Tribal Casinos Fairing Well
2 May 2008
In an economy that is suffering a serious downturn one would think that opening a new casino and resort would be an extremely risky business. Richard Milanovich, the chairman of the newly opened Agua Caliente Casino Resort and Spa in Rancho Mirage, isn’t too worried about how the new $300 million establishment will fair. He’s confident that this new resort destination will ride out the economic storm just fine.
Agua Caliente is the third high-rise casino resort to go up in the Interstate 10 strip through Coachella Valley. The Morongo Casino Resort and Spa near Banning, and the Fantasy Springs Resort Casino are the closest neighbours to the Agua Caliente and all three of them are owned by Native American Indian tribes. Another casino and resort was built by a different tribe near Temecula as well. A fourth resort, a Ritz-Carlton is set to open in Rancho Mirage before the end of 2008.
One would think Milanovich would be worried, but he knew that the tribe could not go without the hotel considering tired gamblers would not want to leave the casino floor only to have to travel to their lodgings for the night. Because of this and other factors, he’s sure that all four resorts will fair very well.
Lately it seems that tribal-owned establishments are fairing well in this bad economy with more of the rooms being filled than many on the Vegas strip. What’s the tribe’s secret? That’s anybody’s guess, but the Morongo has shown a steady occupancy rate as compared to other establishments in a hundred mile radius. The financials are holding their own, new promotions are being offered and they are even hiring staff in all departments. The fact that they adjust to the economic conditions and go with the flow is surely a positive reason for the consistency.
Plus, the offer the competition of the other hotels and some of the business that Las Vegas is losing as people are staying closer to home. Gamblers in the surrounding areas are stopping at the Rancho Mirage resorts instead of travelling on because of high gas prices and less disposable cash. These resorts are just as nice as the ones found in Vegas and considerably closer. In addition to the casino floor, Agua Caliente has a 2,000 seat event venue and they hope to find a few big names to appear there and attract a little more business.
The management staff at all the casinos off of Interstate 10 does realize that they’ll never get all of Las Vegas’s traffic, but what they are getting is a good start.
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