PERSPECTIVE: Gambling on Las Vegas Hotel Prices

John L. Wolz

Comparing hotel prices online could save companies hundreds of dollars per person during the National Industrial Fastener Show/West trade show in Las Vegas.
Hotels may be especially competitive this year. For several years NIFS management scheduled the fastener show during the giant Comdex computer show in Las Vegas, which fills hotels, restaurants and entertainment and thus drives up prices. Without a mega show at the same time in town this year, the 316 Las Vegas hotels and motels will be anxious to fill their 126,787 rooms.
Official fastener show hotel room rates are $177 per night at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and $157 at Bally�s Hotel, but many exhibitors and attendees found rooms at a fraction of those rates online last year.
The seventh annual West trade show will be on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 4-5, 2003. Conferences will be on Monday.
About six weeks before the 2002 fastener show, online rates bottomed out at $49 per night for Bally�s and Paris dropped to $69.
Online rates at Ballys.com are already less than official fastener prices. While show management�s fastener price is $157, room rates for the general public on Ballys.com are already down to $79 for Sunday night and $140 for Monday and Tuesday. Prices can be expected to fluctuate according to reservations over the coming months.
Last year after FIN published information about lower-price alternatives, Bally�s dropped its fastener show rate to $99. But then the Bally�s.com room price was lowered to $49.
Those who booked the $49 rooms online last year for the three nights saved $309 plus taxes per room over the original fastener price.
Hotels.com advertises Las Vegas hotel rooms from $29.95. Booking Bally�s on Hotels.com can be cheaper than reserving directly from the hotel. Hotels.com quoted a $119.95 room price at Bally�s and $159.95 for Paris. LasVegasHotelCentral.com�s mid-week prices for Bally�s recently was $100 and Paris $122.
Show Managers Pleased
The competitive hotel pricing issue has reached the front pages in trade show industry publications. Many trade show managers are pleased with online reservations because lower hotel prices help boost attendance and lower the cost of exhibiting. However the online reservations and competing hotels alter the trade show industry�s system of blocking rooms and such services as hotel shuttles. Shows which rely on kickbacks from headquarters hotels would lose.
Just as customers have pressured fastener manufacturers to take cost out of products, hotels and show management now must reduce costs or lose business. �2003 FastenerNews.com\