the furnishings would be really tacky though

Which Vegas hotel is the best?

Paulson in the drivers seat? Well, at least thats his normal gig before he made it big with the real estate tank.

I wish I had saved the ridiculous quote I read quite a while back from one of the guys in the Apollo Group about their takeover of Harrah's. He was saying that they had run their numbers for different projections of the economy and that the current (at the time) economic conditions were worse than their worst-case scenario. It was pretty clear from that statement that the intellectual firepower running Harrah's had not been upgraded.

Maybe if they ask real nice they could move the WSOP back to the Horseshoe.

Holiday Inn or Motel 6.

Are you serious - your comparing the restaraunt business to casino? You really think the cost of a meal at a restaraunt is fixed? Please - have you ever followed the commodity markets sir? Everything from corn to beef to whatever the *** they are selling - the price of all these things is fluctuating daily.

If i go to the casino to play blackjack they ****ing know exactly how much they are going to make. Easy game - I bet x amt of dollars and they win y amt of dollars everytime.

There problem isnt prices and income - there problem is them over extending themselves constantly

excuse my ignorance if it is obvious, but how can they predict the number of people traveling to vegas and how much money they will have in their pockets? obv they can predict but they also do that in the restaurant business, no?

All predictions are made by relying on the previous data. I'm sure that they look at each day/weekend and compare it with the past 5 to 10 years and make a prediction.

Harrah's hasn't built a new hotel in Vegas in well over a decade. They just buy up new properties.

In fact, they just bought Planet Hollywood from their owners.

This is why the Rio is always rumored to be on the block because they need to finance their debt.

Harrahs has not had enough time yet to thoroughly screw up PlanetHo. It was a Starwood hotel until sometime around the beginning of the year. While it was not an outstanding SPG property, it was still above average IMO.

I was out there twice prior to the reflagging/branding and have not been back since Harrahs took the hotel operations over. Interestingly enough, on the casino side, they made no effort to match the PlanetHo players club members with existing Total Rewards card holders. I now have two TR cards and Harrahs does not seem capable of mergine the accounts...

Unless things really changed since last December, I would concur with that sentiment.

yep...monopolies are rarely good for the consumer. In fact, with a wider array of operators, the offer frenzy might even result in MORE people going out there and spending more money than gets spent with just a few major players.

They also work with the city and convention council so they know well in advance what big events will be driving in people for business / pleasure.

And then the economy goes south, conventions are scaled back or cancelled, personal gambling budgets are cut in half, and a lot of those predictions based on past numbers start to look a bit optimistic...

http://www.lvrj.com/news/41078067.html
The cancellation of conventions and business meetings has cost local resorts 111,800 guests and 236,700 room nights and untold amounts of casino betting; the $131.6 million figure represents non-gambling spending only.

guess harrah's wont survive if we have a double dip recession.

Best beer value in Las Vegas during the WSOP was IMHO the draft MGD or ML at Toby Keith's I Love This Bar And Grill in Harrahs, which is/was served 32 oz in a Mason Jar for $4.50.

I prefer The Plaza

That's not even in the top 10 best beer deals in LV.

Also that place sucks.

this is all that needs to be said. such a poorly run company

And thank you for that Harrahs...as just a mid-level table games player and sometimes slot play for entertainment, I have not had to pay for room or food in any town with a Harrahs for several years now.

Throw in many freeroll Tournaments 10K and up (including free room/food for 2 for 3 days) including a Freeroll WSOP ME Seat Tourny several times a year and I think they provide the best value for the non-whale type player.

Even better now that Ballys and others take Rewards Card for Poker.

Of course, I don't go near those silly 6/5 blackjack tables....

Please, they in no way could screw it up anymore than ANY of the previous owners who plopped Casinos on this property. UGH, those guys who put the New Aladdin up were obviously the worst. Never had a chance before the place was even opened.

Some places in LV are just cursed locations!!!

Anything other than a complete closure would be a great improvement

I think they need to reorganize their debt and go public. The spending your way out of debt might have worked in a good economy but right now it is hard to convince people to part with their money.

no worries Obama will bail them out and give Harrahs to the SEIU as a gift just like he gave GM and Chrysler to the UAW

You're missing NoahSD's point entirely. The profit from a bet isn't bottom line profit. There is a huge fixed monthly expense in keeping a casino operating. You have to have a certain volume of those bets in which "they win y amt of dollars every time" to be profitable. Not until they cover all the fixed expenses do those bets make profits. When there are a lot fewer gamblers, there are a lot lower revenues to cover those expenses that don't decrease much with fewer gamblers.

The problem is if a publicly traded company chooses to be conservative (thereby leaving theoretical profits untapped) they will just be the target of a leveraged buyout by someone who is not conservative.

There are a number of ways in which managers of publicly traded companies are incentivized to make bad race-to-the-bottom decisions.

Which, of course, is the same thing is running a restaurant. You have fixed costs and you know that each customer will net you $X. So, you need Y customers per month. Also, like a restaurant, there is a cost per sale. The more customers come in, the more staff you need to hire, the more chairs you need to replace, the more sheets you need to wash, the more you need to run the effing AC.

I'm hoping that "gambling man" is actually "gambling boy." Either that or "gambling troll." "lol! All they need to do is take people's bets to make money and they can't even do that! LOL! LOL!"

Oh, and restaurants don't need to think about the price of cattle or F.C.O.J. Your food costs sheets might get updated every 3 years or so* IF you even use food cost sheets. Most cooks know ABOUT what a dish costs the restaurant and they are happy enough with that.

*These days there are probably computer systems that link the prices you paid into your food cost sheets so that when the price of flour increases 1 cent per pound, that price change is automatically reflected in your food cost sheet. You know, some fancy Excel stuff.

Food cost sheet = a detailed recipe which is then divided by portions per recipe. A final dish will have a food cost sheet for each component on the plate and an overall food cost sheet. So, your steak w mashed potatoes, Veal suace, and creamed spinach will have a food cost sheet for the mashed potatoes and creamed spinach. Then you'll have the overall dish's food cost sheet which'll look something like this:

8oz filet mignon: $10
6oz Mashed potatoes: $1.60
2oz Veal sauce: $1.05
4oz Creamed spinach: $1.35

Total cost of dish: $14

You then take that number and divide it by your desired food cost % (btwn .25 and .40 with McDonalds being closer to .4 and Craftsteak closer to .25). In our example, we'll go with .28 and charge $50 for this dish. In general, you keep your food cost % uniform across all dishes and may even choose to ditch dishes if you just can't get a good price on it using this method.