There have been numerous comments in this forum and others recently complaining about the rising costs at HK. Someone earlier made a comment earlier comparing HK attendance issues (or lack of crowds recently) to those in Vegas. Scarily, that got me thinking...Maybe part of the HK cost issue is that they are trying to create a Vegas like experience...
When I first started mongering in TJ 15 or so years ago, HK was a quarter to a third of the size it is today and much more divey. Today, it's at least tripled in size, is cleaner, fancier and has more women and rules than ever before. They've dumped piles of money into Cascadas upgrading most of the rooms, adding elevators and adding the 9th floor high roller area shooting for a more Vegas like experience.
I'm not trying to defend today's higher prices but just recognizing that maybe they are shooting for a more affluent demographic? I'm not sure how successful it will be tho. One only has to look at Deja Vu in TJ to see that exporting the Vegas club experience to TJ may not be the best idea. Looking at the video recently posted in the TJ mongers forum, there are only a few Charlie Sheens that can drop $100K in a night!
My biggest beef with HK today is the ever changing array of extra fees being charged inconsistently.
All that being said, you can still find something approaching the old TJ experience at the alley bars although, costs have increased there as well. Anyway, food for thought and my $.02

