Former Harrah’s Entertainment veep and Santo Gaming founder Anthony F. Santo is six days into his stewarship of Tamares Group‘s downtown Las Vegas casinos. But he’s not putting all his eggs in Tamares’ basket. His company was handed the reins to Grand Sierra Resort & Casino, the former Reno Hilton (left). It was picked up in the fire sale that followed Harrah’s takeover of Park Place Entertainment, for $150 million. Its new owners went belly-up, leaving the property in the custody of the J.P. Morgan firm. Now, JPM covers the casino sector but doesn’t relish joining the ranks of houses like Deutsche Bank that were press-ganged into actual casino ownership because they made some really bad loans (*cough*Cosmopolitan*cough*).
What’s resulted has been a curious structure whereby turnaround firm Catalyst was jobbed in to make the decisions an owner would, while Navegante Group retained oversight of gambling operations. Now Santo — who’s running three casinos in Vegas currently and is an old hand in the Reno market — will supplant Catalyst and oversee the casino overseer. (Navegante CEO Larry Woolf tried to make a go of it at the Tamares casinos but was thwarted by ownership. He and Santo will have some interesting conversations, I’m sure.) But … Santo also has a gaming license, which means his company can participate in the casino’s revenue stream, unlike JPM. Does this mean a smaller piece of the action for Navegante?
That’s one of any number of questions we could put to Mr. Santo. He’s a big fan of reader Jeff_in_OKC‘s on-the-scene report from the Western. Since S&G readers have an above-average level of enthusiasm for downtown Vegas, I’ve proposed to Santo that he sit for a sequel to our “Go Ask Alex” feature, in which a casino CEO takes customers’ questions. He wasn’t averse to the idea. So, what would you like to know from Santo?
Speaking of fire sales, what’s one way to counteract the baneful effects of the Vdara Death Ray (on your bottom-line, that is)? Hold a three-day fare special, offering a 20% discount that’s good through the end of March. Come April, the migratory patterns of the wild douchebag should bring packs of them back to Vegas, so enjoy this bargain while it lasts.
You need to fix your link to Jeff’s post.
So, what would you like to know from Santo?
– Do you believe anything Tamares says to you?
– What exactly is the financing deal with the $20 mil for the Plaza; is it a loan from outside sources; a Tamares cash infusion; an investment by an entity in exchange for equity?
– Does Tamares really intend to reopen any/all of the Plaza towers?
– Given the deteriorating condition of the Vegas Club hotel, is there any chance of capital investment there?
– Is the Plaza still back due on its portion of the Fremont Street Experience fees?
– Are you an employee of the Tamares companies, or are you and the Santo group contracted to run the Vegas properties, similar to the deal in Reno?
– Should we pray for you?
The link to the 3-day special didn’t work.
The Vdara link appears to be allergic to posting on third-party sites. Sorry about that, folks.
As someone who has stayed many times at the Plaza I have built up a very good relationship with many of the staff there. Will I continue to see familiar faces on my future trips?
Are you trying to drive out some of the people who you consider ‘undesirable’ in the process of closing all the hotel and many of the other operations instead of keeping one tower open and continuing business on a quid pro quo status?
Do you really think that $20M will be sufficient to do more than a superficial remake of the Plaza? It seems to me that for every item that has been improved since Jackie sold, two or more items fall further out of repair. Trust me, staying for 5 nights in a 20+ floor hotel tower with one working elevator (out of a bank of 6) can overwhelm everything fun that happens on a trip.
And my host (or the former host assistant/players club card desk attendant who hasn’t yet found a job at another, more secure, casino company) has assured me that I will receive the same service during the renovation process with rooms at the Vegas Club. I find it hard to believe that a 400 room facility can offer the same service to all the guests who previously stayed there along with the regular guests from the 1000+ room Plaza. Then again, the regular list of guests at both places has probably dropped greatly in the last few years due the poor state of repair and inconsistent staffing. Kerr inferred in an earlier comment that the Vegas Club is even more run down than the Plaza and needs work also. So why would former Plaza regulars want to stay there?
I may post more questions if anything else comes up, but I believe that my trip to Vegas in early November will likely be my last staying at the Plaza or any of it’s associated corporate sites.
For ask Alex. What are your thoughts on how the mergers of Harrahs/Park Place and MGM/Circus Circus have affected the Las Vegas market. My follow-up would be in relation to the downtown market, considering HET and MGM have been forced to discount so severely, what options are there for the downtown and independent properties to retain or increase market share?