The Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix is approximately two months away, but hotel room rates have dropped substantially since the high sales rate in November last year. Room prices for the F1 race weekend were the highest the city had seen when bookings were first available.
Current room rates are still higher than average, but have decreased significantly. Industry experts say this is due to automatic settings within booking and management systems adapting to comparatively fewer bookings being made at this time.
Room rates for dates with established events and histories of high hotel occupancy, such as New Year’s Eve, are easier to predict both for industry experts and hotel booking management systems. This will be Las Vegas’ first F1 event since 1982, and it is predicted to generate $1bn for the city.
According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, a four-day stay during the Las Vegas Grand Prix at Planet Hollywood cost $4,336.61 when booked during November 2022, whereas the same stay cost $1,791.18 to book last week, a 59% difference. Caesars Palace and Paris Las Vegas also saw their room prices drop from November 2022 to September 2023 by 47% and 35%, respectively.
Dr. Mehmet Erdem, Professor of Hotel Operations and Technology at UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hospitality, said, “It is not unusual to be overly optimistic about the optimal room rates for such first-time events, especially when comparative predictive analytics data is limited.”
Representatives from F1 have not commented on the decreasing hotel rates, but instead confirmed that tickets are still selling. A Las Vegas Grand Prix spokesperson said in a statement, “We anticipate a full crowd, and we’re excited to introduce one of the most exciting sporting events in the world to the fans of Formula 1 and beyond.”
Yesterday, the American Gaming Association posted its revenue tracker for July, showing an increase of 5.9% from the previous year to $5.39bn total commercial gaming revenue.
With Nevada accounting for $1.4bn of that total, an increase of 6.7% year-on-year, it may not be room rates that bring Las Vegas the most revenue during race weekend. Gaming, food, beverage, retail and other resort spending will still contribute healthily to the city’s economic boost.
