The reality as we end 2009 is that there has never been a better time to be a tourist or a worse time to own a business in Las Vegas. There is some payback to this. In recent years, Las Vegas specialized in a sort of insistent gouging: deals loaded up with fine print, and promises of access for cash that only lead to more demands for cash.

There were back in 2006-2007 so many practices that tourists wrote to me about in which they felt scammed and abused for their cash and at a level that made them hostile to all Vegas. And, this was during the boom times for Vegas. Still, there was always the incentive to try to make that next bonus or commission, and many of the locals were already acting like there was a recession on. Of course, we know now (as we lead the nation in foreclosures and bankruptcies) many Las Vegas locals were deep sea diving into debt as heavily as the casinos which employed them. From the company to the employee, therefore everyone was always trying for just one more dollar from every tourist.

Well, then the economy went bad and the hedge funds investing here lost millions, and things got ugly and then desperate. I am not sure how those two periods, the ugly and the desperate, each lasting about 6 months, landed on the tourist experience. Staffs were cut as much as possible (except at select properties like Wynn) and so service probably suffered some. But probably not too much. Along with great entertainment, fawning obsequious yet quality customer service is part of what has always distinguished Vegas from other tourism spots. The resorts know they  are located in the middle of an empty desert and so are very glad you spent your vacation here; and they really need you to come back with friends.

Also, many front-line casino employees are union workers who take great pride in the responsibility of helping guests make their vacations special. I suspect the people who kept their jobs at resorts were just worked harder to hide much of the impact of cutbacks from the customers. Of course, that is unsustainable for a long period of time. It has been a long period of time.

Much remains uncertain about the future of Vegas. We have been a town that has survived on volume business from all kinds of tourists through most of Vegas history; yet, now the Strip has built a generation of properties (Wynn, Encore, THE Hotel at Mandalay Bay, CityCenter, Venetian’s Palazzo) and shopping malls to go with those resorts that are all meant to cater to the highest of high end customers.

At the moment, Vegas sits mired at the slowest point of any year, where many rooms are closed at hotels– up and down the Strip– even in good times. And, a lot of the production shows go dark for much of January, too. So, the future begins when this traditional slow period concludes toward the end of January. Then, the newly humbled Vegas, will emerge desperate to fill its hotel inventory at any price necessary.  And, so Vegas will be forced to offer the cheapest luxury vacations in the United States probably for all of next year.

In fact, in Las Vegas for 2010 the only certain bet is that this will be the year of the tourist; bargains here are going to be real and extreme as companies try to generate revenue to get to the other side without collapsing from their debt. And, what is on this other side? That will be the new Vegas on the mend and inevitably transforming again: but into what form remains the great unknown. (Photo: Sarah Gerke)