Paris resort off to strong start

David Strow

Monday, Nov. 1, 1999 | 11 a.m.

With two weeks to go before the opening of Paris Las Vegas, President Paul Pusateri was worried.

His $760 million hotel-casino, the fruit of more than three years of work, was slated to open Sept. 1, exactly on schedule. Problem was, so few properties actually open on time in Las Vegas that the hotel was booking little business for its first few weeks.

When pressing his staff for ideas, one person in public relations suggested a novel guarantee -- if Paris Las Vegas doesn't open on time, $1 million in cash will be tossed off the top of the 50-story Eiffel Tower replica.

"That was a wake-up call," Pusateri said.

Fortunately for Pusateri, calls soon picked up -- peaking at 30,000 one day -- and such a radical plan never became necessary. And few people are as willing to underestimate Paris Las Vegas today.

Pusateri spoke about the resort last week at a meeting of the Jewish Federation of Las Vegas Business and Professional Group.

Business has been so strong at Paris Las Vegas, Pusateri said, that the resort has hired an additional 600 employees since its Sept. 1 opening, a 15 percent increase in just two months. Employment now exceeds 4,600.

The resort's return on investment so far, he said, is running close to 20 percent. Park Place Entertainment Corp. officials initially expected a 15 percent return.

And, perhaps just as importantly to Pusateri, neighbor property Bally's Las Vegas isn't falling victim to the cannibalization effect executives expected when Paris Las Vegas opened.

"Bally's business has been fantastic since we opened Paris Las Vegas," Pusateri said. "For visitors, Bally's is like a comfortable soft shoe."

From the conception of the Paris idea to today, Pusateri credits Paris Las Vegas's success to a willingness to do things a bit differently than anyone else in Las Vegas.

For example, Paris Las Vegas faced a challenge when it had to hire 4,000 employees in a city that had just seen new resorts hire 20,000 new employees.

So Pusateri and his staff decided to hold an open house -- a chance for Las Vegans to get a sneak peek at the property and what it hoped to accomplish.

"That created an energy," Pusateri said.

Next, at the Paris Las Vegas employment center, officials decided to open initially for 36 hours straight. In an effort to have some light-hearted fun during the graveyard shift, human resources officials donned pajamas and bathrobes.

"That's when the TV stations and local media started to show up," Pusateri said. "When I turned on my TV at 6 a.m., there's my HR director on TV, standing in a bathrobe."

As Paris Las Vegas began training its employees in the French language and culture, things weren't going as officials had hoped. So they turned to the Walt Disney Co. for advice -- and ended up hiring several of Disney's "coaches" who train the company's theme park employees.

The program soon took on a life of its own, as employees took pride in learning the French language and culture, Pusateri said. Employees often admit, he said, to speaking French in everyday situations, even letting slip an occasional "merci" at the grocery store.

One 20-year employee of Bally's, transferred to Paris Las Vegas, told Pusateri, "I've never felt like I have working at Paris."

"Never in my 25 years have I had such a reaction from employees to a training program," Pusateri said. "You have to be a little quirky to work here. You're on stage all the time, and that's not for everyone."

The buzz about Paris Las Vegas led to an opening night far beyond anyone's expectations. Metro Police told Paris Las Vegas officials that a typical grand opening attracted 15,000 to 20,000 visitors. Paris Las Vegas's official visitor count on opening night was 50,000, Pusateri said.

"I remember walking through Paris (on opening night), and I felt like Dean Martin when he said, 'What're all these people doing in my room?,"' Pusateri said. "The next morning, they were still there. We had to react very quickly (to demand)."

Today, Paris Las Vegas remains a media darling across the world. The other day, Pusateri saw his picture and resort on the front page of a Korean newspaper. And CBS News plans to soon drop by for a feature.

And the centerpiece of the resort, the 50-story, $20 million Eiffel Tower replica, is still doing a booming business, averaging 4,000 visitors a day.

"The Eiffel Tower is the best place in all of Las Vegas to view Steve Wynn's $70 million water show (at the Bellagio)," Pusateri said.