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In recent weeks, the Sahara and Binion's have closed hundreds of hotel rooms because of low demand.
This hasn't been good news for Bart Maybie, owner of Hotel Furniture Liquidators. He said that's because the hotels are "mothballing" the rooms--the furniture stays in them.
Before the recession hit Las Vegas in late 2007, Maybie's business was thriving. As the area's largest hotel-furniture dealer, Mayhie has restocked many Las Vegas hotels with furnishings over the past two decades.
"I take out the old stuff and put in the new stuff," Mayhie said. "Ninety percent of my business is hotels."
In many tourist locations, hotel operators avoid replacing furnishings for 10 years or more to save costs, Maybie said. But in Las Vegas, because of stiff competition for guests, the furniture is changed more often.
"In Orlando, (Fla.,) the second-largest (tourist) market, the hotel furniture is changed every 12 years," Maybie said. "But in Las Vegas, it's changed an average of every four-and-a-half years."
Although the recession has hurt Hotel Furniture...