Health passport aims to help bring conventions back to Las Vegas
Want to enter a coronavirus-free convention in Las Vegas? There’s an app for that.
Health service company Reviv Global announced that it has launched its digital Heliix Health Passport in Las Vegas. The mobile app uses an encrypted code to show the results of a recent COVID-19 test, and can be used to increase safety for guests in hospitality settings like restaurants, conventions, nightclubs and shows.
Julia Miles, Reviv’s commercial operations director, said the technology can be an instrumental piece in bringing back foot traffic to Las Vegas, especially for midweek conventions.
“The critical piece to bring business back to Vegas is to ensure that the large resorts can offer some level of COVID security to give visitors peace of mind,” she said. “(The resorts have) seen visitor numbers drop so substantially … they need to get people back to Las Vegas, back into their hotel rooms and more importantly into conventions.”
‘Part of the solution’
The passport system would work in conjunction with Reviv’s three Las Vegas COVID-19 testing clinics, located at the MGM Grand, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and The Venetian.
Users who wish to use the system can first download the passport’s app from the Apple App Store or Google Play. Then, they can take a rapid COVID-19 test at one of Reviv’s locations or some other site that offers secure testing technology, and the results are sent directly to the mobile app. The users can then scan the app’s VCode to verify their test results and gain access to certain events.
Miles emphasized that the app prioritizes customer data protection with its VCode technology, which uses end-to-end encryption to prevent potential hacks or data breaches.
“We want to be part of the solution that brings Las Vegas back to the location that it once was as quickly as possible,” she said.
The system also has the ability to show whether a user has been vaccinated, but so far Miles said the system’s users are expected to focus on recent COVID-19 test results.
“We’re focusing, for conventions and for resorts initially, around the test data because at this moment it’s still a huge program to complete, the vaccination rollout,” she said. “We’re not hearing venues saying that they’ll be looking for vaccinations only. Personally, I don’t think that will happen just because it would be too discriminatory around people who genuinely can’t have the vaccine for whatever reason.”
Heliix isn’t the only COVID-19 credential system to roll out in Las Vegas.
On Tuesday, Las Vegas Sands Corp. announced that The Venetian resort has implemented mobile technology to expedite the return of conventions and trade shows in its Las Vegas venues. The digital pass, Health Pass from Clear, can show information such as COVID-19 lab results and soon vaccination results.
Bringing back conventions
Miles said the company is in “extended talks” with a number of major casino operators in Las Vegas.
Where the system is used could vary by company, but Miles said many of the discussions so far have focused on tracking COVID-19 test results in the conventions and meetings space.
“I think some resorts will look at it as a resort-wide level because it’s a great PR tool to be able to say to your potential visitors, ‘We offer a COVID secure venue or resort,’” she said. “Others are primarily interested in convention traffic. … I think it will be within the convention market that we see these passports really start to take hold quickly.”
The convention industry, which typically drives midweek traffic in Las Vegas, has largely been at a standstill since the onset of the pandemic. The first major convention is set to return this June.
“Conventions traffic is such a huge part of the Las Vegas economy,” Miles said. “Bringing it back at 40 or 50 percent just isn’t going to get (businesses) to where they need to be. They need solutions, and they need solutions now to be able to attract visitors … (and) increase those capacity numbers and get back to normality.”
The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Sheldon Adelson, the late chairman and CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp.
Contact Bailey Schulz at bschulz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @bailey_schulz on Twitter.
