Hooters Hotel & Casino Opens This Weekend
The Hooters restaurant chain is booming throughout the United States and they have decided to make a foray into the casino world. While, chicken wings and scantily clad waitresses have come to identify the chain, the company believes that a hotel & casino could soon become their flagship operation. Company executives are banking on the success of their restaurants and the demographic they attract, to make the venture a success. Richard Langois, vice president of Hooter’s marketing stated that “when you look at the profile of an average Vegas visitor and you compare that to our main audience and Hooters restaurants, that’s a lot of crossover.” He went on to add, “each year about 60 million customers go through 400 domestic stores. If we get a small portion of that business when they came to Vegas, this is going to be the busiest casino on the Las Vegas Strip.”
Hooters will not be constructing a new facility, but rather taking over and renovating Hotel San Remo. After 17 years, the Hotel San Remo threw in the towel because of lack of business. The Hooters restaurant chain is a booming business throughout the U.S. But some question whether their hotel and casino can keep up with the bigger neighbors on the Las Vegas Strip.
The casino has 656 rooms and suites, nine restaurants and bars including three large stages for live entertainment. Hooters will also have nearly 700 slot and video poker machines and 32 table games. It’s smaller than its neighbors, but gaming experts think the Hooters hotel and casino has a lot of potential.
Richard Saber is a writer with Gaming Today magazine. He says the Hooters hotel may be a pint-size version of the Palms and the Hard Rock. But its marketing strategy is just the same. “The Hotel San Remo was a nice place, but that was Las Vegas twenty-five years ago. Times have changed, Vegas has changed. The people spending money are the early 20 to 30 to 40 year olds. That’s where the money comes from.”
Langois agreed, “When you look at the profile of an average Vegas visitor and you compare that to our main audience and Hooters restaurants, that’s a lot of crossover.”
Prime real estate and an aggressive marketing strategy have gaming experts placing the odds in the Hooters hotels favor. The hotel is slated to open at 9 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 2 following an impressive fireworks display near the Strip.
Article by Bob Yausie