Why is XS still going strong?
Stupid question, why are they closing? Are people just not walking in the doors to cover overhead (duh), because of paying DJ's too much or the rent for the building is ridiculous? Mixture of both?
XS maintains its status because of Steve Wynn, who actually has control over XS (and Tryst). He's a smart business man. When Hakkasan emerged as a competitor, Wynn didn't even bother getting into a bidding war. He knew his brand was solid. It didn't take long for some of that talent to come crawling back (Deadmau5, in particular). Wynn also knew that customer service was key (ironically, Hak exists because of an XS whale getting screwed out of a table one night). XS is by far the best customer service experience in Vegas. I've been there every year for five years. It's never been better than it is now, thanks to competition.
Also, Steve Wynn is playing with the biggest house advantage in Vegas. XS was paid off within the first couple years of operation. And that was before the EDM boom. They are caking. He just doesn't care, because he's not trying to pay off these insane club costs the others are. Remember, Wynn wasn't paying any DJ more than a couple grand per night, off the bat. When Hak opened, they had DJs on the opening roster making $400K right away. They have to pay that off. In addition, Tryst is basically a money printing factory. It's been open for ten years. They don't put headlining DJs in there. They offer bottle deals (even on Saturdays) to get a younger, less affluent crowd in. It gets people into the Wynncore hotels, and those people will eventually move on to XS, once their bank roll gets larger.
Ultimately, the market is over-saturated. Certain brands have name recognition, like the Wynn clubs and Hak. But, when the big Saturday night options expanded from just XS and Marquee to XS, Hak, Omnia, Light, Marquee, etc. it became an unsustainable situation. None of this is a surprise.