30 Days in the Dessert

Trip Start Jul 10, 2007
1
32
Trip End Ongoing


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow

Flag of United States  , Nevada,
Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Jose Luis and I just realized that we have been in Las Vegas for 1 month and it has started to feel like home. Thanksgiving dinner was at Dirk Hoffer's home (Exec. Corp Chef Station Casinos). The food was abundant, the conversation flowing and inspiring. The dozen souls that found themselves at his house were all from the Hospitality industry so you can imagine we had a lot to talk about. I made my famous Streudel with pears and apples, cranberries while Jose Luis baked some of his artichoke foccacia. Nary a crumb was left.

In the meantime Jose Luis and I have gone on some interviews and are so impressed by the hotels, casinos and restaurants. Glamour, the Classics and Style are balanced with Kitch, Extremes and Opulence. Whether you want a $1.99 Las Vegas shrimp cocktail (they are still to be found) or a $198 Kobe Steak, watch a $200 Cirque du Soleil Show or see a freebie lounge act, there is something for everybody.

Although all cities are prone to some harsh economic times, we are still seeing a tremendous amount of people in and around the Strip and we can only hope that this exciting city will be able to pull itself up and continue on the growth pattern it started a number of years ago. Construction is still occurring, albeit in less numbers than the past couple of years.

We applaud that some of the newer hotels will continue to avoid the pitfalls of today's problems by focusing on local clientele as a solid base for their casino, dining facilities and accommodations. This should allow them to weather the storm and remain on solid financial ground. Each time we opened a restaurant and even our Inn in New Hampshire, we made a conscious decision to attract the local customers, so that the seasonal pinches would not be felt as severely.

We have been interviewing with a number of properties and look forward to joining their ranks shortly. Tomorrow it is time to buy the Christmas Tree in anticipation of the holiday and we have thankfully located all our ornaments.
Print this entry Las Vegas hotels