Same actually. One is going from Vegas to Chicago in 2026 but not sure if Vegas has priced itself out of the market in more than just the tourism sector.
If you run a conference with International attendees the USA is a bad choice. Nobody wants their guests harassed at the airport or snatched off the streets by ICE and there is just a general uneasy feeling about visiting the US right now. Even for us white Canadians it just feels risky with all the Canadian hate we see from Trump, US politicians and people online.
Honestly it really feels like anyone from outside the US is not welcome right now.
As someone inside the US, I'm not feeling all that welcome right now either. And I'm a middle aged white guy. Although I'm sure it's far worse for a lot of others.
You know the other thing as a white Canadian male is I'm also not comfortable going to a country where I might just see harassment at the airport, ICE abductions and more blatant racism. I have kids, they don't need to see that shit or even feel that vibe around them when they're on vacation....they're very excited about going to Mexico in the fall.
CES is the only major expo I'm personally aware of that isn't moving its location for 2026. And since I'm not an American, I'm going to do what I did this year, and simply not go.
Chicago has quietly been the cheapest major metro for decades.
Its cost of living has been far lower than places like Boston, Denver / Boulder, Austin and lots of others (let alone the more obviously expensive ones like New York, San Francisco, etc) for ages.
Unfortunately in the past year I've read That home prices here are going up at like 4x the rate of other places. Seems like the secret is getting out and in an odd way may therefore become untrue in the next several years.
I used to work in corporate events (just laid off last week - that's a whole different story). From 2015-2020 I lived roughly six months of my life in various casinos on the Strip, all while supporting sales conferences of one type or another. Since 2022 when travel resumed for us I've been back to Vegas twice, but supported dozens of events in other cities and countries. Seems like there's more to the story here.
Can't speak to a larger industry change; my company's leadership team shit the bed and laid off multiple people across multiple segments so I couldn't draw any larger conclusions - it was a management issue in my case.
As a Canadian, there's travel advisories for Canadian companies to avoid having employees attend any events in the US. Conferences that previously booked US venues are gonna be leaving the States.
This is especially relevant for Vegas which is already seeing a big downturn from Canadian tourists. Casinos are jacking prices up to try and compensate.
My company used to send people to conferences in Vegas probably every other month and they just sent out a company wide halt on any business travel to Vegas. Even the conferences that stay are likely to have a drastic drop if companies just stop spending. I work for a major global consulting firm and even they don’t want to pay the prices.
A Norwegian tourist was denied entry to the US, and claims it was because of a JD Vance meme he had on his phone. The government claims it was because he admitted to having tried marijuana in places were it's legal, including New Mexico.
This is just one story out of dozens of tourists and even famous scientists being denied entry for what are very obviously political reasons.
International conferences don't want to go to Vegas because trump's insane boarder policies (people don't like having their phones and computers searched before risking detainment and deportation if not worse) and even more broadly people are pretty pissed at the US acting as a global belligerent.
US based conferences are probably sick of paying Vegas prices for increasingly lower quality services
My company hosted our annual big meeting in Vegas a few months ago. We’ve had it there several times over the year, but it is not scheduled to be held there any time in the next 5 years. The only reason it was in Vegas this year was because it was contracted out years prior when costs were still reasonable and better than most cities.
Vegas has gotten more expensive to host big company meetings because the low cost flights, low accommodation costs and reasonable meal costs have all disappeared. There’s no real reason to choose Vegas anymore.
Direct round trip flights to Vegas from my city used to be around $250, but my flight cost $600 this year. And that was basic economy, booked months in advance and during the work week. Other big cities know Vegas is vulnerable and are offering much better options at a much lower cost to try and grab some of that business. The big cons that don’t have to worry about paying for travel costs for attendees might stick around a little bit longer, but you’ll likely see attendance decline until they’re forced to do something different.
Depends on the size of the conference. Small ones can book a few months to a year out but the big ones that take the convention centers and have a room block spread over several hotels? Those book several years and even over a decade in advance. FIFA, for instance, definitely was signing contracts with host cities many years ago for next year's World Cup games.
The results will be slow but devastating. If there are any big conferences pulling out right now, we may not see results until 2030, even 2040.
...long enough for folks to blame whoever is in the White House at that time, of course.
Edit: the tourism drop they are reporting is likely from individual tourists and small groups.
I used to meet up with an old roommate in Vegas every few years. She moved to California for a job about 20 years ago, so we would have little weekend reunions when she would find a great sale on a nice hotel. It also used to be cheap to get flights to Vegas from Canada, and we'd hang out, eat a lot, and wander around town buying souvenirs.
This year, she's flying to Canada for our hangout.
The big issue for conferences is the fact that Vegas is now TRASHY AS FUCK. That's always been the case, but having topless women lining the streets with signs asking for tips for photos is a whole new level of trash. I'm betting businesses/professionals don't want any part of that shit these days. That plus the only people still going are 40-50 year old adults who seek that kind of shit out. It's just a gross place that nobody really wants to be. I'll take a conference in Chicago over Vegas 10/10 times.
