Glen Chee wrote:
<< Their last day is May 31. It is now owned by Marriott. >>
The Siena will be staying open through June, it turns out. The events calendar implies that there may not be any games the last two days of the month. These days may be reserved for cashing chips and such only. The Siena continued to send mailers for June, with hotel and free play offers. Note that these are repeatable multiple times during the month. If you got an offer, get it while you can, I say. Still doing car drawings and other promos.
It looks like the monthly loss rebate deal will no longer be in effect for June, but I can't say for sure. I know that the rebate vouchers for the past couple of months had much earlier expiration dates than in the past. Presumably, they want to wrap up all business by June 30.
There still hasn't been any announcement of the identity of the buyer, just that it's a "hospitality group" that will work in "a partnership with an international hotel and resort group." I don't know if the information that it's Marriott will turn out to be correct.
An announcement on the mailer says that the casino will cease operations at noon on June 30. The information leaking out about the future of the casino has remained uncertain and vague, but word is that it's most likely the hotel will reopen without a casino. Early on, the buyers were supposedly in talks with the Carano family (operators of the Eldorado and Silver Legacy) about managing the casino, but I don't know if those went anywhere.
There is talk of a complete remodeling. I don't know why anyone would need to remodel the hotel rooms. They were redone just a few years ago, very nicely, and they're in beautiful shape. But people seem to feel compelled to burn money in these situations. Of course, turning the ground floor space into something other than a casino will be a challenging job. There'll probably be a lot of dust for months. If I'd been the one who put in the Johnny Rockets franchise, I'd be really, really pissed right now.
This information comes from a combination of announcements by the Siena and employee chatter.
Frankly, I don't know which would be the faster way to lose money--running the Siena as a casino and hotel, or as a "non-gaming hotel." Unfortunately, it's in a really bad location. And IMHO, Reno still has a substantial excess capacity of both casino floor space and hotel rooms. Reno is still working through the effects of the big Indian casinos opening in California, and possibly less public appetite for gambling post-recession.