F&B; Facts: What's Happening Beyond The Show Floor

Venetian Breaks LV Profit Record

Richard N. Velotta, LAS VEGAS SUN

Food and beverage revenue, driven by the new rooms and convention space, also increased dramatically for the quarter. The company reported revenue of $33.5 million, a 66.7 percent increase over the same period a year ago.

April 27, 2025
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The Good Times Continue to Roll in Sin City

Frank Fantini, Editor & Publisher of THE GAMING MORNING REPORT
www.gaminginvestments.com

The good times continue to roll in Sin City, according to the latest Fulcrum Global Partners survey of hotel room rates quoted to free and independent travelers. Rates along the Las Vegas Strip for the week of May 9-15 are up 37 percent over last year to $236. That is the fifth straight week of double digit increases, analyst Joe Greff noted. Rates are up 46 percent so far this quarter.

April, 20, 2004
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Slackening gambling revenues are offset by higher numbers for rooms, food and beverage

http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2004/Feb-17-Tue-2004/business/23234072.html 

Hotel operations, seeing a return of leisure travelers and limited expansion, set a record in January and are on track to set new marks in succeeding months, operators and analysts said Monday.

Revenues from hotel rooms, food and beverages at the top nine hotel-casinos in Las Vegas increased almost 10 percent compared with an increase of only 2.4 percent in total hotel-casino operation revenues in 2003, data released Monday by Applied Analysis show.

Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
Tuesday, February 17, 2026
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Restaurants' Share Of Food Dollar Now More Than 46%

2004 Restaurant Industry Forecast
www.restaurant.org/research/forecast.cfm 

Restaurants will control 46.4% of the food dollar in 2004, and will command 53% by 2010. 
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Cannery Sees Success In First Year

Andy Holtmann, Gaming Headlines from Ascend Media  

The $105 million Cannery Hotel & Casino in North Las Vegas performed well in its first full year of operations - so well that owners Bill Paulos and Bill Wortman are ready to expand the property.

The pair wants to add a multiscreen movie theater, 2,000-space parking garage and additional casino space. The parking garage would cost around $15 million, and Paulos and Wortman hope to begin the project by June.

January 6, 2026
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National Restaurant Association predicts positive outlook for 2004

The National Restaurant Association is forecasting that restaurant industry sales will reach $440 billion next year, marking the 13th consecutive year of real growth for the industry.
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Progressive Growth

Frank Fantini, Editor & Publisher of  THE GAMING MORNING REPORT
www.gaminginvestments.com

How Indian gaming continues to expand, improve and evolve. List of major expansions in southern California:

• Viejas expansion under construction.
• The Spa in Palm Springs just completed.
• Augustine recently completed expansion.
• Morongo constructing a huge casino and hotel tower.
• Pala, a fairly new casino, already has completed a hotel and casino    expansion.
• Pechanga. This new and ambitious complex already is being expanded.
• Harrah’s Rincon, another relatively new casino-hotel adding a hotel tower and amenities.
• Pauma being expanded into a major resort casino by Park Place.
• Barona, completed just last year.

Again, this is just southern CA. Northern CA has its own list, stretching from Thunder Valley to River Rock to Cache Creek, with a number of ambitious projects yet to come. WA Indian casinos are growing into resorts. So, too, in AZ, NM, MI, WI and MN. Those in NY will be destinations. On it goes into CT, LO, MS. Nor are ambitious resorts limited to jurisdictions where states sign compacts allowing casinos. The idea that a total entertainment experience can be built around Class II machines is catching on, too. A whole new entertainment- resort industry is springing up throughout America. Permanent casinos were replaced by brick-and-mortar buildings, which are being replaced by full-scale and upscale casino-hotel-convention complexes. And every one of these projects has investment implications. And it isn’t just casino and slot machine companies that benefit. Cash Systems, which provides the kiosks on casino floors for ATM and credit cards. Or construction companies that build casinos. In other words, Indian gaming is a growth industry that presents investment opportunities far beyond reservation casinos.
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Big Marriott hotel set for site near Convention Center
LAS VEGAS SUN

What's billed as Nevada's largest non-gaming hotel will be built adjacent to the Las Vegas Convention Center by a Dallas-based real-estate developer.

Jackson-Shaw Company, which has a Las Vegas office that employs 120 people, announced Wednesday that it would build a 15-story, 548-room Marriott Renaissance hotel on Paradise Road, just south of Desert Inn Road.

The builder plans a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday at which it also will detail plans for a charitable donation in Las Vegas.

The $100 million Marriott Renaissance is expected to open in February 2005.
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Megaresort planned for Wet 'n Wild site
Jeff Simpson, GAMING WIRE

The long-delayed plans to develop a megaresort on the site occupied by the Wet 'n Wild water park south of the Sahara are back on the front burner, property owner Archon Corp. announced Friday.

Company executives declined to disclose the project's particulars, including its cost, the hotel's size and joint-venture partners, if any.

The Archon announcement noted that the project's signature design element would be a 600-foot observation wheel.

If built, the wheel would be more than half as tall as the 1,149-foot Stratosphere Tower, the tallest structure in Nevada.

In April, Archon owner Paul Lowden received county approval to redevelop the 27-acre site at 2601 Las Vegas Boulevard South.

County officials then approved a 50-story hotel and an observation wheel, next to a man-made lake. The project, estimated at $650 million at the time, was to include 3,250 hotel rooms and timeshare units.

Seventy-eight suites would be located in boats moored on the property's lake.

Archon's statement noted that the observation wheel "will transport guests to a height above the hotels, delivering breathtaking views of the Las Vegas Strip, as well as the entire Las Vegas Valley."

