LVCVA Flushes Dozens of Taxpayer Dollars With “Reimagined” Airport Rideshare Pickup

By Scott Roeben, on September 15 2025
5 min read 9 comments
Las Vegas Las Vegas WTF

It’s the dumbest thing we’ve heard since the song lyric, “I need something to chase, something to melt this face,” the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) is unironically promoting a “reimagined” rideshare pickup area at the airport.

We are not making this up. They sent out a news release.

We see that you’re waiting with bated breath to see what your hard-earned room taxes are paying for, so let’s get ready for the kind of innovation and original thinking that’s going to turn this tourism slump right around and pronto. Actual results may vary.

It’s their photo, we’re just sharing it.

So, yeah, that’s pretty much it.

They also built a photo op.

It’s hard to overstate how much of this we are not making up.

Shout-out to all the Canadians booking their flights right now!

To celebrate the launch of this new tourism draw, they hired fauxgirls to pass out bottled water from behind stanchion ropes.

“Fauxgirls” is a new term we just made up to describe “model showgirls” who are models dressed up as showgirls, as opposed to actual showgirls.

To their credit, the LVCVA did not waste even more money by hiring a professional photographer for this event.

Let’s see how this particular collective insanity is being packaged by the folks charged with addressing the fairly serious matter of changing perceptions about Las Vegas.

The news release says, “The space now features vibrant lighting, additional seating, and a custom neon selfie wall that helps visitors kick off their vacation in a fabulous way. On select dates, the experience will be elevated even further with live music, DJs, and other special activations. The transformed pickup zone is a part of the broader ‘Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas’ brand campaign. This multifaceted initiative spans broadcast, activations, experiences, special offers, and partnerships highlighting Las Vegas that will continue to roll out in the coming months.”

Activations is an industry term for “something hacks do when they haven’t had any original ideas since 2003.”

Activations are the illusion of doing something and having ideas.

You feel like cattle, but with flair!

“Las Vegas is a city that sets the standard for excitement and hospitality, and we believe the visitor journey should reflect that from the very beginning,” said Steve Hill, CEO and president of the LVCVA.

There is a very real possibility Steve Hill, CEO and president of the LVCVA, believes this reimagined rideshare pickup area is “setting a standard.”

Come to think of it, it is setting a standard—for half-assed, slapdash, hackneyed, wastes of money so R&R Partners (the LVCVA’s agency of record) can justify its existence at the next LVCVA board meeting.

The bulk of the last LVCVA board meeting was taken up with lots of self-aggrandizement about how well the new “Welcome to Fabulous” has been received, mostly by people living in towns with two traffic lights.

If we ever want to be institutionalized, we’re going to ride public transportation and just mumble the lyrics to ourself. Three hots and a cot! Read more about the new ad.

They said it was “unfortunate” the ad got a teensy amount of negative feedback (“local loud voices,” meaning ours) because the LVCVA is really hoping to “rally the troops” to “lean into changing the narrative” in order to distract from the fact hundreds of news stories worldwide have come out about how Las Vegas is no longer a value destination but if we just lean into changing the narrative enough there is absolutely nothing to see here.

Watch the meeting here. The relevant part is 18 minutes in.

Following that meeting of the mutual stroking society, we were waiting for the next phase of the “Welcome to Fabulous” campaign, the part where serious people being paid a lot of money take on a formidable and ongoing challenge.

Nope, we get Vegas Vickie, a few Googie stars and photo ops only the most intoxicated visitors are likely to capture.

On the bright side, they got the dice pips right.

The showgirls won’t be there when you land, so adjust your expectations accordingly.

You want to give visitors a photo op they actually want to share with friends back home? How about an iconic fountain on an idyllic lake where jets shoot arcs of water that dance in perfect sync with music and light.

Oh, that’s right, Bellagio’s fountains are covered up for three months of the year because of a three-day F1 race.

Just as few questioned why the LVCVA is pushing an event that disrupts the visitor experience for months, nobody asked a simple question about the rideshare area: “WTF are you doing?” It used to be that journalists would do that, but it’s Las Vegas.

Do we have to do everything?

One parting thought from the news release, Jim Chrisley, Clark County Director of Aviation: “Our team at Harry Reid International Airport is dedicated to making every arrival memorable, and this new rideshare area is a testament to that commitment. By partnering with the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, we’ve created a space that’s not just functional, but also fun and welcoming. We’re proud to offer travelers a first impression that’s as distinctive as the destination itself.”

This is where we are with “fun and welcoming”? And they wonder why visitation has fallen off.

Airports aren’t for fun. They’re for being miserable. They’re a necessary evil to get to the fun. Use taxpayer money for free shuttles from the airport to The Strip and downtown. Make the wait so short people don’t have time for a photo op of a bench.

The point is our tourism experts have been resting on their laurels. We need genuine surprise and delight, not silly P.R. stunts that give the appearance of those things.

Is this rideshare area overhaul better than nothing? Marginally. Is it remarkable? Buzzworthy? Unforgettable?

The key question (that should be the criteria for all LVCVA efforts moving forward): Is it fabulous?

Now isn’t a time to lower the bar, it’s a time to raise it. The future of Las Vegas depends upon it.

Yes, that’s a little dramatic, but you write 3,291 blog posts and see how punchy your kickers are.

Update (9/16/25): The LVCVA’s brain trust isn’t done with you yet! We just got another news release about a new “Fabulous Tunnel Walk.” We are still not making this up. From the news release, “The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) and the Las Vegas Raiders have collaborated on a striking redesign of the players’ entrance tunnel at Allegiant Stadium.” To clarify, it’s the redesign of a tunnel.

More of your tax dollars at work.

It doesn’t make a lot of sense until you read further: “Often a focal point of media attention and fan excitement, the players tunnel has become an unofficial runway for athletes to showcase their personal style. With the Fabulous Tunnel Walk, Vegas transforms these arrivals into a stage worthy of the Sports and Entertainment Capital of the World.”

In case your layperson’s simple mind persists in thinking this is one of the dumbest ideas, ever, there’s this: “The Fabulous Tunnel Walk adds new life to the wall that the players have walked by on their way into the locker room since Allegiant Stadium’s opening in 2020.”

Don’t you get it? Athletes walk by this wall!

Las Vegas is going to need more hotel rooms, stat.

Update (9/16/25): Here’s a discussion about the LVCVA’s new ad on the City Cast Las Vegas podcast.