What a $6.25 Billion Sale in Vegas Says About the Future of Convention Hotels
Skift Take
What Las Vegas convention travel downturn? The $6.25 billion Las Vegas Sands sale last week is more a testament to confidence in the meetings and event travel rebound than it is to the current business climate.
Early Check-In
Editor’s Note: Skift Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill brings readers exclusive reporting and insights into hotel deals and development, and how those trends are making an impact across the travel industry.
At least one investment firm doesn’t think the Las Vegas convention business is dead.
Las Vegas Sands Corp. announced last week plans to sell its Venetian Resort and neighboring Sands Expo and Convention Center in Sin City to investment firm Apollo Global Management for $6.25 billion. The deal values the real estate of the resort and convention center at $4 billion while the operations cost $2.25 billion.
If anyone was expecting to find a bargain on a Las Vegas resort or convention center during the pandemic, the Venetian and Sands Expo sale wasn’t it.
By comparison, MGM Resorts International’s sale leaseback deal with Blackstone in early 2020 valued the MGM Grand at $2.5 billion and Mandalay Bay at $2 billion. A similarly structured MGM-Blackstone deal for the Bellagio cost $4.25 billion in 2019.
It may be a bit of a head-scratcher that Las Vegas Sands scored the kind of sales figure one would expect during pre-pandemic times instead of nearly a year into a pandemic tha
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