Dive Brief:
- In the first quarter of 2024, Wynn Resorts’ operating revenues increased approximately 31% year over year to $1.86 billion, the company detailed in an earnings report published Tuesday.
- In Las Vegas, where the company runs Wynn Las Vegas and Encore, Wynn’s operating revenues increased 8.5% year over year to $636.5 million in Q1. Wynn’s Las Vegas operating revenues were down quarter over quarter by approximately 8.7%.
- During a Tuesday call with analysts, Wynn CEO Craig Billings attributed first-quarter growth in Las Vegas to “action” in the market in February, including Super Bowl LVIII and Lunar New Year. He said in the earnings report the business is “well positioned to deliver continued long-term growth.”
Dive Insight:
Wynn saw strong performance in its Las Vegas segment in the first quarter “led by 21% growth in hotel revenue, along with healthy volumes in the casino,” Billings said during the call. He added that the “combination of Super Bowl and Chinese New Year drove all-time record EBITDA” during the month of February.
The Super Bowl, specifically, drove strong hotel performance city-wide, with the game resulting in the highest weekend ADR ever for Las Vegas hotels.
Overall in the quarter, Wynn posted $246.3 million in adjusted EBITDAR, up 6.3% year over year, according to the company’s earnings report.
Following the concentrated action in February, Billings said top-line trends in Las Vegas remained “healthy” into April, with RevPAR up year over year.
On the heels of these results, Billings said he is “incredibly bullish about the future of our company.”
“In Las Vegas, we remain at the pinnacle of the market with tremendous demand for what we offer,” Billings said during the call, adding later that the Sphere and the city’s NFL team, the Raiders, continue to drive travel demand to the market.
During the call, Wynn Las Vegas President Brian Gullbrants noted that group demand is particularly strong, with the property on pace “to have [its] best year ever” for group.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, Las Vegas led all other markets in group business recovery, according to findings from Knowland and Amadeus Hospitality Group.
