How Much Extra Help Is Hired for New Year's Eve?

Since New Years Eve is approaching and most hotels are fully booked then, the demand on hotel services must increase. So how much extra help is put on in each department, including the casino if the hotel has one? And where does the extra help come from, as the staff is most likely already full up for the remainder of the year?

Posing your question to a number of Strip casinos produced quite a variety of responses.

The Cosmopolitan came back with its usual “no comment."

Wynn Resorts wouldn’t discuss the personnel aspect, citing security concerns.

MGM Resorts was more forthcoming. “We do not hold any special hiring events for New Year’s Eve events. Departments that utilize part-time or on-call workers may reach out to employees who are already working with us to help during periods when we have additional business.”

Over at Boyd Gaming, they "have sufficient staff on payroll and available to handle New Year’s Eve (or other high-volume days). In addition to full-time and part-time staff, we have a certain number of team members who are on call and are brought in as needed when business volumes are particularly high. This allows us to staff up as necessary for peak-demand days.”

The Culinary Union’s Bethany Khan adds further clarity, telling us, “The unionized casino resorts have a steady extra board, a big group of workers who get called in when someone is out sick, out on FMLA [Family and Medical Leave], on vacation, and when extra help is needed. As their seniority grows, they can get moved off the extra board into full-time permanent hires, and new folks in the industry can get their foot in the door by being a steady extra.”

Khan adds, “Our Culinary Academy of Las Vegas helps train hospitality workers for various positions, such as guest-room attendant, kitchen worker, baker, bartender, and sommelier, and when workers graduate from the not-for-profit program, they are considered as having 1-2 years of experience and job placement as available,” presumably including those extra-board gigs.

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JimBeam Nov-17-2018

I have first-hand experience with this

I'm not going to name the company, but I do have first-hand experience with this:

I was doing work as an IT contractor for a major Strip casino company and they were running short for help on NYE. It got so bad that they sent out a company wide e-mail offering a $400 bonus for ANYONE (as long you already worked for the company) to show up. The instructions were basically, "show up at this property, at this ballroom in a white shirt & black pants and we'll put you to work, $400 in cash at the end of the night". 

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JimBeam Nov-17-2018

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I was working for their marketing department and you had people that otherwise had nothing to do with F&B volunteering to go. The rationale for the low number of workers was that it was a logistical nightmare to get there. (1) employee parking lots are not available because valet uses them as overflow, (2) buses change their routes for the night (which is important to lower-paid F&B workers) and (3) you were dealing with drunk people all night. So a lot of the usual workers just called out that night, just too much of a hassle to get to the Strip. I wasn't eligible to volunteer but my understanding from others is that it was a nice $400 bonus but you earned it, lots of work during the night. 

So this NYE, be nice to the workers. Some of them might be accountants by day that just want a little extra cash and don't normally serve people.

Question of the Day - 17 November 2018

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