Is CES dying?
Posted January 15th, 2008 at 22:24 by Capper
Last week, while covering CES (The Consumer Electronics Show) Paul and I took a break to have breakfast at a cafe in The Mirage. After choosing $15 omelettes over $5 muffins, we took up the conversation of how much Las Vegas has changed. Gone are the days of cheap meals and comps......replaced by greedy casinos that aren't happy with simply ass raping you at the tables or slot machines. Nothing in Vegas is free or even cheap anymore.
I bring this up because I've watched the CES crowds, and other crowds for that matter, dwindle over the last couple of years, and as someone who calls Vegas home (and who loves living here), its very troubling to me.
Last weekend, I had dinner with our neighbors, some really great people who are very involved in the community (He works for Habitat For Humanity, she for a tax service). Their view of the Las Vegas pulse and mine couldn't be more different. They feel that the minds in charge know what they are doing, and that the entire country is under financial strain (with which I agree). They also think that even if CES were to skip town ( a popular topic of conversation among the people I've talked to), that another convention would step right in.
I disagree with them pretty strongly. While I agree our leaders have allowed this country to be run into the ground, I look at Las Vegas a little differently. Three years ago, we were in the midst of a huge infusion of people, and times were good......the City simply exploded. New housing developments were going up everywhere, new businesses were opening up anywhere a house wasn't being built......and money was being thrown at any project people could think up. Now, you can't even drive through a neighborhood without seeing foreclosure signs mixed with realtor signs.......and the city is abandoning projects left and right, and trying to figure out where to get money.
Lost in all of this is the Strip. While the rest of our community struggles, these greedy bastards fight over every penny, and any time anyone mentions them pulling their weight or helping the community as a whole, they simply talk about moving on to Macau. Granted, none of these guys are going to abandon the Strip, but they huff and puff a lot.
What does this have to do with CES? Plenty. Companies we talked to had nothing but problems with their CES experience. Hotels wouldn't give them blocks of rooms, wouldn't tell them where they were going to be (so they could set up meetings), and even when asked, would not tell people where to find them for meetings...unless you knew the last name of the person the room was registered to. Top this off with being charged 5 times the going room rate and guaranteed food and beverage tabs.......and its not hard to understand why many people we talked to may not come back.
The "great minds" of Las Vegas need to pull their heads out of their butts pretty quick, or watch CES either die off, or leave town.....and while I wish I could be as optimistic as my friend, I think the local economy would definitely miss 140,000 to 150,000 visitors over the course of a week....in the middle of Winter, with nothing really to replace it with.
I bring this up because I've watched the CES crowds, and other crowds for that matter, dwindle over the last couple of years, and as someone who calls Vegas home (and who loves living here), its very troubling to me.
Last weekend, I had dinner with our neighbors, some really great people who are very involved in the community (He works for Habitat For Humanity, she for a tax service). Their view of the Las Vegas pulse and mine couldn't be more different. They feel that the minds in charge know what they are doing, and that the entire country is under financial strain (with which I agree). They also think that even if CES were to skip town ( a popular topic of conversation among the people I've talked to), that another convention would step right in.
I disagree with them pretty strongly. While I agree our leaders have allowed this country to be run into the ground, I look at Las Vegas a little differently. Three years ago, we were in the midst of a huge infusion of people, and times were good......the City simply exploded. New housing developments were going up everywhere, new businesses were opening up anywhere a house wasn't being built......and money was being thrown at any project people could think up. Now, you can't even drive through a neighborhood without seeing foreclosure signs mixed with realtor signs.......and the city is abandoning projects left and right, and trying to figure out where to get money.
Lost in all of this is the Strip. While the rest of our community struggles, these greedy bastards fight over every penny, and any time anyone mentions them pulling their weight or helping the community as a whole, they simply talk about moving on to Macau. Granted, none of these guys are going to abandon the Strip, but they huff and puff a lot.
What does this have to do with CES? Plenty. Companies we talked to had nothing but problems with their CES experience. Hotels wouldn't give them blocks of rooms, wouldn't tell them where they were going to be (so they could set up meetings), and even when asked, would not tell people where to find them for meetings...unless you knew the last name of the person the room was registered to. Top this off with being charged 5 times the going room rate and guaranteed food and beverage tabs.......and its not hard to understand why many people we talked to may not come back.
The "great minds" of Las Vegas need to pull their heads out of their butts pretty quick, or watch CES either die off, or leave town.....and while I wish I could be as optimistic as my friend, I think the local economy would definitely miss 140,000 to 150,000 visitors over the course of a week....in the middle of Winter, with nothing really to replace it with.
Total Comments 1
Comments
 |  Speaking strictly as a "Once-in-a-while" kind of visitor to Las Vegas, the last time my wife and I were there (early 2007, if memory serves), the Strip seemed to be filled with more than its share of people, as did the hotel/casinos. But, that doesn't necessarily mean that all those people were spending boat-loads of cash either. We were there basically to take our mothers to see a show in town (Le Reve, at the Wynn) as a kind of last hurrah before we moved to New Mexico. We spent money on the show, money for a hotel of course, food and a little money on a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We're not gamblers, so nothing spent there. We were just there for a couple of days, and then we went back home. I sure Vegas gets its share of people who do stuff like that. Of course there are always those who do go to play the tables and slots - not me, bro! The tables scare me. But, then you have the conventions that come to town. And given the economy as it stands right now for the average joe, if you figure that the hotels are treating convention organizers the way you describe - well, if it were me, I'd have to reconsider taking my convention back there. And if enough people have the same thoughts, and all things considered, then things won't look so good for your city in the future. Which is sad, because (and this is one thing I've never gotten about economics), if they would just lower prices and treat people better, then all would be better for everyone concerned. But, I'm sure this is not something lost on you, as a citizen of that town. I don't know how anyone thinks that by gouging people and treating them badly, that anything is well served. Anyway, I don't mean to start a blog within yours, but these are just my thoughts on the subject. |
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