F1: What softness in sales? Vegas GP off the charts
Wynn Resorts Ltd. expects to generate the most revenue for a three-day period in its history next week when the Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix rolls into town.
Wynn CEO Craig Billings and Wynn Las Vegas President Brian Gullbrants said Thursday that unlike some of the company’s rivals, Wynn has seen no decline in room rates or interest in the inaugural race scheduled Nov. 16-18.
Executives made their remarks during the company’s third-quarter earnings call with investors.
In response to an analyst’s question about whether demand had fallen off as other resorts have reported, Billings said it hasn’t because the anticipated market is right in the company’s wheelhouse.
“I’ve heard on a couple of our competitors’ calls commentary around expectations coming down within the market,” Billings said. “I will tell you that our expectations for F1 haven’t changed one bit because, as you rightly pointed out, we knew that it was our customer base that would be at that event from the beginning.
“We have more front money and credit lined up for this event than any event in the history of Wynn Las Vegas,” he said, “and we’ve had some doozies before. So this is shaping up to be a great event for us. We’re incredibly excited. We’re not talking (specific details) about (cash flow) uplift. But it’s going to be good.”
Gullbrants, a member of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority board of directors which helped bring the race to Las Vegas, added that revenue records could fall.
“I’d say F1’s really coming in nicely right now for all areas of our business,” he said. “We should exceed actually our all-time hotel revenue as well, our hotel revenue record by about 50 percent for the three-day period. And as Craig mentioned, the gaming revenue and credits are looking quite promising, some of the best we’ve ever seen. So I think we’re looking forward to an exciting and exceptional race week here. We barely even put any rooms on public sale. I mean, we’ve had robust demand.”