What happens in Vegas...doesn't

Another sign that times really are hard: Las Vegas is whining that convention business is drying up, & apparently blaming President Obama for telling corporations accepting bailout—sorry, stimulus—money that it’s not meant to fund group jollies. Obama had cited Wells Fargo’s intention to send “top performers” on a 12-day junket to Vegas as an example of what not to do.

In January, 30,000 conference-associated hotel-room nights were cancelled, & meeting planners are having to be more creative about throwing parties—uh, I mean, seminars—on shoestring budgets.

Vegas hospitality reps got up on their hind legs & moaned that the Prez was picking on them, that theirs is a serious city, & companies can have way more fun for way less money than in SF or Dallas or Chicago.

Yeah, right. Perhaps if they plan on sending everyone to those dreadful buffets on the cheaper casino floors. Now there’s a good time.

But the NY Times reports that meetings are down across the board & across the country, with seven percent of meetings previously scheduled for 2009 being cancelled, & lower attendance expected at those that will still take place.

Not surprising, really: laid-off workers aren’t going to be sent to seminars or symposia; & those still employed are keeping their heads down hoping that travel budgets will be all that are axed.

Those chomping at the taxpayer trough, for once, appear to realize that appearances matter; banking, credit & construction industries are conspicuously not consuming.

There’s an interesting statistic in this story: a month ago, the occupancy rate of US hotels was 47%. What’s interesting is that name any flight going between two cities, & you can pretty much guarantee that the plane doesn’t leave the gate until they’ve crammed a butt in every seat.

I guess that means people are mostly sleeping in refrigerator cartons under freeway overpasses when they get to their destinations.

Naturally there’s a knock-on effect: fewer meetings on tighter budgets mean lowered hotel tax revenues for local municipalities, & fewer gigs for caterers, speakers & entertainers.

I wondered about that when I was at CES last month: it seemed to me that if you’re in the lower echelons of meeting support—brochure-stockers, directions-givers, registration-takers, busboys, booth-constructors, taxi drivers & so on, CES still had a place for you.

In September of 2007 I was at a huge users conference for a major software company in San Francisco. In addition to the above, there were quasi-name bands, buffet-builders, A-V managers & bartenders for the dozen bars that appeared on the trade show floor every evening by 1800.

I’m betting that there’s going to be fallout among the ranks of the folks that make these things run, who work hard for low pay & no benefits.

That’s a pity; & also laid at the door of those whose greed got us into this pickle.