Allegiant: Work from Las Vegas
Airline cites amenities in courting passengers
No-frills Allegiant Air unapologetically caters to vacationers, but the crushing coronavirus pandemic has it scouting a new type of traveler, too.
The Las Vegas-based airline in late August plans to start peddling work-from-Las Vegas travel packages, including nonstop airline tickets and a hotel room. The pitch: Fly, stay, work and play.
“We’re working with a top Las Vegas casino resort operator to capture opportunities presented by the rise in remote working,” Scott DeAngelo, the airline’s chief marketing officer, teased on the airline’s earnings call Wednesday. “The business traveler paying on the corporate card is now giving way to the individual travelers paying their own way to work remote, but away from home.”
The targets: professionals in larger cities Allegiant serves, including Oakland, California; Cincinnati; Indianapolis; Rockford, Illinois, outside Chicago; and even close-by Phoenix, DeAngelo told USA TODAY.
Why Las Vegas? Allegiant serves 58 cities from McCarran International Airport, and the Las Vegas Strip has a glut of empty rooms with the convention and meetings business gone and unlikely to return in the near future. The CES, the giant consumer technology trade show that kicks off convention season each January, said this week that the 2021 show would be virtual instead of in person.
It all adds up to cheap travel packages, especially as summer vacation season winds down and Allegiant and other airlines are fighting for an even smaller pool of travelers. For a fournight weekday stay for one at the MGM Grand in mid-September, the airline is currently selling air and hotel packages from Indianapolis to Las Vegas on its website for $340 including taxes but excluding seat assignment and baggage and hotel resort fees.
From Cincinnati to Las Vegas, sample prices in mid-October for a three-night stay at the Flamingo Las Vegas start at $227; the luxe Bellagio, $638.
DeAngelo said Las Vegas casino hotels, used to catering to global business travelers, have all the amenities travelers need, including business centers, reliable Wi-Fi and suites for meetings, if needed.
The big lure, of course: Las Vegas’ lineup of restaurants and nightlife, including gambling.
“Why be strapped there in your studio apartment or in your home office when you could be working by day … and playing by night?” DeAngelo said.
Allegiant spokeswoman Hilarie Grey likened it to co-working space WeWork, but with world-class pools, dining, shopping and gambling onsite.
DeAngelo said Allegiant got the idea to target remote workers from its research showing that about 5% of its recent customers say they were traveling for a combination of business and leisure, as well as media coverage of destinations and individual hotels pitching themselves as ideal work-from-home spots. “Work from anywhere is the new normal,” he said.
MGM Resorts is the largest operator of casino hotels on the Las Vegas Strip.
MGM spokesman Brian Ahern declined comment on any marketing partnership with Allegiant.