Gloria Valdez has made a living as a hostess at a steakhouse at the D Casino in downtown Las Vegas for 15 years, surviving through the economic crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. But she says she’s never seen business this bad.
“The pandemic was something that was worldwide, and we had the hope that everything would get better,” says the 38-year-old single mother of two. “We're not sure if and when this is gonna stop.”
...
Ted Pappageorge, secretary-treasurer of the Culinary Union, calls it the “Trump slump.”
“If you tell the whole world that they're not welcome, they're not going to come,” says Pappageorge. “The lifeblood for Las Vegas is Southern California. What folks are telling our members is that the raids and crazy tariffs and this uncertainty, [are causing] people to pull back.”
Holly Lang, a 47-year-old cocktail waitress at MGM Grand on the iconic Vegas Strip, recognizes that her weekly tip income can starkly vary week-to-week, but recent trends point to a downward decline. “I'm seeing a lot less ups than I normally would,” she says. “When the economy is shaky, travel is one of the first things to go. If people are uncertain about things, we're an expendable thing for them. They're also not going on vacation if they're uncomfortable,” she says.
“We've definitely got a lot less foot traffic and a lot less people gambling,” she says. “A lot of the tables are empty.”