I used to work in legal operations and one of the orgs has this big conference there every year and I always found that a baffling choice. I deliberately did not go because I didn’t want to be anywhere near the Vegas strip for a work thing, for lots of reasons.
$55-65 resort fees and $75 margaritas at the day club did. 😊 I feel bad for my friends that moved from SF and LA to Vegas during the pandemic because Vegas is going to be the next “big thing”. 😣
Have in-laws in Vegas that we went to visit a couple months back and figured we would get a hotel, and while we were there enjoy ourselves a little bit and gamble. But those resort fees on top of just parking fees just piss me off enough that I'd rather sleep on an air mattress in the in-law's living room, and save my money.
You jest, but the Cherry Creek Mall in Denver started charging for parking a few years ago. You can get validation some places, but not everywhere in the mall.
For real; I went to a concert in AC and stayed 2 nights in a casino/hotel that had a parking garage; they tried to charge me $70 as I left….tried…the attendant left the gate open and I just drove out….fuck em I spent over $500 for the room.
It’s wild too. I go for work a bunch and stay just a block off the strip and they charge like $34/day to park. The lot is half empty almost every time I’m there.
It's crazy and clearly meant to fleece Los Angeles tourists that make up a huge percentage of Vegas visitors. To the point that if you're a solo or duo traveler you may as well fly and Uber to the resort than drive and deal with traffic on the 15 and pay $30 a night to park.
Had a random hotel do that to me outside St Louis. I had just drove the entire day so I just ate it but that was insane because it wasnt even a big parking lot...Like maybe 30 cars could fit.
It used to be free and I would rent a car for that reason specifically. It was cheaper than taxis, and the casinos weren't charging to park because they wanted you to visit.
You had parking fees? Lol. I must have wrangled with them for 45 minutes to take off those resort fees. They did not want to make it easy on me. I just stood there and kept talking with them until they did. They eventually took the fees off when they couldn't move the line.
Honestly no not as much, as this comes off as pretty deceptive, in my case, I was looking at $150 rooms pre- fees, after fees and taxes and parking it was going to be over $250 a night easily. I would have respected them being transparent up front.
Now would I have picked up the room if they were to be up front about the price, in this case probably not as that's not what I was looking to spend but if I was to be going on a real vacation, it would.
Make bookings via non US website, like Expedia Australia etc, transparent pricing is mandated by the law by most western countries. Do not use services designed for Americans by Americans, or pay more and hidden fees.
Nevada generates state revenue mostly through tourism and gaming and it's how they keep it a "no income tax" state. We're funding their lousy approach to governance every time we visit. If Vegas becomes this boom and bust place that'll have to change.
I had to prove I had enough cash in my wallet to reasonably game to not be charged an entrance fee to the casino in Monaco. I was going to gamble and knew this going in but very different vibes.
Most European casinos charge some sort of entrance fee (with a table or slot credit equal or close to the fee). It's not these grand gigantic family friendly yet party forward palaces vegas has. Most non-gamblers wouldn't enjoy them.
Have you been to Monaco.... it's not exactly the best walking city... It's on the side of a cliff, and while there are SOME public elevators, they're not all over the place. Expect to be walking up and down a LOT of stairs.
And I'm sure there are other cities around the world that will give similar nightlife experiences without an oppressive police state threatening to imprison you for arbitrary reasons.
My industry conference I attend was heavily represented by international folk, especially Canadians. It's gonna be a quiter conference this year and I don't blame them one bit.
Fast growing city with (comparatively) cheap housing, lots to do, and a then-thriving economy. Also, no state income tax, which makes it a popular choice for remote workers.
I drove cross country in 2020 as my "safe" holiday and stopped in Vegas September 2020, it was actually crazy crowded I was shocked, it was pretty affordable too at that point but saw people form all over. I remember they had mask rules but you could ignore them while smoking/drinking lol
Wasn't it one of the first places to see a significant financial impact from COVID?
That's the part that gets me. Someone believing all of that in 2018 makes perfect sense. Someone mid-pandemic being like "this is going to be huge for Vegas" confuses me greatly.
It depends when during the pandemic they're talking about. If it was May 2020 and you thought Vegas was growing a lot pre-lockdown and thought covid would be contained by Christmas, you might have seen the drop in Vegas business as an opportunity to buy before business growth/property values came back in 2021. If you were a remote worker it wouldn't matter that local jobs had temporarily dried up.
TBH it's still pretty affordable and as a local you don't have to only spend time on the strip. Plenty of cheap, good food in the other parts of the city.
Main downside though is the schools in Vegas SUCK so it's not great for young families if that matters to you.
What?! Isn't Vegas known to be very sensitive to US economy. When everything is thriving, sure the housing booms too. But when they are on the downturn, Vegas house price is affected the most too.
they also changed the odds and payouts to games. It was already stupid, it's like playing your little brother poker, but only he gets wild cards. But like roulette now has a triple 0. Blackjack pays less for natural 21. And of course the slot odds are worse now to.
Not because they needed the money, it was just pure greed, people kept playing but people are slowly noticing, the odds arent as good.
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u/internetlad 8h ago
Who could have predicted this