Clarifying the Record on Harrah's

The item in the Review-Journal this weekend about the IP being integrated into Harrah's Total Rewards Program raised questions regarding what Harrah's VP Jan Jones had told me in late June about the future of the property. At that time, she said that it would be expensive and laborious to integrate the hotel.

That's why I called her today. The R-J item was unsourced, so it was unclear whether it was even true. I wanted to ask Jones myself.

In the process, Jones became aware of my June 28 post, which she had not read. She was concerned about the passage in that report that suggested the company might take Harrah's flagship hotel off-line at some point whenever the massive mid-Strip redevelopment plan is undertaken. That was an impression I had gotten from our discussion, and she says that it is incorrect, that there is no plan to close that property.

She then said she'd check on the IP-Total Rewards tidbit from the R-J and get back to me. Minutes later, she did, to confirm that it's true. She had said earlier that if it were true, it would be because the property was profitable enough for the expense of the integration.

There is still no plan to integrate Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon, the former Barbary Coast, or even acknowledge they own it on the Harrah's Web site, fyi.