Las Vegas after shutdown
This is a drive up and down Las Vegas Blvd. The video starts on the south end of Las Vegas Blvd at the world famous Welcome to Las Vegas sign driving north at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, March 18, 2020. On the north end by the new Resorts World is where the car turns around to head back down the strip heading south. The video ends back at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. The strip is usually packed with people all day long. You can see in the video that the sidewalks are nearly empty.
This is a drive up and down Las Vegas Blvd. The video starts on the south end of Las Vegas Blvd at the world famous Welcome to Las Vegas sign driving north at 6:30 pm on Wednesday, March 18, 2020. On the north end by the new Resorts World is where the car turns around to head back down the strip heading south. The video ends back at the Welcome to Las Vegas sign. The strip is usually packed with people all day long. You can see in the video that the sidewalks are nearly empty.
This is a video of Fremont Street in Downtown Las Vegas taken on Sunday, March 29, 2020 at about 10:30am. The video starts on the east end of Fremont Street in the art district. You can see all of the businesses that are closed and boarded up. Nothing in the area is opened. The Fremont Street Experience is totally closed off to the public. This is the area under the video canopy between the casinos. You can see in the video how all of the lights and neon on the casinos are off. Those lights are usually on and flashing all of the time. It was a little eerie in the casino area because it was so quite and empty.
This is a drive around the Las Vegas Strip taken on Tuesday, March 31, 2020 to go check out some of the Hotel & Casinos that are writing messages on the hotel using the lights in the different rooms. The biggest message is the one on the Wynn Las Vegas. It says #VEGAS STRONG. The Encore has a HEART. The Venetian says Love which couldn't be seen from our drive by. Caesars Palace had a HEART. The Flamingo Hotel says WE LOVE VEGAS. The Park MGM said HOPE and a Heart. The NY NY had a small Heart. The Aria had a Heart. The Vdara had HOPE. The Las Vegas strip is shut down now but will recover stronger than ever because we are VEGAS STRONG!
In this segment of our ride along we discuss the current situation of the empty streets of Las Vegas Nevada and give you a briefing on what's going on in Sin City. The Odds of a booming Las Vegas are not in our favor. For the people that live and work here, it's going to be an uphill climb just like the 2008 crash that had many people folding up shop and moving out. Will this happen again here? Will Las Vegas make a resilient comeback after the first signs of life linger back to work and try to make Las Vegas great again? Or will Vegas be a slow burn for many months or years to come?
Thanks so much. Buzz Kill, for sharing this video and commentary along with the other ones.
Even though we all we read what is going on in Vegas(actually not going on), it is one thing to read about it and another to actually take a tour as you
have provided and actually see it.
For me it really hits home as my wife and I were there just last July when everything was so alive and well and there were people and cars everywhere.
Thanks again for posting!
Harrah’s Reno permanently laying off 471 workers, Peppermill to lay off 103 employees
The front doors of the Harrah's Reno Hotel and Casino have been boarded during the COVID-19 shutdown.
Nevada’s reopening of hotel-casinos is not enough to stave off layoffs at some properties, with recent job cuts totaling in the hundreds at two Reno gaming hotel operations.
Caesars Entertainment notified the state, city of Reno and Washoe County that it will permanently lay off 471 employees at its Harrah’s Reno property, which remains closed after the state-mandated shutdown of nonessential businesses in March. Caesars is in the midst of closing its sale of Harrah’s Reno to Las Vegas-based developer CAI Investments.
“Harrah’s Reno will be permanently closed and all employees will be terminated,” said Brad Belhouse, regional president for Caesars, in a notice about the layoffs.
The Harrah’s Reno layoffs will be effective after Aug. 1 but no specific date was given. CAI Investments plans to turn Harrah’s Reno into a new mixed-use development known as Reno City Center once it finalizes its acquisition of the property.
Caesars cited the ongoing merger with Eldorado Resorts for its decision to not reopen Harrah’s Reno. Eldorado Resorts first announced its plans to acquire Caesars Entertainment for $17.3 billion last year. Eldorado initially eyed the first half of 2020 as the target date for closing the deal before the COVID-19 pandemic roiled the gaming industry and the global economy. Caesars says both companies are now expecting to close the deal in August but the date could still change.
