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Wynn Las Vegas Doesn’t Appear to Live up to Expectations

by Gary Leff

las vegas
Jul 17 2005

The travel section in today’s New York Times carries a review of Wynn Las Vegas… as though the property didn’t get enough press when it was opening. This $2.7 billion hotel seems far from offering a flawless experience, and most folks seem disappointed. TripAdvisor reviews are decidedly mixed. I haven’t stayed there yet. Now, no 2700 room property can possibly be a luxury hotel. Personal service seems impossible. Complexes are sprawling. Wait times will occasionally seem interminable, no matter how well the property is designed, when unusually large cohorts of guests decide to make us of the same thing at once (pool, elevators, checkin/checkout). I have nothing against large resorts per se. I have an upcoming stay booked at the Westin Diplomat, and I enjoyed a trip to Wyndham’s El Conquistador in San Juan last…

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Tidbits from Joe Sharkey

by Gary Leff

airplane
Feb 16 2005

Yesterday’s Joe Sharkey column in the New York Times contained a couple of interesting tidbits. First, according to an American Express survey[M]ore than a third [of respondents] believe it is either “somewhat” or “quite” common for business travelers to submit expense accounts with “one or more completely false or bogus charges.” This does not surprise me in the least. Taxicab receipts are usually provided blank to travelers. Other receipts are easy to fudge. And travelers find it easy to justify ‘a little extra’ in their expense report as compensation for long days and time away from home. When oversight is poor, and there’s the expectation of insufficient scrutiny, even the best and most honest travelers may fudge. I see it every day. (One small part of my job is making sure it doesn’t happen where…

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Mileage audits… on the rise?

by Gary Leff

airplane
Nov 23 2004

This morning’s New York Times carries a piece by Christopher Elliott on airline audits of frequent flyer accounts. Suspicious activity can cause an airline to freeze an account and investigate. The piece suggests that audits are on the rise, but provides no evidence of this other than that audits happen. It speculates that airline financial problems have spurred more audits, but I know of no carrier that sees auditing of accounts as a meaningful new revenue source. Instead, if audits are becoming more common it’s likely due to technology. If you don’t provide your frequent flyer number on an airline reservation at booking, and then after the flight submit the boarding passes to the airline you flew as well as their partners, the various carriers are much more likely to catch that now than they…

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