On the Call: MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren discusses how CityCenter has affected other resorts

On the Call: MGM Mirage CEO Jim Murren

MGM Mirage started opening the $8.5 billion joint-venture CityCenter complex on the Las Vegas Strip in December, bringing the city’s already crowded market three hotels, hundreds of condominiums and a casino with about as much space for table games and slots as the company’s Bellagio next door.

Competitors, analysts and observers have asked since last year whether CityCenter will steal business from other resorts, which have been lowering rates and offering promotions to stay full.

QUESTION: No one seems to be seeing any sort of cannibalization from CityCenter or is identifying it. If you can’t identify the specific name, can you identify the specific segments that are being hurt?

RESPONSE: It’s clear, as I’ve said, our occupancies in January were up Strip-wide. Now, would they have been up more if CityCenter were not here? We’ll never know. We do know that a lot of people are coming to Las Vegas to see this project that we have delivered. …

From a standpoint of where we’ve seen an impact, if we’ve seen one at all, it would clearly have to be in the mid-market properties where some of our competitors have moved down the price range and have started to tackle customers that more likely have been going to some of our mid-market properties. It has not been at our luxury properties. And we think that over time, that as the market heals, the competitive nature of Las Vegas will improve a little bit. Make no mistake, we don’t expect the rapid recovery here, but we do see progress.”