Some Las Vegas hotels are starting to post their weekend room rates for the 2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix. And this time, they’re a little more realistic.
Last year, Vegas hotels got way out over their skis. As soon as the dates for the 2023 F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix were announced, hotels jacked their race weekend prices skyward. But as the race drew near, it was apparent that the demand wasn’t as strong as hoped – especially for the lower tier strip properties.
Just weeks before the 2023 race, hotels were slashing their room rates – some by as much as 80%. As a result, some race fans were able to score enviable last-minute deals, paying lower room rates than an average November weekend in Vegas.
So far, Vegas hotels are being more cautious going into next year’s race. For one thing, many of the hotels aren’t even posting their race weekend prices yet. And the hotels that have, are being more practical.
Available room rates for the race are roughly 50% lower than the prices they announced last year for the 2023 race, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. For instance, in 2022 Paris Las Vegas debuted their race weekend rate at $3,497.60. Right now, Paris is advertising the 2024 race weekend rate at $1,486.19.
Lessons learned
Going into the 2023 F1 race, the assumption was that it would lift all boats. All the hotels. All the casinos. All the shows. All the restaurants. Everyone would benefit. But the benefits of the Las Vegas Grand Prix were more nuanced.
The casinos catering to high rollers had a great weekend. Normally, dealers at the Wynn can expect to take home between $350 -$400 on a Saturday. According to several sources, dealers at the Wynn split roughly $900,000 in tips during the Saturday of race weekend, averaging more than $2,000 per dealer.
Meanwhile, shows and restaurants struggled to compete with F1’s many events. Some of this was exacerbated by F1’s evening race times.
“Many shows simply canceled," Ross Mollison, producer of the popular show “Absinthe,” wrote about the weekend. "Many restaurants faced reduced demand. Our company’s successful shows took a massive hit, which we estimate cost us nearly $500,000 in sales.”
Vegas, however, knows how to adjust. Built on the shifting sands of the desert, it excels at reinventing itself, tapping into the changing needs and demands of its patrons. With one Grand Prix under its belt, Vegas will figure out how to improve its economic odds.
