The companies that have or will have a presence in Asia already, of course, are hoping familiarity with their products in Macau will translate into brand loyalty.

Las Vegas Sands, for example, already has begun cross-marketing its Paiza Club, the home of the high-roller salons that exist both at the Venetian in Las Vegas and at the Sands Macau. No doubt the Venetian Macau, the company's property being built on Macau's Cotai Strip, also will use the brand in hopes of building brand loyalty.

Steve Wynn's property in Macau is much like the one on Las Vegas Boulevard. It's smaller than the one on the Strip, but the interior is similar and many of the restaurants and attractions have the same names as those half a world away.

How will the MGM Grand Macau stack up with the MGM Grand on the Strip? The company hasn't unveiled all the surprises, but count on there being some similarities.

So will the Chinese who make their way to Macau stay loyal to the Venetian, Wynn Las Vegas or the MGM Grand?

Andrew Lai has a different theory — especially since large numbers of Chinese tourists are bound to be middle-class customers, not the high-rollers who are more likely to frequent the Venetian, Wynn or MGM.

Lai and a team of developers are hoping to draw tourists from all over Asia to Las Vegas' Chinatown area.

Lai hopes to break ground in three years on the Dragon City Hotel and Resort project, a hotel-casino proposal that Lai says would make Asians feel at home. While the concept is in its early stages — financing hasn't been publicly disclosed and approval is still pending on a gaming overlap zone for the development — the developers are optimistic.

The 28-story hotel would have 3,400 rooms in two buildings. One would have 2,200 rooms, the other 1,200 straddling a street in the area of Spring Mountain and Wynn roads. The company plans a 70,000-square-foot casino and 500,000 square feet of retail space.

Among the retail outlets will be 50 restaurants. That's no typo. Fifty. Lai figures that providing the comforts of home means serving food like they make at home.

Since the Dragon City would play host to guests from across Asia, it makes sense to offer Chinese, Thai, Korean and Japanese food.

"The food is different across Asia," Lai said. "So we're planning on having 50 restaurants so that everybody feels at home."

Dragon City is expected to employ 6,000 to 8,000 workers.

Imagine the different languages that would be spoken there. It has the potential of being a microcosm of Asia in a few city blocks of Las Vegas.

More off-airport check-ins: McCarran International Airport's SpeedCheck Advance program has been a hit at the Venetian. The service began in May and gives Venetian guests who fly Southwest Airlines the ability to check their suitcases for the flight home from the hotel.

Now, the off-airport check-in service is available at the north lobby of the Luxor.

Airport SpeedCheck Advance was developed by McCarran, the Transportation Services Administration and Southwest with a Florida-based company called Bags to Go.

About 1,900 customers have used the advance check-in service to date, spending $20 each to check up to three suitcases. Customers have to turn their bags in at the Bags to Go counter at least three hours before flight time.

There's also a kiosk for advance check-in at the Las Vegas Convention Center. TSA and airport officials say the program cuts down on the amount of unattended baggage at the airport and it certainly gets travelers to their gates more efficiently — while allowing them to stay a few extra minutes in the casino before they leave.

Magazine readers not impressed with LV: The November edition of Conde Nast Traveler magazine lists its readers' choice awards for the 100 best places to go in the world and it was a humbling read for all who think Las Vegas has the best of everything.

Magazine readers rated the top 10 cities in the United States. Where did Las Vegas rank? Sorry, can't answer that — the city didn't make the top 10.

Readers enjoyed San Francisco; Santa Fe, N.M.; New York City; Chicago; Charleston, S.C.; Carmel, Calif.; Honolulu; Aspen, Colo.; Seattle; and Sedona, Ariz., more than Las Vegas.

A few Las Vegas hotels made the top 100 in the mainland United States. The highest rated was the Bellagio, which checked in at No. 27. The Four Seasons came in at No. 33, The Venetian was at No. 59 and the Wynn Las Vegas at No. 87.

On the worldwide top 100 of resorts, not a single Las Vegas property made the cut. But the Ritz Carlton Lake Las Vegas was 49th of the top 50 resorts in the mainland United States.

The methodology for determining the best cities in the survey include ambience, culture and sites, friendliness, lodging, restaurants and shopping. For the hotels, the criteria included food and dining, location, overall design, rooms and service.

Readers also ranked transportation and several of the airlines that connected with readers fly to McCarran International Airport. Among the international carriers, Virgin Atlantic checked in at No. 4. For domestic routes, one through 10 were JetBlue, Midwest, Hawaiian, Frontier, Alaska, Sun Country, Aloha, Continental, American and AirTran.

What American hotels were the gold standard for Conde Nast readers? The Peninsula in Chicago, the Watermark in San Antonio and the St. Regis in New York were the top three in the poll.

Mccarran business Web site: For companies wanting to do business at the nation's fifth busiest airport, Clark County Department of Aviation officials have launched a new Internet site.

The site gives information on how to lease retail space at McCarran and airport advertising. There also are sections on the county's Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program, purchasing, cargo operations and real estate development.

The site can be accessed in a subdirectory "About the airport" at www.mccarran.com.