Travel expert lauds Las Vegas for service
Thursday, May 12, 2005 | 10:51 a.m.
Travel expert Peter Greenberg figures the airline industry could learn a thing or two about keeping the customer satisfied by coming to Las Vegas.
Greenberg, travel editor for NBC's "Today" show, told a crowd of about 600 people attending a special centennial celebration and tourism luncheon Wednesday about how United Airlines got on his bad side with a simple customer service gaffe.
Greenberg, who also is the author of "The Travel Detective," a book exposing secrets of the airline and hospitality industries, said he was a first-class passenger on a United flight and asked for a second bag of peanuts to go with the soft drink he had been served.
"I was told that the policy was to serve one bag per customer," Greenberg said.
"There probably was an accountant somewhere at United that was orgasmic about saving 6 cents for a bag of peanuts," he said. "But to do that, they lost a $3,000 first-class customer."
United apparently learned the error of its ways. After Greenberg complained, he said a crate containing thousands of bags of peanuts was delivered to his office by United.
"The point is we want value, but we also want the human contact," Greenberg said.
And that's where Las Vegas delivers on the promises of its marketing campaigns, he said.
Las Vegas, he said, is one of the few places he's visited that delivers on the "Field of Dreams" promise of "if you build it, they will come." Greenberg said the city's "what happens here, stays here" tagline amuses him because the advertisements created for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority are funny, although not necessarily true.
"After all, what happens in Vegas doesn't actually stay in Vegas, because people are telling their friends about what they did here and how they had such a good time," he said. "That's why I like that campaign. I also like David Spade telling everybody no (an ad campaign for Capital One)."
Greenberg encouraged industry professionals attending the lunch sponsored by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and the LVCVA to hold the airlines that serve the local market to their commitments to fly here.
The lunch, at the Las Vegas Hilton, had a centennial theme and included entertainment by Clint Holmes, Forever Plaid and Elvis impersonator Jesse Garon.
archive
- Most Read
- Discussed
- Most E-mailed
- Metro admits to improper release of criminal history data
- Wonder drug for men no success story
- Locomotives win inaugural UFL championship
- CityCenter: One man’s concept of a real city
- If Palin’s book is so bad, then why is it a best-seller?
- Was a foiled bank heist a cry for help?
- Q&A: MMA fighter and Playboy model Latasha Marzolla
- UNLV recalls last year’s close shave at Louisville
- Metro corrections officer remembered for his love of family
- Bellfield tolls again for UNLV in 76-71 win over Louisville
Blogs
The Kats Report
If the message is 'rock out,' then KISS is indeed a message band (1 Comment)
Could a savior of shuttered Las Vegas Art Museum be ... Peter Max? (6 Comments)
For Paul Stanley and KISS, rock and roll is not over (6 Comments)
Twenty years ago today, Human Nature took root on the farm (1 Comment)
Robin Leach's Las Vegas Celebrity Watch
Photo Gallery: Donny Osmond’s triumphant return to the Flamingo
The Kats Report
'DWTS' champ Donny Osmond still deft afoot in return to Flamingo (8 Comments)
Politics: The Early Line
Meeting of GOP governors draws challengers, not Gibbons (5 Comments)
Calendar »
- 29 Sun
- 30 Mon
- 1 Tue
- 2 Wed
- 3 Thu
-
Tahoe Takeover at The Bank
The Bank | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Playboy Club model search
Playboy Club | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Queen of Queens at Revolution Lounge
Beatles Revolution Lounge | 10 p.m. to 11:59 p.m.
-
Zowie Bowie's Vintage Vegas Show at Monte Carlo
Lance Burton Theater
The Sun
Locally owned and independent for more than 50 years.
Technorati









