Hotel rates rise as EDC returns to Las Vegas Valley this weekend

Southern Nevada’s resorts are gearing up for another special-events bonanza this weekend when Electric Daisy Carnival fans pour into the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for a three-night electronic dance music festival.

Travelers, on average, will be asked to pay more than $300 a night at motels and hotels.

It’ll be the 11th EDC in Las Vegas and the 26th in the series that began in Los Angeles in 1997.

Room rates soared across the valley in anticipation of EDC’s Friday arrival.

A representative for Insomniac, the organization that puts on the festival, won’t say how many people are expected to attend this year’s sold-out event, but past shows, including the most recent one in late October — postponed three times by precautions ordered in response to the COVID-19 pandemic — brought in 150,000 elaborately costumed fans all three nights.

“I don’t have an exact number, that’ll come after the show, but it’ll pretty much be in line with previous years,” a festival publicist said.

Two of the biggest names in electronic dance music will debut their new collaborative project at what has become the biggest electronic dance music event in North America.

Superstar DJ-producers Kaskade and Deadmaus will perform live as KX5 for the first time at the return of the event.

Other EDM prime movers playing EDC 2022 include Illenium, Alesso, David Guetta and Morten Present: Future Rave, DJ Snake, Porter Robinson, Zedd, Eric Prydz, Dillon Francis, a DJ set from Grimes, Tiesto, who’s played every EDC in Las Vegas, and hundreds more.

Rising rates

Hotels and motels across the city, now used to increasing prices to accommodate thousands of fans for special events thanks to three blockbusters in the month of April, are ready to do it again. Rates soared for two weekends of concerts by the Korean pop band BTS, the National Association of Broadcasters trade show and the NFL Draft.

A survey of room rates listed on hotels.com conducted Tuesday afternoon determined that the average rate among 84 properties for Friday and Saturday — the dates of the first two nights of EDC — was $382.56 a night.

Rates can fluctuate up to Friday.

The average daily room rate for the month of May 2021 was $126.91, according to researchers with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. The rate in October, the last time EDC was here, was $173.68 a night.

In May 2019, the last time EDC was in town in its usual time slot, the rate was $140.52 a night.

In the upcoming weekend, no properties listed on hotels.com are offering rooms for less than $150 a night. The least expensive digs could be found at Sam’s Town, $194 a night.

Among the highest rates that will be paid by guests are at Palazzo’s Prestige suites, $836 a night; Wynn and Encore Las Vegas, $799 a night each; The Cromwell, $799; The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, now under MGM Resorts International management, $770; Four Seasons Las Vegas, $700; Caesars Palace, $649; and Bellagio, $549.

‘Strong weekend’ expected

Virginia Valentine, president and CEO of the Nevada Resorts Association, said special events continue to give the resort industry a lift, which is particularly welcome after months of hard times during the pandemic.

“Las Vegas continues to have a spectacular special events calendar that’s drawing large crowds and helping to move key tourism indicators towards prepandemic levels on the leisure side of the business,” Valentine said in an email Tuesday. “EDC is an incredibly popular weekend which is reflected by the occupancy levels, room rates and large number of visitors expected. It should be another strong weekend for Las Vegas’ economy.”

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.