How to succeed in business without really trying: SLS edition

If you hang around with enough Vegas rubes, you're bound to hear somebody profess their love for Ellis Island, a small, hole-in-the-wall casino that has two things going for it: Location and affordability.

There is nothing glamorous about Ellis Island. It's reasonably clean, has a decent variety of slot and video poker machines, a few table games, a small sports book and restaurants. It would do just fine as a locals casino three miles from the strip. But tourists from every outpost of the United States will profess their love for it. Why? For starters, it's easily accessible. 

It's not on the strip, but it's a short walk off the strip. It's behind Bally's. That makes it easy for the tourist to access. I'd argue that its location is detrimental to attracting locals, as locals are less inclined to deal with the hassle of going near the strip, typically. There's no shortage of places to gamble, big and small, all over the greater Vegas area. 

But it's just offset enough from the strip that locals frequent the joint. Ellis Island has the best of both worlds, it seems. 

So it has a good location for its modest footprint. And it is a favorite with gamblers near and far for its cheap eats and drinks. 

It's no secret, the 24-hour cafe has some of the cheapest meals you'll find around, and the food is pretty good. And then there's the barbecue joint that's open for dinner only. Great meats at a good price. 

Drinks at the casino bar? Not ridiculous, because the casino bar is nothing trendy or precious. And they brew their own beers, which are always cheap. It's not my favorite micro brew, but they have decent beers, and the price is right. 

Add in frequent food and drink promotions, great incentives and kickbacks for the gamblers and karaoke every night of the week, (the appeal of which I have never understood,) and you have a hopping little casino that shows no sign of slowing down. And they're adding a beer garden.

What does this have to do with SLS? 

I've wondered why nobody with a strip property tries to cater to the downtown crowd. Yes, the Bellagio and its well-coiffed customers are dumping millions per day into the property, and who doesn't want to cater to that crowd? 

I sense that the loss of low-roller joints along the strip have helped drive people downtown. And I've said that Tropicana should find a way to offer the best of both worlds within their classic casino. It won't translate to record profits, but give people a reason to go out of their way, and they will. Brew beers and sell them cheap, a la Ellis Island and downtown's Main Street Station , and people will find their way inside the building. 

Early today the fine folks at vitalvegas.com (it's one guy) reported that SLS, formerly the Sahara, was in a position to be sold. Within hours news broke that it is indeed being sold. Changes are expected at SLS. The name may revert to Sahara, for starters. 

I started this blog in early 2015 when it was announced the Riviera would be closing. I wrote something about the fact that the north end of the strip was basically dead. The Sahara property has never been the epicenter of the strip, and yet it persevered for decades, only to shutter six years ago and re-emerge as the glitzy, isolated SLS a few years later.  

I don't spend much time on the strip, and the fancy new SLS doesn't hold much appeal to me. They put a lot of effort into making it a more upscale, younger skewing destination, and none of that speaks to me. I'm not younger, and there are plenty of places to spend more for a meal than I'd spend at Ellis Island. 

They tried offering entertainment that would attract a young crowd, and I'm not aware that they failed to do so. But that alone doesn't pay the bills. 

Vital Vegas has noted, by tweet I think, that SLS had recently started to market their gambling to locals through some sort of promotional kickback. Locals aren't the most coveted demographic, but given the challenging location, shouldn't enticing the local crowd have been part of the marketing strategy early on? 

It's unreasonable to think that you can run a major casino/hotel in Vegas and expect only the prettiest of the pretty people to darken your doorstep. And if you're on the wrong end of the strip, such as SLS, you'd better find a way to cater to multiple crowds. 

SLS is too big, and too much has been invested, to turn into an oversized Ellis Island. But it's simple economics, I swear. If you accept that plenty of plain folk, like me, don't want a celebrity chef experience while on vacation in Vegas, and can offer them something they can't get everywhere else, such as the barbecue dinner at Ellis Island, you might get them to find their way inside.

Give me, and many people like me some other incentives to spend a few hours, such as plentiful $5 table games, (which I can find off the strip at Orleans, for example,) and reasonable drinks that aren't "crafted" by a bartender, and suddenly I'll be getting discounted room offers to stay at SLS during a future trip, which I'm likely to accept. Happily. 

How do you think the Orleans earned my loyalty? 

SLS is never going to have the benefit of location. It will be decades before we see a continuous line of developed properties reaching SLS, and probably not in my lifetime. 

Without the benefit of proximity to Bally's, the solution is obvious, give gamblers a reason to show up, and give them a reason to stay, whether they're the young, EDM loving crowd (for those too old to know, EDM=noise) or the Ellis Island loving gamblers that kept the Sahara afloat during its final years. 

Bellagio ain't going to offer a $13.99 barbecue plate in any of their restaurants. And Ellis Island isn't going to serve an $18 handcrafted cocktail any time soon.

The future of SLS shouldn't be an either/or proposition.