I just returned from a four day party in Las Vegas. Our youngest goddaughter, Hillary, turned 21 on April 21, so Kay & I met her and her family to celebrate. Here’s the skinny on our trip and MLL (Marketing Lessons Learned):
- I lost a whopping $62 dollars gambling. Obviously, I’m not a big player, but that’s still a pretty good result after four days. However, including my gambling loss, the trip cost something north of $3K. Call me crazy, but I think Vegas makes a little bit of money from non-gamblers, too. MLL: always offer an alternative option to your customers.
The eight of us stayed at THEhotel at Mandalay Bay. I’ve stayed there a few times before and held meetings. It was always a great experience. Not this time, though. The service at THEhotel was abysmal and some guy in the front office named Dante should be spanked for breaking promises to a customer. MLL: Trust is a difficult thing to develop and an easy thing to lose. Its website promises guests "…a haven of sophistication and service on par with the best boutique hotels in the world." NOT. A classic case of over-promise and under-deliver. They say if you make a customer happy, that customer will tell 4-5 people. If you make that customer unhappy, he/she will tell 20 people. If that customer is a professional speaker/author/blogger, we’ll tell 20,000 people.
We saw KA at the MGM Grand. Absolutely incredible show and impossible to describe. It had baton twirling, shadow puppets, juggling, … no kidding, just go see it. You’ll thank me. (The stage alone is worth the ticket!) Also ran into close friend Dale Chihuly. (Well, we sat close.) MLL: Yes, you can take something that seems unexciting and make it something truly special for your customers. The experience is the marketing.
Ate dinners at NOVE (thumbs up), Joe’s Stone Crab (saw Tommy Lee), and the China Grill (big thumbs up and you’ve got to check out the restrooms).
We dropped in to the new Playboy Club at The Palms (huge thumbs down). A big letdown as far as ambiance goes. Absolutely nothing special. Even the bunnies looked bored. Sure, there were lots of beautiful people, but it was more like a mosh pit than an upscale nightclub. MLL: You can be the hotspot for a while, but without something truly unique eventually another hot spot will take over.
We did watch our oldest goddaughter Kelly & husband Todd renew their vows at The Graceland Chapel. Huge thumbs up for that place. Yes, it was corny and kitschy, but minister Elvis made the whole experience a blast.
One other highlight was Kay (my first wife) getting her picture taken with Ice Cube. He was eating breakfast near us and she said, "I think I know that guy. Is he a bagger at Fred Meyer?"
No Marketing Lesson Learned on THAT one.
