It’s no secret I “enjoy” Las Vegas. After going there 14 times in the past four years I consider myself an unofficial tour guide and resident of Sin City.

A place you can’t miss on the strip is the Wynn. Very fancy, very pretty and very expensive. Since the place cost 2.7 billion dollars to build, I assume selling 99 cent hot dogs isn’t gonna make that money back.

I really didn’t care about the Wynn. Not in a negative way, it just wasn’t on my radar. After getting comfortable staying at MGM, Venetian, etc, I didn’t really see a need to change, until last Saturday.

I had a meeting at Wynn during the BlogWorld conference, and strolled in through the majestic doors with a friend of mine. As soon as we walked in we spotted a man (Wes) using a large carpet cleaning machine. Since he wasn’t in our way, we really thought nothing of it, but he thought differently.

He stopped what he was doing. Looked up…… and smiled. Not one of those “it’s part of my job to smile” ones, but a genuine, warm, authentic smile.

And then he said “Good afternoon, and welcome to the Wynn, please enjoy your day” all the while looking us right in the eye, like it was his mission to ensure we knew he meant business.

And that alone changed my entire perception of the Wynn. Almost 3 billion big ones went into making this mega casino resort, and it was one guy that made me want to stay there. Made me want to tweet about it. Made me want to blog about it. The carpet cleaning dude. I have passed hundreds of people cleaning in casino’s in Vegas, I’ve rarely been given eye contact, and not once felt welcome.

As a matter of fact… I have never, ever been greeted like that by anyone in Vegas.

It’s wonderful and sad at the same time. That this gentleman making us feel welcome at his place of employment was not only exceptional, it was extremely rare.

Casino’s (and probably most of you in business) all have the same “stuff” for the most part. The 5-star resorts all have fancy smells, spa’s, and pretty patterns. But only one resort has Wes.

Marketing is not a task.

Marketing is not a department.

Marketing is not a job.

Marketing happens everytime you engage (or not) with your past/present/potential customers.

(Thanks Wes, and yes, I did enjoy my day, and will even more when I stay at the Wynn, because of you)

Any place in Vegas that really impressed you with their engagement? Can one person really change your opinion of a company? Let me know in the comments below.