Buyers Must Try Their Luck On Finding Lodging

<H1> Buyers Must Try Their Luck On Finding Lodging</H1>By Maxine Cass

<I>Las Vegas </I>- Although business travelers book several million room nights a year in America's capital of gambling, corporate travel managers still need to swim upstream to find accommodations in a city where nightlife and gaming rule.

On the one hand, Las Vegas is experiencing a frenzy of hotel and residential development, McCarron International Airport is booming (<I>Meetings Today</I>, Aug. 19) and major businesses are establishing satellite offices because of low tax rates. In contrast, corporate buyers are having a tough time putting up travelers here.

Las Vegas is "a challenge," according to Jay Rifkin, corporate travel manager for FHP International, a healthcare firm in Santa Ana, Calif., and president of the Orange County Business Travel Association.

While FHP does "quite a lot of business" in Las Vegas, where it maintains an office, "it's a difficult destination because most hotels don't want to do corporate programs," Rifkin said.

"I've been told, 'we don't really do corporate business,' " said Eileen Blomendale, supervisor of travel administration for Qualcomm Inc., a major wireless communications corporation in San Diego.

"Lodging is a nightmare. I have had people in a property for a week, and then had them moved because they don't gamble on the weekend," she said.

According to Blomendale, the staff has had to "pull in favors" to secure lodging, adding, "it's touch and go no matter what time of year." Blomendale books about 3,000 room nights a year, primarily handling traffic between the company's San Diego and Las Vegas offices.

Rifkin attributes the city's unique lodging problems to the fact that "Las Vegas is a resort destination, as opposed to a corporate destination. The rates increase Friday through Sunday, with a two-night minimum."

Even if space is available at some properties for companies delivering a large amount of market share during the major convention periods, the rate can increase tenfold, up to between $300 and $400 per room night, Blomendale said.

Nonetheless, hotel suppliers and some corporate buyers argue that the gambling town is workable for both a company and its traveling employees.

Coatta Wilder, an executive assistant who arranges travel for Johnson Communities of Nevada Inc., books up to 150 room nights a year in Las Vegas for employees. The construction company's top executives prefer the Las Vegas Hilton for its gourmet food, service, size and ease of movement in a property away from the Las Vegas Strip, she said.

At the 500-room Alexis Park, a non-gaming property close to the airport, "there are no tourists, no gaming, no mix-ups," said national sales manager Ron Gebhardt. The hotel, which has negotiated corporate programs with Johnson Communities and Bechtel Nevada, offers a business center, Dollar Rent-A-Car on site and 24-hour camera surveillance at both entrances.

What's the ideal location for business travelers in Las Vegas? According to travel managers queried, it's a block away from the immediate distractions of gaming and entertainment, but close enough to a project or company office-and year-round room availability, of course.