smart money cruises ~ the scoop

So I took my teenaged daughter to Vegas last week (Spring Break) for her first-ever visit.  Overall, we had a great time.  It didn’t turn out to be a Las Vegas vacation as we spent most of it touring hotels, casinos, inspecting pool areas, buffets, convention centers, stores, visiting downtown and just being tourists.  I lived there in the early 80’s when Vegas was, well, Vegas.  Back then the atmosphere was the furthest thing possible from what it is now…and to be honest, I liked it better 25 years ago.         

So what compels me to write about our week-long adventure?  A survey I just read revealing Atlantic City, New Jersey ranks higher in customer satisfaction and value than Vegas.  Apparently that’s a big “upset” since Atlantic City is a relative newcomer to the gambling and entertainment industry (30 years for Atlantic City versus 77 years for Vegas).                                      

In fairness, I don’t know much about Atlantic City but just returning from Vegas, the survey really didn’t surprise me.  There’s no doubt, in my opinion, Vegas is losing it’s small town luster faster than a progressive slot machine can suck in those $20 bills.  And that means customer service takes a hit too.

One quick example to share.  The world’s largest souvenir shop, on the corner of Sahara and the Strip, has no restroom for customers.  You have to walk across the street to the Sahara Hotel’s NASCAR shop for a bathroom.  When we returned I asked the cashier at the souvenir shop to make some change and she just stared at me like I’d ask for her paycheck.  Again, this is the world’s largest souvenir shop where you can spend too much time gawking at the flashing “Welcome Vegas” signs and sifting through dice ornaments.  If you don’t have to do the pee dance.

We also felt like some of the shopkeepers at the Caesar’s Palace Forum Shops were staring through us, watching our every move, like we were going to steal something.  Certainly they’d seen other customers shell-shocked at their staggering prices, given the quality of merchandise.

So the survey of several thousand visitors to both destinations says 78% of Atlantic City visitors were “very likely to recommend” the resort to others while 59% would recommend Vegas.   Now let’s get real for a moment.  Chances of this survey poorly affecting Vegas tourism is as likely as hitting  7 7 7.   But with Vegas profits off, the nationwide recession and price of gas taking their toll, a bit of an attitude adjustment in Sin City wouldn’t be a bad idea. 

Las Vegas, Las Vegas Casinos, Las Vegas Tourism,Las Vegas Hotels, Las Vegas Vacation

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008 at 1:19 pm and is filed under Las Vegas. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.