Firing open the digital Las Vegas Sun today, I saw a breaking new story: New Years Eve packages for Cosmopolitan will be available for $5,600.
Except that I first saw that story on vegastripping.com back on Sunday.
It’s another sign to me of how the nature of news is changing: you’re just as likely to learn about gaming industry happenings from blogs or from the folks in the industry themselves as you are to read about it in the paper.
With not much else on the horizon, the Cosmopolitan opening is big news in Las Vegas: in the past week, I’ve talked to a queue of international reporters about it.
One thing that’s interesting about the Cosmopolitan’s message: back in March, as vegastripping.com and other places reported, the resort’s tagline was “It’s not for everyone.”
Today, though, the focus has shifted. Talking with several Cosmopolitan executives over the past few days while writing a Vegas Seven story about the casino and CEO John Unwin, I was struck by how the message has changed. No one’s saying “It’s not for everyone” these days–now the message is: “We’ve got some things you’ve never seen before, but if you like Las Vegas and want to have fun, you’ll like our property.”
While getting the rundown on the retail options, which will reportedly feature a number of price ranges, I almost felt like bursting into “Comedy Tonight” from A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
So I think the Cosmopolitan is going to be much more inclusive than some think. You can read a mini-essay from the casino’s career page which will give you an idea of what you might find there.
Interestingly, the only place I could find the “it’s not for everyone” phrase today was on the Cosmopolitan career page.
Even the art program, which some have claimed is evidence of an overarching “we’re not for everyone” theme, doesn’t seem to me to be about elitism or snobbishness. Instead, it’s about “art for guest’s sake,” at least according to the casino website.
All of this begs the question: is Las Vegas inherently anti-art, and are projects like Cosmopolitan and CityCenter that promote art prominently going against the grain? I’m not so sure that’s true, and once the dust settles from the opening I’d like to write about the evolution of art in Las Vegas. After all, the Bellagio’s gallery has been open for twelve years, and Wynn/Encore has some incredible pieces of art on its walls. Take a stroll the convention center sometime if you haven’t seen it. Of course, you’ve got the Guggenheim at the Venetian, which would seem to argue against the idea. Suffice it to say that I’m going to investigate this further.