From the comfort of the WestJet executive suite, which is outfitted with two aircraft seats, industry partners and members of the Las Vegas Insider’s Club took in the action at the Rogers Centre yesterday as the Jays defeated the Athletics during the opening weekend of the home team’s 50th season.
“With the Athletics coming to Las Vegas in 2028, it’s the perfect opportunity for us to showcase everything that is new with our destination, the airline, and to promote our baseball team that is coming in,” David Han, senior account representative, Canada, for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA), told TravelPress Today.
Launched last summer, the Las Vegas Insider’s Club is a recognition and rewards initiative for top selling Canadian travel advisors.
“We wanted to create a unique platform for travel agents to really incentivize them for selling and promoting Las Vegas. We wanted to create more excitement about the initiative and give back to our travel agent community signing up for the program in all the major cities across Canada,” Han shared. “This is one of the initiatives as the A’s are coming to Las Vegas in 2028.”
The LVCVA’s David Han with WestJet Vacations’ Shannon Cunningham in the WestJet executive suite
The Insider’s Club features official recognition from the LVCVA, VIP FAM trips, monthly rewards and invitations to in-market events from Michelin-star culinary experiences to sports and music packages. For example, a Bruno Mars concert experience is planned for May as well.
The A’s will be moving to their new home, the Las Vegas Ballpark, a US$2 billion, 33,000-seat, climate-controlled stadium with a retractable roof, in 2028, which represents an “exciting chapter” for the destination’s evolving sports scene.
“Vegas has been known as the entertainment capital of the world for many years, but with the introduction of our NHL team, the Vegas Golden Knights and all the success they had within a few years, with the addition of the Las Vegas Raiders, our NFL team and then you’re going to bring an MLB team as well, [the city is continuing to evolve beyond entertainment],” he said. “We call ourselves ‘The Greatest Arena on Earth,’ where we have a plethora of sports from MLB, NFL, NHL, UFC to WWE, really transforming our city as not just the entertainment capital, but the entertainment and sports capital of the world.”
Although many Canadians are still avoiding travel to the U.S., he shared that hotels in the destination are actively going after the market.
Take me out to the ball game! Industry partners and members of the Las Vegas Insider’s Club cheer on the Blue Jays
“Our hotels are being very proactive in the market and they know the impact of everything, geopolitically, has had a significant impact on our visitation. We have the dollar at par promotion with three hotels in downtown Las Vegas and MGM has also introduced their all-inclusive package for the first time ever launching that program. Some of our other hotels like Resorts World also has a summer exclusive where you can pay a fixed price and get a hotel, food and beverage and show tickets included,” he said. “So really going after and understanding the market, that Canadians are very value conscious, and to offset the dollar, the exchange rate, the economy. Our hotels are doing everything they can to bring back Canadians.”
As for getting there, Shannon Cunningham, director of agency sales at WestJet Vacations highlighted that WestJet’s summer schedule features daily flights from Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary, and five weekly flights from Winnipeg and Toronto to Vegas.
“So lots of opportunities to get your clients down to see Vegas and all there is to explore,” she said. “We’re excited to have the trade partners here with us for a joint event together to showcase our home beloved Blue Jays. We have been honoured with Ernie Clement being the spokesperson for WestJet. He’s a fabulous team player, fabulous teammate, just a great spokesperson. We’re happy to have him on board.”
