Hard Rock sees higher revenue on quarterly loss

By Amanda Finnegan

Monday, Nov. 9, 2009 | 12:49 p.m.

The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino saw higher revenue during the third quarter of 2009 with the addition of its Paradise hotel tower and an expanded concert venue, the property reported in a filing today with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Hard Rock said its revenue increased to $48.9 million during the third quarter of 2009 from $45.8 million in the same period of 2008.

Though revenue increased, the property reported a loss of $22.3 million during the quarter compared to a loss of $22 million in 2008.

Casino revenue fell to $9.8 million from $14.3 million during the year-over-year period while hotel revenue remained mostly flat at $10.3 million. Food and beverage revenue increased to $25.4 million during the third quarter of 2009 compared to $20.3 million in the same period of 2008.

The New York-based Morgans Hotel Group, one of Hard Rock’s joint-venture partners, reported last month that occupancy at the Las Vegas property fell from 92.4 percent to 89 percent during the year-over-year period. Average daily room rates fell from $190 to $133, down 29.8 percent from the third quarter of last year.

“Automobile traffic into Las Vegas and air travel into McCarran International airport continues to be adversely impacted, resulting in relatively low casino volumes and demand for hotel rooms,” Hard Rock said in the filing. “Based on these adverse circumstances, we believe that we will continue to experience relatively low hotel occupancy rates and casino volumes as compared to that of prior periods.

In addition to the Paradise Tower and expanded Joint, the hotel-casino’s next expansion, consisting of 374 suites, an additional pool, an expanded casino floor and several new food and beverage outlets, is expected to open by the end of this year, Hard Rock said. The expansion project’s previously announced $750 million price tag has increased to $760 million, today’s filing revealed.