mask rules. Plastic barriers went up between slot machines, table games lowered how many people could play, and restaurants required masks when you weren't actively eating.
Caesars and MGM, the two biggest players on the Strip, slowly reopened their properties but it was really about two years later -- for March Madness in 2022 followed by the NFL Draft in April -- that the Strip truly returned to normal.
There was a period when mpox loomed as a threat that could impact tourism or even shut down Las Vegas. Those fears appear to have passed, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
“I can’t say it’s eradicated,” Cassius Lockett with the Southern Nevada Health District told the paper of the once rare virus that has triggered outbreaks around the globe this year. “It does appear that it’s under control.”
That's very good news for Caesars, MGM, Wynn, and other operators on the Strip. Crowds have returned to close to, or in some cases have exceeded, their pre-covid 2019 levels. Removing a reason to not visit Las Vegas and generally changing the narrative back to "adult fun," and away from "will I get sick?" should help maintain that momentum.
