{"id":1827,"date":"2010-01-08T11:46:03","date_gmt":"2010-01-08T19:46:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/?p=1827"},"modified":"2019-05-20T06:43:41","modified_gmt":"2019-05-20T14:43:41","slug":"2-5-cheers-for-harrahs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/2-5-cheers-for-harrahs\/","title":{"rendered":"2.5 Cheers for Harrah’s"},"content":{"rendered":"

As erratically as it has been run since the departure of Phil Satre<\/strong>, they still get some things right at Harrah’s Entertainment<\/strong> … and not in the sense that a stopped watch is correct twice a day. For instance, Harrah’s was ahead of the curve (showing good business sense) in marketing to the LGBT crowd and took a lead role in pushing for domestic-partnership legislation in Nevada<\/strong> last year. That took both enlightenment and huevos<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In a similar vein<\/strong>, Harrah’s has done a clutch of things lately that may just be enlightened pragmatism but which are still worthy of mention. Restarting on-property sales of the Las Vegas Review-Journal<\/em> is just good customer service. After all, why incentivize your guests to go somewhere else<\/em> to get the local paper? I just hope that Harrah’s fatwa<\/em> against the R-J<\/em> was rescinded either A)<\/strong> due to customer pressure or B)<\/strong> because corporate leadership realized how petty it was and not C)<\/strong> because R-J<\/em> Publisher Sherman”Facts Optional” Frederick hypothetically groveled at the feet of Gary Loveman<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

While eschewing “resort fees”<\/strong> may not count as doing<\/em> something, it’s laudable of Harrah’s to resist this odious trend and eminently sensible of them to publicize the fact<\/a>. Considering that J.P. Morgan<\/strong>‘s data-crunching shows Harrah’s Strip ADRs locked in “dive” while everyone else’s level out (and the picture gets worse if you lump Planet Hollywood<\/strong> with the Harrah’s portfolio), it also must have taken some stones to resist the siren song of add-on fees.<\/p>\n

Besides, they’re a chiseling irritation that customers are neither quick to forget or forgive. Station Casinos<\/strong> has become particularly despised for the practice and its fees have been documented as some of the most onerous in Vegas<\/a>. If you want to see mild-mannered UNLV Institute for Gaming Research<\/strong> Director David G. Schwartz<\/strong> get good and angry, ask him about the time he was jammed up with a mandatory resort fee at Green Valley Ranch<\/strong>. Harrah’s has had customer-relations problems of its own and this is one way to rebuild good will.<\/p>\n

Lastly<\/strong>, Harrah’s is making a big deal<\/a> about an iPhone<\/strong>\/GPS application that will — theoretically — allow the company to zap customers with marketing messages related to where they are on-property at any given point. Another feature would simplify the check-in<\/em> process and enable one to circumvent the scrum at the front desk (although it requires jumping through a few preliminary hoops).<\/p>\n

The tech-savvy community is less than orgasmic<\/a> about this, especially since Harrah’s appears to have gone off half-cocked<\/a>. “[C]ount me underwhelmed,” writes Vegas Mate<\/strong> inventor Hunter Hillegas<\/strong>. In Harrah’s defense, if this is really the first such Strip-specific iPhone application, that reinforces just how slow and lumbering the entire casino industry has been in taking advantage of the messaging and wireless-communication marketing opportunities available to it. In the land of the blind, Harrah’s is king.<\/p>\n

Stupid lawsuit tricks<\/strong>. Considering that Mystic Lake Casino Hotel<\/strong> is the de facto<\/em> entertainment capital of the Twin Cities<\/strong> area, it must be really hard up for publicity<\/a> if it needs stoop to suing lowly Mystic Lodge Casino<\/strong> in Henderson<\/strong> (and shame on Lionel Sawyer Collins<\/strong> for whoring itself out to Mystic Lake). This is, if possible, even more of stretch than when Treasure Island Resort & Casino<\/strong>, also in Minnesota<\/strong>, sued MGM Mirage<\/strong>‘s Treasure Island<\/strong> for trademark infringement … and never you mind that both resorts owed their name to a book by Robert Louis Stevenson<\/strong>. The only tangible outcome of that litigation was that Las Vegas’ Treasure Island became T&A, er, “T.I.” (with busty “pirates” to match). Thanks a lot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As erratically as it has been run since the departure of Phil Satre, they still get some things right at Harrah’s Entertainment … and not in the sense that a stopped watch is correct twice a day. For instance, Harrah’s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[88,7,11,43,6,57,8,9,19,20],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1827"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1827"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1827\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24185,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1827\/revisions\/24185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lasvegasadvisor.com\/stiffs-and-georges\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}