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I feel for Las Vegas: the convention business there is taking a big hit.
State Farm agents are bowing out of their October dates, and the Automotive Market Research Council will be skipping its March gathering.
But the one that really hurts is the pull-out by Goldman Sachs. No, they didn’t cancel their conference – they moved it — to San Francisco:
“…banking giant Goldman Sachs also canceled a planned event at Mandalay Bay. The company, which received $10 billion in taxpayer money, moved the event to San Francisco, a city with even pricier hotel rooms and higher average airfares.” (from Las Vegas Review Journal)
An official with Mandalay Bay parent company MGM Mirage told the Associated Press the move included a $600,000 cancellation fee.
Hmm. So they moved to a more expensive city (with more expensive food) to do, what? Show that they’re taking this bailout business seriously?
Here’s the problem, I think: the very name, “Las Vegas” has become synonymous with excess – with free-spending junketeers. Never mind that in reality, it’s a big-value destination – some, it seems, would apparently rather pay more, simply for appearances’ sake. As further reported in the Review Journal, Vegas junkets have become a favorite target of politicians as of late.
Luckily, the average traveler doesn’t care about appearances – and can now take full advantage of all those great Las Vegas hotel rooms -at heavily discounted prices.
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Just my hunch, mind you, but considering the Goldman Sachs conference is a “Technology and Internet” conference, a good percentage of the attendees and companies involved are probably located in the San Francisco Bay Area / Silicon Valley, and therefore, attending the conference is a much cheaper deal – don’t need quite so many hotel rooms or airplane tickets. In that sense, yes, it’s probably less expensive for all involved.