Surface in Sin City

When I first heard that the Rio was going to have a Surface, I thought "Wow, how cool is that!" I figured that Surface could be a very cool gambling device, but I found out that you have to jump through some serious hoops in Vegas to get a machine certified for gambling.

When I saw the Flirt video I thought it was pretty stupid, but than again I haven't been dating for a long time (happily married for 15 years) so perhaps I was just out of touch.

It's now my understanding from several different people who are in the know, that the Surface units at hotels and other hospitality settings are not returning on their investment. This makes sense, after all, how long can a novelty really pay off? In order to survive in the hospitality industry, or anywhere else for that matter, the Surface has to provide a return on investment. It has to encourage people to buy more stuff, or help them get more stuff done, or see stuff more clearly. Just being an attraction is not enough.

A shout out to Julie Meridian who recently penned this blog post about the good, the bad, and the ugly aspects of the Surface device and applications at the Rio in Las Vegas. The title of this blog is ripped off from Julie's post. Thanks, Julie! It's a great read! (thanks to Jonathan Brill's blog for the pointer).