Grumpy Editor

MGM Resorts readies parking fees at Vegas Strip hotels

 

In a Las Vegas Strip first, MGM Resorts International will become the first major casino company in Sin City to start charging visitors for self parking, finds Grumpy Editor.

Locals and frequent tourists consider the move a bad turn in PR since such parking has been a key “freebie” since the Strip was born 75 years ago.

Management sees it another way. The headline on a company news release crows: MGM Resorts International to enhance guest parking experience.

The New York Stock Exchange-listed Las Vegas casino company’s properties --- MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, Delano, Luxor, Excalibur, Monte Carlo, New York-New York, Vdara, Aria, Bellagio and The Mirage --- will charge $10 for overnight parking, less for shorter periods during the day starting sometime in the second quarter.

MGM hotels on the Las Vegas Strip already are nicking visitors on the high end (up to $33.60 per room, per night) for so-called “resort fees,” padding added to room rates that covers the Internet, local and 800 phone calls, newspaper (at news stand), basic services at hotel business center and access to exercise room at MGM Grand Spa.

Resort fees, in efforts to boost bottom lines, have caught on in other parts of the country over the past few years.

As with past added money-making developments in Las Vegas, other major hotel/casino properties are likely to follow instituting parking fees.

With 45 million visitors a year to Las Vegas, the move by MGM is seen bringing in additional millions of dollars in revenue annually --- without adding a single slot machine or a craps table.

 

Iran capture of 10 U.S. sailors raises questions

News reports on the Iranian capture of two small U.S. Navy boats with a combined crew of 10, including one woman --- later forced to wear a headscarf --- were blamed on assorted factors. Most prevelant: engine problems as the boats drifted toward shore near Farsi island in the Arabian Gulf. Then it became a navigational error with the onboard GPS. (One report had the Iranians confiscating that gear.)

While released the next day, the U.S. sailors nevertheless were subject to facing weapons while kneeling with hands clasped behind heads on their own craft as the Iranians were busy recording propaganda video on board and later on land for worldwide consumption.

Few in U.S. media mentioned the Geneva Conventions ban the practice of parading prisoners for propaganda purposes.

In a new development today --- and adding to strange goings-on --- the Pentagon revealed Iranian soldiers removed SIM cards from two handheld satellite phones in possession of the U.S. sailors.

 

IN CASE YOUR FAVORITE NEWS OUTLETS MISSED THESE…

Despite bright economic outlooks last week from the White House, U.S. industrial production fell for the third straight month in December…Performing elephants, a decades-long attraction with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, will only be seen in vintage movies after May. All 11 touring circus elephants will be retired…While U.S. military forces continue to dwindle, Russia will create three military divisions on its Western flank this year…Media, especially TV, were highly excited late last week over a possible out-of season hurricane in the far eastern Atlantic. Named Alex, it quickly fizzled and departed the Azores Islands Friday as a tropical storm…California politicians concerned with housing the swelling prison population at San Quentin should read a Reuters story out Friday that noted more than 700 death row inmates in the Golden State still await execution. Despite an $850,000 remodeling with taxpayers’ funds, San Quentin’s death chamber remains unused, as the state has not carried out an execution in a decade…Forget bank robberies, that’s old stuff.   New York police are looking for a suspect who cleaned out an entire 190-bottle display of upscale nail polish at a Manhattan store. Caught on video and facing a grand larceny charge: a man, undoubtedly highly polished.

This five-word headline spotted on a financial site sums up stock market action last week: Global selloff on China worries.

And it’s not even our 51^st state.

Leno, Obama vie for most appearances in Las Vegas

With another campaign rally in Las Vegas on Sunday, President Barack Obama seems to be competing with Tonight Show host Jay Leno in the number of visits a year to Sin City, notes Grumpy Editor.

Obama, recognizing Nevada as a key battleground state in the upcoming election, returns to the casino-studded neon capital over the weekend, on the heels of another visit just 18 days earlier.

It marks the president’s eighth visit to Las Vegas and ninth trip to Nevada this year.

Obama is esxpected to stay three nights in the Las Vegas area before heading to Denver for an Oct. 3 presidential debate with Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

Jay Leno, meanwhile, reappears for his stand-up routine in Las Vegas Oct. 12 and 13 --- with six more appearances scheduled on The Strip through next Sept. 20.

The difference between Leno and the president, however, is that Leno encourages folks to visit Sin City.

Obama is remembered for taking two negative blasts at Las Vegas.

In February, 2009, one was directed at business meetings when the president declared, “You can’t take a trip to Las Vegas or down to the Super Bowl on the taxpayers dime.”

A year later, the president followed that with, “You don’t blow a bunch of cash in Vegas when you’re trying to save for college.”

Las Vegas’ economy then turned south, triggering pink slips to thousands of casino industry workers, knocking out construction, and sending the area’s unemployment and home foreclosure rates soaring to the nation’s highest. 

Obama media Wednesday: Are we in Sin City or N.Y. City?

Media who trail President Barack Obama, as he travels around on Air Force One, face multiple time zone disorientation, sagging sleep and deadline disorder, reminds Grumpy Editor. 

So they have to be a pretty sturdy bunch. 

Look at Wednesday's schedule. 

After an overnight stay in Las Vegas, with casino slot machines and table games distractions, foggy-eyed media were up early for a morning campaign rally at a North Las Vegas high school. 

There, in a 26-minute speech on education, the president declared, “I’m standing here as president because I had a bunch of great teachers.  Teachers matter.  They’re on the front lines of our future.” 

After media filed his remarks, it was back to Air Force One and across the country and time zones to New York City for a basketball-flavored fundraising dinner. 

The “Obama Classic,” as it was labeled, cost $20,000 a person.  About 120 people, including basketball stars, attended the event --- hosted by Michael Jordan --- at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center. 

"It is very rare that I come to an event where I'm like the fifth or sixth most interesting person," he joked, after an introduction by Jordan. 

But the best photo op of the day was shuttered to the press.  The president later changed to gym clothes to shoot hoops. 

Then it was back to Air Force One.

Cleveland casino debut grabs coverage by barring press

Veteran PR people have learned one way to grab heavy print/broadcast coverage for a client that is unveiling a product or facility:  bar reporters from the premises, finds Grumpy Editor. 

Latest example of that maneuver was at the opening of Ohio’s first casino. 

Sure enough. 

Associated Press worked up 16 paragraphs --- one of multiple stories --- from an outside view on the unveiling of Horseshoe Casino Cleveland last week. 

The story, plus AP art, included essential details on the $350 million project, 20 percent owned by Caesars Entertainment Corp., Las Vegas. 

AP writer Thomas J. Sheeran even worked in the line, “The media was (sic) barred from inside the casino.” 

From streetside, mentions were made of a “glitzy music video instead of the traditional ribbon cutting” projected on the casino’s facade, Las Vegas-style showgirls on scene, and, of course, about 2,100 slot machines and 63 table games awaiting gamblers inside.

But the media weren't able to check out the VIP lounge.