Maybe.
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) opened in New York City in 1967. It moved to Las Vegas in 1978 and has been held here ever since. It peaked in attendance with 150,000 a few years ago; since then, organizers have scaled back the numbers and this year, 140,000 attendees participated in the show that’s been called "the world’s biggest carnival of lithium-powered gadgetry and global nerd worship."
Even with slightly reduced numbers, it’s still a monster of a trade show, covering more than two million square feet of exhibitor and meeting space in the Las Vegas Convention Center, Sands Expo, and Las Vegas Hilton. It’s also highly prestigious, and this year Bill Gates, GM Chairman Rick Wagoner, Panasonic President Toshihiro Sakamoto, Intel President Paul Otellini, Comcast CEO Brian L. Roberts, and other industry bigwigs gave keynote addresses.
On the floor, attendees checked out everything from key-ring and wrist-watch cell phones, immersive digital eyewear, portable media players that use a wi-fi connection, and digital video recorders that automatically delete advertising to new GPS models that locate parking spots and self-driving gasoline-free cars. (One that especially amused this member of the LVA staff was a battery-operated air guitar, consisting of a guitar pick, a belt buckle and a wearable mini-amplifier; when the pick is waved in front of the buckle, guitar chords play through the amp. It’ll cost $29.95 when it’s released later this year.)
The four-day CES pumps upwards of $250 million into the local economy every year.
But all’s not quite so hunky-dory in the Las Vegas CES logistics and expense departments, as your husband discovered. Demand for hotel rooms and transportation and catering services is so strong that the hotel-casinos and service providers are now being widely accused of price gouging. We’ve seen reports of unnamed hotels, which typically charge $79-$99 a night, demanding $500 per night and a four-night minimum stay; in order to block rooms, some hotels are requiring food and beverage guarantees of $75-$100 per room.
CES spokespeople continually point to Comdex, the bloated computer show that imploded under the weight of its success, attracting 200,000 people at its peak, but pricing itself out of existence in 2003. Organizers are already planning smaller events for New York and Dubai and rumors floated around town this year that they’re eyeing Chicago and Orlando as possible new venues for the convention.
The Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority is holding dates for CES through 2025, but leases are signed through 2011 only. Still, that means the massive convention has at least another three years in Las Vegas. Perhaps in that time the Convention Authority, the hotel-casinos, and the Consumer Electronics Association will come to some accommodation on the accommodations (and services) issues. If not, your husband may be braving the Chicago airport and wind chill in January 2012.
