Las Vegas Hotel and Casino to reopen

There is some good news at last coming out of Las Vegas as the Plaza Hotel and Casino plans to reopen its doors after being closed for a year for major refurbishment. From reading the General Casino News we learn that as well as re hiring some 300 employees who were made redundant last year there will be positions available for some 500 additional staff but with the situation of unemployment running at over 12% in Vegas, the first day of a two week jobs fair for the hotel resulted in 1000 applicants turning up and a further 8000 applying online which temporarily crashed the system. There is not much good casino news around in Las Vegas as the recession in the USA has taken hold but Plaza is obviously confident enough and the choice of applicants is huge with experienced hotel managers applying for front desk jobs just to get employment. Not of much interest to Irish people seeking work but there are positions for dealers, cashiers, bar tenders and management but as one applicant who is over 40 was not full of hope as she said “I really need to work but in Las Vegas it is about how you look and how old you are”. Tony Santo President and CEO of Play LV was speaking to journalists about the $35 million renovation which he hopes will bring new life to downtown Vegas  but there are going to be a lot of disappointed applicants. It is hoped that the hotel and casino will reopen as soon as August but there is a lot of training of new employees to be done between now and then..