Another Reno hotel-casino, the Peppermill Resort Hotel, also will be laying off workers. The Peppermill layoffs total 103 employees and will be effective on Aug. 1.
“When we originally provided notice of furloughs effective March 17, 2020, we did not foresee the furloughs could last beyond six months or become permanent,” said Billy Paganetti, Peppermill general manager. “Frankly, no one could have foreseen how the COVID-19 crisis played out.”
The hotel-casino closures led to an unprecedented drop in room tax revenue, according to the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority. During April — the first full month following the mandatory shutdown of nonessential businesses in Nevada — taxable room revenue in Reno-Sparks was $3.5 million. The number is down 89% from the $32.2 million collected during the same month last year.
The Peppermill was one of several Reno-Sparks hotel-casinos that opened its doors once again this month as part of the state’s phase two reopening. The hotel-casino implemented several safety precautions for its reopening, including daily temperature checks for employees and the installation of thermal cameras.
With travel still down and events such as Hot August Nights being canceled, however, the hotel-casino business is expected to still be far below what it was last year.
“The required response to the COVID-19 crisis has evolved, and resulted in uncertainty facing our industry,” Paganetti said.
“Because of this uncertainty, we have made the difficult decision to permanently layoff employees,” Paganetti added.
- Reno Gazette Journal, June 17, 2020 - https://www.rgj.com/story/news/mone...71-workers-peppermill-lay-off-103/3209896001/
The front doors of the Harrah's Reno Hotel and Casino have been boarded during the COVID-19 shutdown.
Nevada’s reopening of hotel-casinos is not enough to stave off layoffs at some properties, with recent job cuts totaling in the hundreds at two Reno gaming hotel operations.
Caesars Entertainment notified the state, city of Reno and Washoe County that it will permanently lay off 471 employees at its Harrah’s Reno property, which remains closed after the state-mandated shutdown of nonessential businesses in March. Caesars is in the midst of closing its sale of Harrah’s Reno to Las Vegas-based developer CAI Investments.
“Harrah’s Reno will be permanently closed and all employees will be terminated,” said Brad Belhouse, regional president for Caesars, in a notice about the layoffs.
The Harrah’s Reno layoffs will be effective after Aug. 1 but no specific date was given. CAI Investments plans to turn Harrah’s Reno into a new mixed-use development known as Reno City Center once it finalizes its acquisition of the property.
Caesars cited the ongoing merger with Eldorado Resorts for its decision to not reopen Harrah’s Reno. Eldorado Resorts first announced its plans to acquire Caesars Entertainment for $17.3 billion last year. Eldorado initially eyed the first half of 2020 as the target date for closing the deal before the COVID-19 pandemic roiled the gaming industry and the global economy. Caesars says both companies are now expecting to close the deal in August but the date could still change.
Another Reno hotel-casino, the Peppermill Resort Hotel, also will be laying off workers. The Peppermill layoffs total 103 employees and will be effective on Aug. 1.
“When we originally provided notice of furloughs effective March 17, 2020, we did not foresee the furloughs could last beyond six months or become permanent,” said Billy Paganetti, Peppermill general manager. “Frankly, no one could have foreseen how the COVID-19 crisis played out.”
The hotel-casino closures led to an unprecedented drop in room tax revenue, according to the Reno-Sparks Convention and Visitors Authority. During April — the first full month following the mandatory shutdown of nonessential businesses in Nevada — taxable room revenue in Reno-Sparks was $3.5 million. The number is down 89% from the $32.2 million collected during the same month last year.
The Peppermill was one of several Reno-Sparks hotel-casinos that opened its doors once again this month as part of the state’s phase two reopening. The hotel-casino implemented several safety precautions for its reopening, including daily temperature checks for employees and the installation of thermal cameras.
With travel still down and events such as Hot August Nights being canceled, however, the hotel-casino business is expected to still be far below what it was last year.
“The required response to the COVID-19 crisis has evolved, and resulted in uncertainty facing our industry,” Paganetti said.
“Because of this uncertainty, we have made the difficult decision to permanently layoff employees,” Paganetti added.
- Reno Gazette Journal, June 17, 2020 - https://www.rgj.com/story/news/mone...71-workers-peppermill-lay-off-103/3209896001/
