High Roller offering Ride ticket + open bar from 4-7pm nightly (For Locals Only)

High Roller has been trying everything they can to draw business. Locals currently get $5 off ride tickets and 50% off on Tuesdays. Now High Roller is announcing a new Happy Hour that runs daily from 4-7pm. You get to ride the wheel as well as take advantage of an open bar within your ride pod for the flat rate of $24.95. It looks like you have to show Nevada ID to qualify for the "Happy Hour". I guess they'll wheel bars into the pods (maybe designate every 4-5th as pods with bars installed) and then give wristbands to the locals to qualify for the free drinks. Not sure how they'd do this otherwise. And I wonder if they would shift Happy Hour to an earlier time as it gets darker. Maybe 2-4pm starting in September?

The Linq deals for locals

Here's the part about the High Roller

The other Tuesday discounts are pretty good too.
Buy 1 Get 1 Free Grande Frappucinos at Starbucks
Free mini cupcake with 1 scoop of ice cream at Sprinkles
10-15% off most stores at Linq (as high as 20-25% off some)

 

Great idea....hold it a sec...what happens if you need to get rid of some of those free drinks...uh oh...

 

Finish your current drink and use it as a vessel to hold your kidney's hard work?

 

Cool.

Bill

 

What are they going to do with this thing after they drastically cut back on the hours of operation, and it still doesn't break even? Maybe sell and ship it to Europe where they are popular? Can London use two? Las Vegas almost had that happen. Why do they think the locals are their salvation? Many residents say they stay off the strip except for when they have out of town company. Those that do come down on their own, usually do it for the restaurants. Not a Ferris Wheel.

 

Plus, from the reviews I have read I have not seen any that said they would do it more than once. So once they tap out whatever % of locals that want to do it once then who is going to ride the thing?

 

I don't know if I'm a regular local, but I do enjoy trying new restaurants on the strip, eating at buffets, bowling at Brooklyn Bowl, and seeing shows. I especially appreciate locals discounts and do decide what to do on my "one day staycation" based on locals offers. So I can see why local offers exist (2-for-1 Penn and Teller, 50% off Carnival World Buffet, 2-for-1 Paris Eiffel Tower, 30% off Blue Man Group, etc). Also, I get lots of friends and family coming to town pretty often and I usually play host and tour-guide. Often, the places I choose are places where I can take advantage of a local offer.

Anyway, more on topic, it's possible the success of the wheel is not just to turn a profit on admissions. The wheel is a new symbol of Las Vegas and anchors the Linq shopping and entertainment district. Even if you don't ride the wheel, you might walk down Linq to take a look at it up close. And that in turn gives business to the shops at Linq (which means they will renew their leases next year). And it's difficult to quantify what positive influence on business the wheel has brought to The Quad and Flamingo. It's possible the success of the wheel will be seen as an overall increase in profitability for the whole area. I think about it like the Bellagio fountains. The fountains themselves do not generate profit (except for any shared cost the restaurants along the lake might pay), but it's good for the brand anyway. It's an iconic piece of Vegas. It's something people remember and talk about when they get home.

I would love to know the hourly operating cost of the wheel, from power consumption, maintenance, manufacturer service contract, insurance, and staffing. I have a feeling it's less than it seems. Each person who steps on that wheel pays the salary+benefits of 1-2 employees. If that person buys a drink, a picture, and a frame for the picture, suddenly they've broken even on 3-4 employees for that hour. A group of 4-6 friends could easily account for the salaries of everyone working the front ticketing/entrance are and another family of 2-3 would pay for the staff on the load/unload platforms for that hour. And I bet they do occasionally book special events, which is essentially pure profit because those events don't really change staffing costs and the wheel is already turning anyway.

As for me, they will get my money on a 50% off Tuesday. And if I like it, I'll bring visitors there too.

 

Nice reply, ah! I agree with you. I loved the HR, and will probably get on it again, though I am afraid of heights! The smooth ride did not really bother me. I really love the Linq area and, like you, believe that the HR attracts people to that area and will bring in the money that way.

 

Personally I have no desire as a local to ride this thing. I haven't spoken to one person in my neighborhood or the local joints that has any desire to do this as well. I asked my buddies coming into town next week about it - "we dont have time to waste on nonsense." So while there is a market for it, I think it pretty small from what I see.

 

CET spent $175 million to build it and I don't think they did it without something planned to recover it's cost of development. If that recovery isn't there, the pro-forma for the whole project has to be adjusted. You can't expect to pass that lack of income through to the merchants nor make it up in percentage rent. They may give it more time to see if it can support itself, but if not, then something else must be done. I'm sure they promised a ton of foot traffic to the retailers on that end of the Linq, from the wheel's draw, but its not happening. Lets hope it's temporary. They can't afford to loose more income by giving the merchants rent relief to stay, and they can't afford to float operational expenses forever.

 

I did a quick search and couldn't find anything. Does anyone know how bad this thing is doing from a ridership perspective? I mean is it a colossal failure or mildly disappointing or somewhere in between?

 

My sense is that it is very close to a colossal failure in terms of ticket sales, but I also guess its mere presence is driving traffic into the linq/quad/flamingo which will be hard for CET to quantify

 

I wonder how they missed the mark by so much. I would guess it is a combination of them overpricing it, from what I have read it is a nice ride but not that exciting and the view is not that much better from what you can get other places. I am going to Vegas in August for the first time since it opened. It is on my list of things to maybe do but by no means a must do. But even at say $10 is it that much of a draw with so many other things to do?