\nStratospheres Manifesto
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\nStratospheres Manifesto
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\tLAS VEGAS (AP) \u2013 Tear down your red velvet ropes, Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
\tThe Stratosphere casino-hotel\u2019s new marketing campaign, which masquerades as a cause, is appealing to a crowd of likely Las Vegas Strip visitors that\u2019s less keen on nightclub bottle service or high-priced fine-dining and more interested in cheap drinks and freebies.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cA great getaway has become a phony, fancy-pants ego trip,\u201d says the casino-hotel\u2019s \u201ceveryman-ifesto\u201d posted on its website.<\/p>\n
\tIf that\u2019s true, it doesn\u2019t seem to be dissuading many. Las Vegas attracted a record 41.1 million visitors last year.<\/p>\n
\tStill, the Stratosphere, with its towering 1,149-foot stature that\u2019s nearly twice the height of Seattle\u2019s Space Needle, wants some of those visitors to know there\u2019s a place in town where they can be comfortable in their own skin, \u201cwithout the pretense,\u201d said Paul Hobson, the casino-hotel\u2019s general manager.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cHere\u2019s to knowing who you are even if a bouncer doesn\u2019t,\u201d reads one of the property\u2019s slogans.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cA bottle of booze should not be a mortgage payment,\u201d reads another.<\/p>\n
\tBefore the Stratosphere launched the campaign, the 2,427-room casino-hotel flummoxed locals with 10 days of billboard advertising along Interstate 15 that simply said, \u201cWhat happened to Las Vegas?\u201d<\/p>\n
\tSouthern California and Phoenix residents should expect to see and hear the latest campaign on radio and television ads soon.<\/p>\n
\tIt\u2019s been about three years since the Stratosphere last seriously marketed itself. That campaign \u2013 \u201celevate your expectations\u201d \u2013 was focused on reintroducing the casino-hotel to visitors as part of a $7.4 million advertising effort.<\/p>\n
\tThe latest marketing effort is an honest reflection of the property that has never tried to be something it isn\u2019t, Hobson said. It\u2019s not a gilded monolith. It doesn\u2019t have a dancing fountain set to classical music.<\/p>\n
\tEven the financial reports from owner American Casino & Entertainment Properties LLC tell investors the company caters to \u201cmiddle-market\u201d customers and it likes it that way.<\/p>\n
\tSara Benson, a Lonely Planet travel guide writer, said there\u2019s a division among Las Vegas visitors: those who seek out the deluxe experience on the Strip, \u201cand people who dearly miss the old Vegas that the ad campaign is appealing to.\u201d Most of those people have turned to downtown\u2019s Fremont Street.<\/p>\n
\tBenson said the Stratosphere was smart for tapping into a brewing discontent among visitors feeling \u201cnickel and dimed,\u201d although that ire has been aimed more squarely on resort fees tacked onto nightly hotel stays. The Stratosphere has those, too \u2013 $20.15 a night on top of the rate, according to booking site Vegas.com.<\/p>\n
\tStill, Benson said the Stratosphere represents a bargain.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cYou want to understand Vegas on a budget? We\u2019re going to stay at the Stratosphere,\u201d she said she told an editor of the travel guide.<\/p>\n
\tThe hotel\u2019s average daily room rate was $47.64 during the three months ending Sept. 30 compared with $267 at the Wynn and Encore resorts on the Las Vegas Strip. The average rate at MGM Resorts properties was $131, but it spans a wide spectrum in tastes and prices from Circus Circus to Bellagio.<\/p>\n
\tHobson said the timing was right for the marketing campaign considering the revived attention on the north end of the Strip.<\/p>\n
\tThe edge of town is hoping for a renaissance. The SLS hotel-casino emerged from the Sahara\u2019s bones late last year in hopes of attracting a hip, high-end crowd, and MGM Resorts International will be hosting the Rock in Rio outdoor music festival in May on an otherwise vacant lot nearby.<\/p>\n
\tIf the Las Vegas Strip were a seesaw, the Stratosphere, which debuted in 1996, would be the kid on the ground readying for the rise.<\/p>\n
\tWhere it stands tall on the Strip\u2019s farthest northern edge is past acres of vacant land and cavernous shells of casino-hotels that were never built. It\u2019s where the throngs of walking tourists become a trickle and the nearest neighbors are quickie wedding chapels and kitschy gift shops.<\/p>\n
\tIt\u2019s an unusual spot that\u2019s always \u201cstraddled the Strip and downtown,\u201d University of Nevada, Las Vegas, history professor Michael Green said.<\/p>\n
\tThe Stratosphere sees an opportunity as Las Vegas has strayed from promising bargains, and \u201cheaven knows Las Vegas is known for trying to take advantage of opportunities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\t\u201cIt\u2019s ironic that it\u2019s coming as the economy is supposed to be recovering,\u201d Green said.<\/p>\n
No replies were posted for this topic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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