Although Las Vegas has had a happy history with CES, exhibitors are saying the cost of hotel rooms and food and beverage guarantees have climbed so rapidly in the past two years they are threatening to price show attendees out of the market.

The four-day CES opens Jan. 7 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Sands Expo & Convention Center and the Las Vegas Hilton.

Show organizers say 140,000 people will attend the event, which has been staged in Las Vegas since 1978 and has been the setting for a number of product introductions.

As in previous years, CES will kick off with a preshow address by Microsoft Chief Executive Bill Gates on Jan. 6 at the Venetian. Trade show floors at the three venues open the next day. This year's show also will have a component at the World Market Center for the first two days.

Hotel rooms and dining options on the Strip have become increasingly expensive in recent years, and the trend seems likely to accelerate as luxury properties such as Palazzo, Encore, CityCenter, Fontainebleau and Echelon open.

Executives with the Consumer Electronics Association, the owner of the show, approached the LVCVA earlier this year for a meeting with resort executives to try to persuade them to keep prices in check.

Karen Chupka, senior vice president of events and conferences for the association, said several exhibitors have had to reduce the number of delegates they can send to the show because companies can no longer afford to send as many people as in the past.

"It's crazy," Chupka said. "The rates have become astronomical. Some of the resorts are requiring a food and beverage guarantee on top of the hotel rooms and that has gone up by 365 percent in the past two years. Las Vegas is no longer the cost-effective destination it once was."

Glenda Brungardt, trade show and event manager for HP Imaging & Printing Marketing, a division of Hewlett-Packard, said her company has to cut 12 percent to 15 percent of its show personnel this year because of rising costs.

Brungardt, who serves on a Consumer Electronics Association exhibitor advisory board that addresses show concerns, said high costs charged by host hotels is the No. 1 complaint exhibitors have with CES and Las Vegas.

"I think the bad part of it is that the hotels are raising rates because they can," Brungardt said. "They know that with the high demand generated by the show, they can raise them."

Brungardt wouldn't name specific properties she says are gouging conventioneers, calling it a citywide problem, but said some properties that normally charge $79 to $159 a night for rooms are asking $500 to $700 a night during CES and are requiring a three- or four-night minimum stay. In addition, hotels require a minimum block of rooms to be purchased and, in some cases, require a food and beverage guarantee of $75 to $100 per room.

"It requires companies to have some kind of function at the hotel, whether it's an opening reception or a dinner," Brungardt said. "I'm sure that takes some money out of the pockets of other restaurants around town."

Chris Meyer, senior director of convention center sales, said he met with Consumer Electronics Association's exhibitor advisory board members last summer to try to mediate a solution, but admitted the LVCVA has no control over the rates resorts charge.

"They absolutely love Las Vegas, but they did express some concerns about the cost," Meyer said. "The resorts were receptive to meeting, but we as an organization will never see what the results are because the negotiations between the exhibitors and the resorts are private and because it's a free market, everybody does their own business dealings."

Losing CES not only would represent a large economic hit to Las Vegas, but also would be a blow to the city's visibility.

Several national television shows broadcast from the CES trade show floors to showcase new gadgets.

Many products, from TiVo to video cassette recorders, were first shown at CES, and news stories about those introductions carried Las Vegas datelines.

The convention authority is holding dates for CES through 2025, but has only signed leases with organizers through 2011.

The question no one seems willing to answer is: Would CES really pull out of Las Vegas?

Or are the complaints just a high-stakes bluff to keep costs down?

Chupka said the Consumer Electronics Association has options.

It has had initial discussions with convention centers in Chicago and Orlando, Fla., both of which have exhibit halls capable of hosting a show as large as CES.

But those cities could have drawbacks for conventioneers.

Show organizers like Las Vegas because of the various entertainment and restaurant options available to guests, and studies conducted by the authority show events staged in Las Vegas have higher attendance than similar shows elsewhere.

Conventioneers also like the proximity of hotels to convention venues and that the airport is so close to the action.

"The best comment I've heard from our guests is that they like Las Vegas because it's easy," Meyer said.

In addition to Chicago and Orlando, Chupka and Brungardt said international competition is beginning to appear.

"One of the things about CES is that it is an international show," Brungardt said. "Companies that exhibit at this show have large markets overseas, so there's nothing that says this show has to occur in the United States."

Las Vegas Sands, which operates the Venetian and Palazzo and the Sands Expo Center, opened a large convention center at its Venetian Macau and is building a new resort with a convention center in Singapore. New convention facilities also are being built in Dubai.

Although it's not likely that a show such as CES would bolt the United States for an overseas venue, it's possible that organizers could produce multiple shows that could siphon off visits to Las Vegas. In the past, two CES shows were staged, one in the winter and one in the summer. Several organizations also swap venues to appeal to conventioneers in other parts of the country.

"We've had a great association with Las Vegas," Chupka said. "But we have to listen to our own customers and watch out for the interests of our show."

Meyer said he's concerned because any time any customer has a beef with Las Vegas, he wants to fix things.

"I worry about every single client," he said. "As far as this issue is concerned, I'm not worried, but I'm paying attention to it."