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Las Vegas Website Promotes Mistake-free Trip

"Of the 32 million visitors who come to Las Vegas each year, about 16 percent come for business, most often for conventions and trade shows, like the annual Comdex technology exhibition that is expected to draw more than 80,000 people starting Nov. 16.

"Mistakes can be tragic (witness Siegel's demise by gunfire at the hands of unhappy fellow mobsters in 1947). They can be expensive.

"...To address that, the Greenspun Media Group created a website, VEGAS.com, that positions itself as the leading source of reliable, detailed and up-to-date information about Las Vegas. Greenspun Media is part of the publishing and real estate empire founded by the late Hank Greenspun, the swashbuckling Las Vegas Sun publisher.

"[Howard Lefkowitz] took over as president of VEGAS.com in late 2001, after heading Internet marketing at EarthLink and running the telemedia businesses of Home Shopping Network.

"...The site is crammed with information of every sort about Las Vegas. But one of its most important functions is to provide the Las Vegas visitor with a kind of virtual concierge, able to get into a restaurant that's turning away customers or a nightclub show that's supposedly sold out.

"'It used to be in Vegas, if you weren't a high roller being pampered by a casino, you had to have what was called a 'Guy' to get those things,' Lefkowitz said. 'I used to have a Guy named Minnie. I'd call and say, 'Minnie, can you get me into this place? Can you get me a ticket to that show?' Inevitably, Minnie would deliver.'

"...As it did with Minnie, getting one of the best tables at that swanky sold-out restaurant, getting into the front for that booked show, getting that suite in a supposedly full hotel, or getting front-of-the-line privileges for that in-demand nightclub is going to cost you a few bucks.

"...VEGAS.com has marketing arrangements with hotels, restaurants, nightclubs, tour operators, airlines and others to bring in revenue while ensuring that its users' needs will be met with a room, a table or a ticket. The company also distributes thick loose-leaf folders with detailed information to hotel concierges..."

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