Las Vegas Trips:
Vegas keeps getting Better... and Busier!
Although Las Vegas is not my favorite 'cup of tea', I always look forward my annual visit for a travel industry technology conference. It is truly the most exciting place on Earth. And, despite the unbelievable pace and the tremendous crowds, the friendliness of the great majority of people you come in contact with is beyond impressive. My hat is off to all the service personnel of Las Vegas. I don't know how they can do what they do day-after-day!!! For those of you that appreciate great marketing, the Las Vegas Visitors Bureau is the quintessential case study. The city adds thousands of new rooms each year - and they keep filling them. Hotel occupancy is 87.6% which beats every other vacation destination in the entire world. Here are a few observations & tips that I had from my most recent visit last week: 1. The growth is clearly in the upscale segment of the market. Every time I visit, another few "cheap, old casino/hotels" have been bulldozed to make room for new 5-Star properties. The day of the 99 cent shrimp cocktail is gone! 2. For the '30-something' crowd, the hot nightclubs are springing up everywhere - and getting into one without a VIP pass is a low-percentage proposition! For those of us that are 'more seasoned', the Celebrity Chef restaurants are exploding. And, likewise, don't go to Las Vegas without an advance (3 or 4 months in advance) reservation! 3. The shows just keep getting bigger and better! (You may catch on to a recurring theme here...) If you want to see a major show, you had better get your tickets well in advance of your visit. The hot tickets are Celine Dion, Elton John and Danny Gans. It seems as though Cirque du Soleil will soon engulf the entire city! The newest edition, LOVE by Cirque du Soleil which celebrates the Beatles, is the hottest ticket in town!

If you are going to go, I urge you -strongly- to ask your travel agent to arrange VIP passes, dinner reservations and show tickets in advance!

Cheers,

Dick