The soft opening of the shuttered Showboat was a dose of much needed, good news in Atlantic City this week. With 800 rooms being made available inside the SHOWBOAT HOTEL, reports say just 200 rooms were sold on Friday night. Could this be a sign of limited demand for overnight lodging along the Boardwalk?
This could give Glenn Straub of REVEL some pause. Will the Florida developer re-think his strategy of putting an additional 500 rooms on the market right now? Will the addition of 1000+ rooms on the Boardwalk, sop up demand… or will it just be seen as excess capacity…. that could lead to a price war? Will Atlantic City soon see $99 room offers?
SHOWBOAT ATLANTIC CITY opening weekend was quiet at the Mardi Gras themed property.
No booze, no gambling. Just really nice rooms, one good place to eat, a cool coffee shop and the classic surfer bar/nightspot.
PHOTOS from DUE FOR A WIN
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While accommodations at Showboat are quite nice, we can’t help but wonder if there’s enough demand right now. Will Bart Blatstein & Tower Investments need to lower rate to create demand? Will a price war break out, affecting pricing levels at other hotels?
Showboat tidbits: Showboat’s pool was not open. Hopeful talk of reviving the Showboat Bowling Center was noted. Many still wonder how Mr Blatstein was able to get around the dueling restrictive covenants ( MUST / MUST NOT be a Casino ). We recall Stockton was NOT able to handle that issue. But….how did Bart pull that one off? Local media too timid to dig into that one.
Down the AC Boardwalk, TAJ MAHAL strikers having substantial impact on guests staying there.
Some of the TAJ restaurants are still closed, including the all-important buffet. TAJ Boardwalk picket lines, while legal, are certainly doing no favors for the Steel Pier amusement attraction right next door.
Chelsea Hotel in Atlantic City to get gaming?
Could the Chelsea Hotel be OKed for some gaming soon? Boutique casinos in Atlantic City could be a good thing. But the BIG casinos hate the idea. No kidding.
Boutique casinos could be built with a fraction of the rooms required for regular license holders, at less than half the cost.
Our 2 cents: Allowing development companies to control too much property can negatively affect Atlantic City’s comeback. If not properly managed, pseudo – monopolies or oligopolies can kill opportunity for a more robust, more competitive marketplace. Ex: Former Trump casinos and Caesars Entertainment are 2 such companies that got too big…too cocky, and got in too deep. They eventually got burned, bad.
Is Atlantic City still allowing a small handful of investors to gobble up prime property? How does AC ensure that these properties (bought at fire-sale prices) see shovels in the ground in the near term? Two such properties that could be bought….and held vacant for years…..are Garden Pier & the old volleyball court. AC can’t let that happen.
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