Las Vegas, Day 2: Last night I was given a $2,000 a day suite.

[Mel Kleiman]

Las Vegas has a problem and it is making things worse for itself.

When you cut the customer experience, you create a problem for yourself and your employees.

Yesterday, I checked into one of the nicest hotels on the Strip and they gave me a great room overlooking the pool. The only problem was that as I was sitting at the desk working, the room began to smell of cooking grease. I could tell you the whole story, but they decided to move me and, since I had been so inconvenienced, they moved me to the penthouse, top floor, 2 bedrooms, 3 baths, giant living room, dining room, wow shower, 5 TV's (3 in the bathrooms), and the list could go on.

Here is the other list. They didn't have the remotes to work the TV's in the bathrooms, took 3 hours to find some; air conditioner in one room didn't work (seems someone forgot to clean the filters the last 2 years); no robe in the room, no turndown service, and 3 of the lights were not working. Well what do you expect for $2,000.00 a night?

I have to tell you the employees are really nice, but are they frustrated. The one phrase that all of them have learned and they have learned it well is: "I'm sorry."

Yes, cuts have affected the customer experience and are now affecting the employee experience. Yes, the employees are glad to have a job (especially in Las Vegas). but what will happen as soon as things get better or they can figure out how to get out of this town?

Yes, Las Vegas has a challenge and so do all of us in business. But instead of making the customer and the employee experience worse, we need to figure out how to make it better.