Las Vegas Weekly

February 2, 2009 · 7:35 AM

Photo Gallery: X girls entertain at Hard Rock; Super Bowl numbers down

By Robin Leach

Shakeerah of X performs at the Hard Rock Hotel for Super Bowl XLIII festivities.

Photo: Frank Christian

Dozens of pre-Super Bowl parties were canceled in Tampa, Fla., including Playboy and Sports Illustrated magazines’ famous pregame bashes -- and even private jet flights in and out of the airport there were way down from last year! NBC reported it sold out its prized Super Bowl commercials just 48 hours before the broadcast; in the past, ads have sold out a year in advance. Longtime advertiser General Motors canceled its ad plans altogether!

The economic doom and gloom is cutting deep even among high-rollers, and the same story was true here on the Strip. However, to brighten the mood and take guests minds’ off the malaise, our eXotic and eXciting X girls from the topless cabaret show at the Flamingo entertained at two Hard Rock Hotel venues and raised the temperatures of partygoers.

Our Convention & Visitors Authority statisticians estimate that we had 1 percent fewer visitors than last year: 295,000. That’s still 20,000 more people than a normal Las Vegas weekend, but the money spent here at less than $110 million was nearly 7 percent less than the last Super Bowl.

In 2008, Vegas hotels hit a 94.5 percent occupancy level, but this weekend, it was less, with at least two Strip hotels cutting room rates to as low as $40 last minute as the weekend started. Another hotel eliminated plans for its Super Bowl party and doubled it up with its sister hotel’s festivities next door!

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