Retailers everywhere are hoping for a busy holiday season but Atlantic City hotels and casinos are betting on it. They are offering various promotions with rooms, gift cards and even some flights into the local airport.
Some casinos such Bally’s Atlantic City are giving out gift cards every 15 minutes.
"Shopping and other nongaming amenities are going to become more and more important as we move forward in Atlantic City," Mary Tindall, vice president of marketing for Tropicana, told the Atlantic City Press.
Shopping in Atlantic City is used as a major marketing tool throughout the year, Tindall said. BuMt it is intensifying this time of year.
The Sheraton Atlantic City Convention Center Hotel is offering customer discount books at shopping centers, slot machine vouchers and some restaurants discount cards.
"We’ve seen everything, from small groups – whether it’s a club or neighborhood friends who wanted to spend the night and start shopping in the morning – to large groups at the convention center (who) see the shopping as an opportunity," said Carla Caulk, the hotel’s director of sales and marketing.
Observers say, so far at least, the promotions have had little or no impact.
By David Wilkening
