Harrah’s Entertainment is deploying an iPhone application with a GPS locator that will follow consumers as they walk through the company’s Las Vegas casinos, sending text messages to their phones with offers that coincide with nearby restaurants, showrooms and other attractions.
“If you’re at Paris, we could send you two free admissions to the Eiffel Tower ride or if you’re at Caesars Palace after 6 p.m., we could send you an offer for the Bette Midler show,” said a company spokesman, Neal Narayani, in an interview with the Las Vegas Sun. “We might have some additional show tickets left over, so knowing where the customer is is a great way to get those tickets pushed.”
Harrah’s also has launched an automatic hotel check-in application that incorporates text messaging. Texpress, debuting at Caesars Palace, allows customers to bypass the front desk, similar to what hotels have already done with the check-out process.
When booking a room through the Caesars Palace Web site, customers may choose a check-in feature prompting them to confirm their arrival a day in advance by texting the property.
The GPS technology is part of the company’s iPhone application for Caesars Palace, which launches this month with a map of the resort, contact numbers for various attractions and access to the hotel’s Twitter feed, among other features.
Harrah’s joins a handful of major hotel chains with iPhone applications allowing visitors to find nearby hotels based on their location and learn more about properties and amenities.