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4,500 Jobs Lost at Mandalay Resort Properties

LAS VEGAS –– Mandalay Resort Group has eliminated 4,500 jobs in Nevada, or 15 percent of its statewide workforce, in the aftermath of the dramatic decline in travel that has followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

The cuts announced Thursday hit each of the company's 10 Nevada hotel-casinos and range from front-line workers to mid-level managers.

The company's top 100 executives have agreed to reduce their salaries by a total of $5 million in a largely symbolic move, and have no plans to reinstate the lost pay until business results return to their pre-attack levels.

"I think these are some of the hardest decisions our executives have had to make," said Mandalay Resort Group Senior Vice President John Marz. "Any time you talk about people's livelihood and jobs it's very difficult."

Mandalay shares were down 59 cents Thursday to close at $15.51 on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock has lost 35 percent of its value since the terrorist attacks, a figure that mirrors the performance of other local casino companies.

Mandalay operates five Strip casinos - the up-market Mandalay Bay and Luxor, the mid-market Monte Carlo and the price-driven Circus Circus and Excalibur. The company also has casinos in Jean, Laughlin, Reno and Henderson.

No layoffs are planned for the company's Detroit and Elgin, Ill., casinos, where drive-in customers supply the bulk of the business, which Marz said remains brisk.

But it's in Las Vegas, where an estimated 46 percent of the city's 250,000 daily visitors arrive by air, that Mandalay and its competitors have seen a major tourism decline, as hotel and airplane occupancy rates have plummeted to as low as 40 percent, with wary travelers remaining close to home.

Strip giant MGM Mirage has eliminated an estimated 3,000 of its Las Vegas workforce's 38,000 jobs, and more cuts are expected.

Park Place Entertainment has cut at least 1,500 jobs at Paris, Bally's, Flamingo and Las Vegas Hilton.

The Aladdin, The Venetian, Stardust, Riviera and Binion's Horseshoe have also eliminated jobs, placing the citywide layoff figure at 12,000 to 15,000, although no solid number is available.

Tens of thousands of others in the city's 230,000-employee casino industry are working reduced hours.

Organizers at Culinary Local 226 have scheduled meetings for 11 a.m. and 6 p.m. today at the Las Vegas Convention Center to discuss the economic troubles with their 45,000 members.

"We've been trying to figure out different ways to get some of our brothers and sisters back to work," said union staff director D. Taylor. "I'd rather hear it from our members first."

Union leaders could ask their working members to consider cutting their hours to create part-time work for laid-off casino employees.

But no one is certain whether the depressed market conditions will be reversed. Top executives say it could be weeks, it could be months, and if there's a second terrorist attack all projections are off.

In the coming days, the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority is expected to launch a new marketing plan for the city that will attempt to reach people in Southern California, Arizona and other relatively close markets.

Meantime, Mandalay Resort Group has been marketing via e-mail to longtime customers who live within a 90-minute flight radius from Las Vegas.

"Within an hour and a half people seem more comfortable," he said. "Why? I have no idea. They feel safer on short commuter flights than long hauls."

The company's other targeted markets include: Dallas, Denver, Houston, Northern California, Portland, Salt Lake City and Washington state.

In recent days, reservations for Mandalay Resort Group's Nevada hotel rooms have surpassed cancellations for the first time since the terrorist acts.

Yet, business remains weak for the wholesale and convention markets, key providers of Las Vegas travelers, who are staying away from the high-end Mandalay Bay and the low-end Circus Circus.

"It tells me people are a little more concerned than just about travel. They're concerned about the economy," said Marz, a 30-year veteran of the Las Vegas market. "I have never seen anything like this, never."

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