On the morning of January 25, 2008, it was all over television and the Internet: "The Monte Carlo Hotel in Las Vegas is on fire." But by the end of the day, the story had faded from the headlines. If it bleeds it leads, goes the expression, and the fire in the 32-story hotel had been put out and the building evacuated with no casualties. But how the staffs at the Monte Carlo and other properties on the Strip scrambled to make sure the scheduled meetings and events at the hotel went on with as little interruption as possible was truly an untold storyuntil now.
Safety First
"We confirmed there was a rooftop fire and began evacuating," said Chris McGahey, vice president of hotel operations at the Monte Carlo. "Alarms went off, and we had the housekeepers and security banging on every door. They told the guests, 'Please leave your items. Carrying luggage can slow down the process.' Staff members helped people down; some actually carried guests down the stairs and out the stairwells to the south lot."
The second floor meeting space at the Monte Carlo was evacuated as well. "We had quite a few meetings, so we were directing hundreds of people out of conference rooms and ballrooms," McGahey says. "We had an employee every 20 feet all the way out to the south parking lot. All hands were on deck to help."
Although the 2,000-room hotel was 95-percent occupied, there were no injuries. The guests were moved into the MGM Grand Arena, where they were set up with rooms at other MGM properties, like the MGM, Bellagio, and Treasure Island." If guests needed something, they could charge it to the room, while groups that shipped items to the business service center were able to get them out from the dock. The bellmen and security guards from the Bellagio, Mandalay Bay, MGM, and Luxor came over to help.
Even Fletch Brunelle, senior vice president of sales and marketing for Bellagio, pitched in as a lobby greeter. "I was a smiling face, opening the door and helping direct them to where they needed to go." In a true Las Vegas moment, Brunelle also had to deal with some inebriated people and keep them calm.
Meetings Up in Smoke?
What to tell meeting planners about their upcoming meetings wasn't as simple. And with visions of their carefully planned meetings going up in smoke, planners were already calling.
One was Neil Schwartz, senior event manager of the California/Nevada Credit Union Leagues, who he had a 270-delegate meeting scheduled at the Monte Carlo for February 10 to 12.
"With our meeting coming up and the Monte Carlo not rescheduled to open until February 8 [it would not actually reopen until the 15], it made us nervous." Schwartz had four sets of two breakouts with breakfast and lunch and two more general sessions, as well as welcome receptions, that would have to be moved.
"We had just over 50 groups in the next seven days at Monte Carlo," says Brunelle. "We moved 45 of them immediately, and by Sunday we were able to move all of them, including their meeting event orders (MEOs) and banquet event orders (BEOs) and the set ups, such as a horseshoe for 20 people."
Schwartz sent a blast e-mail to all registered delegates to keep them informed, and within a day he heard from the Monte Carlo saying that the meeting would be transferred to the Bellagio. "They transferred all the reservations, produced our banquet event orders from Monte Carlo; within 24 hours they had everything in their system; and a week before the meeting everything was ready to go."
In fact, Schwartz' delegates really lucked out. "At the Bellagio, the meeting space was all close together; they didn't pigeon hole us. All the food and beverage and audio visual services were honored at the Monte Carlo rates. Even our room rate was honored at $95 a night."
Schwartz tried to stay in touch with all the delegates through blast e-mails and changes on the website, but there were a few glitches. "We tried to call or e-mail everyone; one person didn't get the message went to Monte Carlo and was then directed to New York and finally on to the Bellagio. There were a couple of complaints, but nothing significant; on a one to five scale our attendees gave it a 4.7," Schwartz says. "In fact, they want to come back to Bellagio at Monte Carlo ratesbut that ain't going to happen."
What can meeting planners learn from his experience? "The importance of regular and immediate contact with your attendees when the situation is up in the air," says Schwartz.
A Moving Experience
Not just meetings were moved. "We accommodated several weddings that daywe moved them to the MGM," says McGahey. And in an only-in-Las-Vegas story, a woman playing slots in the casino had just hit the jackpot and didn't want to leave. A quick-thinking security guard and casino supervisor had her point at the security camera to make sure they got it on tape. The next day she came by and collected.
For meeting planner Robert Colvin, the problem was more immediate. Colvin, vice president of strategic accounts at Experient, was helping put on the World Market Center show for the furniture industry. The show was starting on January 28, and he had 900 rooms at the Monte Carlo. He was in a pre-show meeting at the MGM Grand across the street when the fire started.
"We got a phone call, went to the third floor of the MGM, and saw the commotion. We were there for several hours while they moved the guests into the MGM Grand Arena and immediately provided food and water and medical supplies. We were with our convention services rep and were soon working with our sales contact. We first helped the delegates who had already checked into Monte Carlo, then those arriving Friday."
Meanwhile, Colvin says "We immediately provided info back to our call center in Deerfield, IL, so the delegates would know where they were going. There was a lot of shifting and juggling, but their staff made it work. Delegate reservations were honored; they accommodated 900 rooms at MGM, Bellagio, Mirage, Treasure Island, and Excalibur."
Many of Colvin's delegates had already checked in. They asked, "My personal items are there, when can I get back in and get my stuff?" Once the fire was put out and the building declared safe, attendees were able to go back and get their things out of their rooms, accompanied by housekeepers and security. "The process was professional," says Colvin, "There were no incidents of anyone not retrieving their items."
With any large group, says Colvin, there are some minor complaints in such a situation. "People were put in multiple hotels instead of one, or they wanted to do a sales recap meeting in their suite. But it could have been much worse; people were gracious. They were glad they had clean, comfortable rooms, and they appreciated that they were able to conduct business as normal."
For planners, Colvin says, "It's important to make sure when you're contracting that if there is a catastrophe your attendees are protected and the rates are honored. Make sure you have those protections in writing."
"It's also good to have emergency and crisis plans, so there is a chain of command about when, who calls who, what is the chain, and so on. As a planner you need to make sure you have the right list of operational people, such as your front office manager and security director, in addition to your meetings contact."
If you have a single-hotel meeting, Colvin says, "Know your city; where do you move? What's your second and third choice? Who still has rooms, if you're taking reservations until the last moment? At [another show], where we get 125,000 attendees, we have previously negotiated deals as backup on an overflow basis."
Colvin's group benefited from the fact that the city had some availability. "Otherwise, we would have had to segment and fragment people and look to go off-Strip if necessary," he says. "But the large reservoir of rooms and the way competitors will pull together in such circumstances is an advantage of doing a meeting in Las Vegas. I had calls from Westin, Harrah's, Sahara, and Hilton Grand Vacations, to make sure everyone was placed. It was not an easy task, but MGM accommodated us very well."
//SIDEBAR//
When the Fire Started...
1. Guests were evacuated to a staging area at the MGM Grand Arena.
2. The guests were relocated to rooms at other MGM properties. Staffers, such as Fletch Brunelle, senior vice president of marketing for the Bellagio, pitched in as lobby greeters at their properties.
3. Bellmen and security guards from other MGM properties converged at the Monte Carlo to assist the Monte Carlo staff with the transfer of guests' luggage and other valuables to their new hotels.
Originally published April 01, 2008
For more ideas, tips, and tools for better meetings and events, get Successful Meetings' weekly e-newsletter delivered to your inbox.