Archon Chief Financial Officer Charles Sandefur said the company was planning to announce the project's scope and price within a week or so.

Cannery Resorts co-owner Bill Paulos said the Wet 'n Wild site is potentially quite advantageous.

With the Sahara, Riviera, Circus Circus, Westward Ho and the Stardust the nearest hotels, a new resort would stand out, he said.

"Everything around it is older, so if you can create a must-see resort, those other properties become dormitories for your customers," he said.

Archon owns and operates the Pioneer casino in Laughlin. It sold the Santa Fe, now Santa Fe Station, to Station Casinos in 2000.

The company's statement listed some of the proposed project's features.

"The master plan includes a variety of room products, convention space, restaurants, retail space, gaming facilities and entertainment venues all in a setting that promises to deliver an experience unlike any other in Las Vegas," it noted.

The project was designed by architect Veldon Simpson.

One clue about the project's timetable was provided by Sandefur, who said tenant Wet 'n Wild, a Strip mainstay since 1977 now owned by Palace Entertainment of Irvine, Calif., will remain open for business next summer.
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Coast Casinos to add 460-room tower at Orleans
Rod Smith, GAMING WIRE

Coast Casinos on Thursday announced preliminary plans to add a third $100 million tower at The Orleans on West Tropicana.

The new 21-story tower would add 460 rooms to the Mardi Gras themed-hotel casino, bringing the total number of rooms to 1,886 when it opens in the winter of 2004.

The success and profitability of the current operation persuaded Coast Casinos to proceed with construction of the added tower, said Orleans general manager Horst Dziura.

The Orleans operates at 90 percent capacity, and Dziura said market data suggest the rooms in the new tower can be added without diluting the hotel's occupancy rate or profitability.
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The Gaming Industry Weekly Report

While MBG was hurt elsewhere, their Strip properties turned in superb performances from Mandalay Bay all the way down to Circus Circus. MBG increased their dividend, made it quite clear that they expect this strong momentum to continue into 2004 and confirmed our view that MBG will soon be viewed more of a hotel company that has casinos than a casino company with hotels. MBG's President told conference call listeners that MBG now has more hotel rooms than slot machines on the LV Strip. We guess with $5 a share in cash flow expected next year, MBG is not concerned about possibly getting a lower historical hotel valuation on their shares rather than a casino one.

Wednesday, December 03, 2025
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
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Marriott hotel near Convention Center

Nevada (Las Vegas) - Las Vegas Sun - What's billed as Nevada's largest non-gaming hotel will be built adjacent to the Las Vegas Convention Center by a Dallas-based real-estate developer. Jackson-Shaw Company...announced Wednesday that it would build a 15-story, 548-room Marriott Renaissance hotel on Paradise Road, just south of Desert Inn Road. ...The $100 million Marriott Renaissance is expected to open in February 2005.

Wednesday, December 03, 2025
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal 
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Bellagio hopes tower brings power
Jeff Simpson, GAMING WIRE

The 928-room tower now under construction at the Bellagio should help the Strip property cement its position as one of the top draws for premium players in Las Vegas, the megaresort's hotel boss said recently.

The scheduled December 2004 completion date for the $375 million Spa Tower project is just in time for a revitalized Bellagio to face an expected challenge for Strip supremacy from Steve Wynn's $2 billion Wynn Las Vegas, set to open in April 2005.
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Las Vegas is exporting fine dining. Our town has not been known historically for haute cuisine but for fast service: in, out and back to the casino. But now, Jean-Georges Vongerichten is set to open a Manhattan version of Prime, his popular steakhouse here in Las Vegas. It will be at the new Time Warner towers at Columbus Circle, heralded as the coming world capital of fine dining.

Sunday, November 23, 2025
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal
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Bar/restaurant chain adds two locations

Nevada (Las Vegas) - Timbers Hospitality Group has begun construction on the eighth and ninth locations of Timbers Bar & Grill, a chain known for its "great outdoors" theme. One is under way on the northeast corner of East Lake Mead Boulevard and Mount Hood Street in northeastern Las Vegas and is set for completion in January. The second is being built in the southwest at the southwest corner of Grand Canyon Drive and Tropicana Avenue and is scheduled for completion in late February.
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Resort to expand
Liz Benston, LAS VEGAS SUN

The Rio hotel-casino in Las Vegas plans to break ground early next year on a $31 million expansion of its Pavilion Convention Center. The expansion will add 60,000 square feet of space to the existing 100,000 square feet in the pavilion. It is expected to be complete by the end of next year.

The new space will be designed to provide flexibility for groups that want larger rooms as well as smaller break-out rooms, said Michael Massari, executive director of Pavilion sales and operations for the Rio.

"We are committed to growing this valuable market segment, which will both generate new business for the Rio and boost tourism in Las Vegas, Massari said.

Monday, November 3, 2025
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THE GAMING INDUSTRY DAILY REPORT

The Wall Street Journal said that Mandalay Resort Group will be announcing that the new 1,125 suite hotel tower at Mandalay Bay will be called "the Hotel." The Hotel will be marketed as a stand alone property with room rates upwards of $220 and will cater to the hip and high-tech. Taking a page out of The Venetian's playbook, all the rooms will be suites with most being 750 square feet with 200 larger suites scattered around. A pool table will be in the lobby and a restaurant and club on the roof with a Spa called The Bath House.
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Liz Benston, LAS VEGAS SUN

Talking about the Hard Rock Hotel. While casino revenue was flat, hotel, food and beverage revenue showed double-digit increases.
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Liz Benston, LAS VEGAS SUN

With the tower addition, The Palms will add about 300 rooms to the more than 400 rooms it already has. The Palms master plan calls for some 2,000 rooms to eventually be built.
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