HAMMOND | Five Horseshoe Casino employees will become jet-setting VIPs Thursday when they wing their way to Las Vegas as winners of the corporation’s Trip of a Lifetime contest.
The contest was the culmination of an incentive program for employees to drive customer service, said Dawn Reynolds Pettit, vice president of human resources at the Hammond Horseshoe.
Casino guests scored their experience and employees received points for their part in making guest feel welcome, she said. When they reached a certain percentage, the employees were eligible to earn credits for merchandise and gift cards.
“We decided then to up the ante,” Reynolds Pettit said. “If the property gained 6 percent in revenue by the end of 2012, we put all the names (of the top-scoring employees) into the Trip of a Lifetime and drew randomly.”
Each of those five winning employees and a guest will travel in limousines from their homes to the Gary/Chicago International Airport where a private jet will take them in true VIP-style to the gambling capital of the U.S. In Las Vegas, even more surprises and rewards await, said Reynolds Pettit.
“We will pay their vacation days. Each will have a private VIP suite at Caesar’s Palace, a choice of five different shows to attend and spending money for the hotel,” she said.
Reynolds Pettit and Erin Chamberlin, vice president and assistant general manager of Horseshoe Casino Hammond, will meet the VIPs with limousines and will host a special dinner at one of the top Las Vegas restaurants.
“We won’t be on the private jet. We’ve booked ourselves in coach,” Reynolds Pettit said.
Among the other treats the employees and guests will receive are a camera with video recorder that will allow them to share their experiences with fellow employees, she said. A Caesar’s Palace host will also serve as a personal concierge for the guests during the trip.
The VIPs return Sunday. For one couple, it’s the honeymoon they didn’t get to take and several of the employees have never been on an airplane, Reynolds Pettit said.
“We are so excited for them,” she said. “We can’t wait.”
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