The Worst Event Spaces in Las Vegas

Las Vegas is a who-you-know-town

It doesn't matter that Las Vegas is such a unique, irrepressible, exciting location, or that the stories of the magnates who built their wildest dreams as resort properties here have been the stuff of movies, legend and lore for generations.

It doesn't matter, that is, if you're planning an event to which you will invite your guests, clients, customers or colleagues. That legendary flare will likely have little to do with the selection of event facilities offered by the amazing town and its legendary hotel casino properties. Most, in fact, will put you to sleep, and empty your wallet.

There are exceptions as unique as the town itself. But most event producers will never see them. I'll come back to those.

The three venue types best avoided are also the most common

1. The Banquet Box. These are the rooms allocated by the hotels for events. They are almost as exciting as Walmart, and, nearly always, windowless boxes off hallways leading to other windowless boxes, half a mile down a maze of cloned corridors from what may otherwise be an exciting resort. Banquet boxes are generally devoid of character, art, or anything to make them memorable. It's up to you to make them interesting, and they'll charge you and arm and a leg to bring anything inside. The bar tenders and servers of their rubber chicken menus tend to have customer service skills on par with mess hall servers in prison. The bars look like they were designed at the PTA meeting, or a church bake sale. Most who might attend events are so tired of these, you can't pay them to come to an event in such a location. If they do, they don't stay.

2. The Restaurant Private Room, or the Privatized Restaurant. A little more interesting than a banquet box, restaurants similarly hold you captive to their menu and its pricing. Most who hold events at such venues suddenly realize they paid a fortune to gather everyone at a place where no one would be excited to go to dinner. The normal complaint is that they lack soul, connection to the event, or importance to the attendees. Put yourself in the place of your guest. If they could go to the restaurant on their own, how exciting is the event?

3. The Banquet Hall. Ironically, the most boring event space is almost always that which was specifically created for the purpose of being event space. Almost always someone's wife's cousin's idea of party space, these tend to be devoid of personality. Banquet halls are always furnished with banquet furniture, lighted with banquet lighting, and serving banquet food. It's like the banquet box above, but without any exciting property half a mile down the hall. This is why they so often go out of business. Run.

Create the event everyone wants to attend

Your event is an opportunity to attract guests who might otherwise not have exposure to your offerings. It's your chance to show your company culture, your style, your taste, your ability to entertain. Equally important, you can probably have a much more interesting elegant event, outside of the canned banquet industry, for less.

Think about it: Would you be excited about attending another person's or company's event at any of the above three venue types? Or would you rather they had used some imagination, attached to some culture, art, history, or adventure?

If your event involves charging attendees admission, do you really want them getting another rubber chicken dinner, while seated on plastic banquet chairs? Must we suffer through another wedding DJ's set? Why is it the people you would never want to see dance, always dance? Do you want guests to leave trying to figure out how to "un-see" the experience?

Take a step back for a moment, and decide what you want from your event. Why are you are producing it to begin with? Dream up the perfect event, as if money were no object. What would the experience be? What location, design, cuisine, entertainers? How would guests be dressed? What would they leave talking about? How would they feel? Write all that down. Only then should you dial it back to your budget and timeline. Then, you can finally contemplate event venues.

Las Vegas has over 5,000 event spaces, and almost 170,000 hotel rooms. Four of the ten largest event venues in the world are located here, as well as the highest grossing nightclubs and restaurants in the U.S. The competition for you guests' attention is fierce. Step it up, or sit alone in your empty, overpriced banquet hall. Don't half-ass it, in Sin City.

Wild and daring imaginations built the Las Vegas Strip. Use your imagination to make your event legendary.

Stop making it easy or convenient. Start making it epic. I've surprised guests with rooftop dinners, had black tie events in famous mansions owned by celebrities or mysterious characters, gathered guests in everything from palaces to yachts, to biker clubhouses, to historic theaters, to museums housed in architectural masterpieces, at a dozen countries on 5 continents. Hundreds of previous attendees inquire as to when my next invitation will come. Make sure yours do the same.

The astoundingly generic and mundane nature of the banquet and restaurant industry event space in Las Vegas provides an opportunity for you to break out of the pack. Las Vegas is my home town, where I've lived for over 55 years. Many times I have taken advantage of its capacity to outstrip anywhere else I've held events. I have had some legendary ones here, where all sorts of celebrities and glitterati are joined by quietly visiting heads of state and other dignitaries. Don't let the stereotypes fool you, in Las Vegas you can book all sorts of unique situations, attracting guest lists like nowhere else. The locations don't have to be boring. Get creative and explore. Your following will thank you.

• Historic buildings, sites, ruins
• Mysterious mansions
• Unexpected productions in extraordinary places
• Breathtaking outdoor sites
• Priceless museums and collections
• Sites of legendary happenings in the past

• Vintage restaurants and saloons
• Classic vehicles - cars, trains, planes, yachts etc.

• Stunning art galleries
• Edgy, hidden, industrial mob warehouses
• The spectacular hidden gems of the Las Vegas Strip

In Las Vegas, outside the banquet and restaurant industries, in the lesser known bespoke event world, you can line up the ultimate event design, spectacular entertainment and world class catering. There is no excuse for not shining. Stop causing yawns, and start taking their breath away.

Ask The Author

Jonathan Warren has lived in Las Vegas for over 55 years. He is the Honorary Consul of the Principality of Monaco, Chairman of the Liberace Foundation and 'who you know' in Las Vegas. Click below, comment or subscribe to premium here for specific recommendations.