Entertainment Benefits Group provides discounted show tickets, tour packages
If in recent years you've purchased a ticket to see a performance by a headliner or a production show on the Las Vegas Strip, chances are good that Entertainment Benefits Group played a role in that transaction.
The company, one of the largest privately held travel and entertainment providers in the country, is responsible for selling millions of tickets each year for myriad performances in Orlando, New York City and Las Vegas.
Among the ticket "products" that Entertainment Benefits Group sells locally are some of the biggest names to grace area marquees, including music legends Celine Dion, Elton John and Rod Stewart, who perform at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace; and comedy stars Tim Allen and David Spade, who play at The Venetian.
It also sells tickets to the popular production shows "Jersey Boys," "Jabbawockeez," "Love," "Le Rêve," "O" and "Mystère," among dozens of others; and to numerous attractions throughout Southern Nevada - Shark Reef, Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, Pole Position Raceway and Madame Tussauds Las Vegas among them. Meanwhile tour packages, such as those offered by Maverick Helicopters, Open Top Sightseeing, ATV Action Tours and Pink Jeep Tours, can also be purchased through the company.
Founded in 2001, Entertainment Benefits Group's business initially focused on providing to corporations specially designed entertainment benefits programs, which are used to reward and retain workers. Such programs can include exclusive offers and discounted pricing for theme park tickets, hotel stays, concerts and other events.
"We started the company with the idea to provide perks for large organizations to offer their employees a benefit," explained Brett Reizen, Entertainment Benefits Group's founder, president and CEO. "There wasn't a company out there that provided special offers not available to the public for employees to access for exciting things like entertainment, attractions, movies, shows, travel. So we created that program."
Entertainment Benefits Group has since expanded, making its services available to the public via websites through which customers can book hotel rooms, and show and tour tickets. Those sites include bestofvegas.com, bestoforlando.com, bestofnewyork.com, showtickets.com and ticketsatwork.com.
It is also preparing to launch later this year what it's calling a "national public ticketing platform," from which the company will sell tickets for attractions, shows and tours. Entertainment Benefits Group has also created a branded website for Stephens Media, parent company of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, through which it will begin selling tickets in the coming months.
"What we bring to the table is the convenience of offering all of our best products in the destinations that we serve," Reizen said.
Convenience is coupled with "amazing customer service, he continued. "It sounds like a simple yet normal thing to say, but we really do go the extra mile, and we have a lot of loyal repeat customers and we've grown because of that."
Grown it has: Entertainment Benefits Group entered the Las Vegas market in 2008, and the following year acquired Travelocity on Location, which previously had ticket-sales booths throughout the resort corridor. The booths were rebranded as Tickets & Tours.
The company now boasts 35 retail outlets at 20 area locations, including The Forum Shops at Caesars, The Grand Canal Shoppes, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas Premium Outlets North and South, Stratosphere and McCarran International Airport. Additionally, Tickets & Tours' ticketing system is utilized by 15 additional area properties, including The Venetian, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas and Trump International.
"We have a last-minute inventory with all of the shows and tour companies," Reizen explained, so customers can access sold-out shows and "day-of" tickets when extra seats are available. "We have daily specials and we offer (tickets to) absolutely everything there is available in Vegas at our retail locations."
Reizen said his company has a "very deep relationship" with the various Cirque du Soleil productions in town and nationally, which provides some exclusivity in terms of the sales offers Tickets & Tours has available for those shows.
Tickets & Tours' prices "are pretty much the same in most cases, if not better" than those of competing local discount ticket sellers, Reizen said. "The difference is we give customers seat locations. It's not a long line of people waiting (to purchase) a voucher that they have to exchange at the (showroom) box office," as is the procedure when buying through other local ticket agencies.
The ticket-sales industry in Las Vegas "has changed a lot over the last few years. People are definitely buying a lot more last-minute," Reizen said.
"It depends on the type of person that's in Vegas at the time - of how they're going to spend their money, which is really interesting how it changes from one week to the next. When room rates increase, you sometimes see the type of person who comes to spend their money might go to a more expensive show, versus when room rates are inexpensive."
Also, visitors who drive to Southern Nevada from California "might take advantage of more deals on entertainers and attractions," he said.
By "giving people more value and more options, they can plan and prepare more (for their trip) in advance. Also, if there are deals to be had, they can go see two shows rather than just one," he said.
During off-peak travel seasons, show-ticket availability "might be a little bit better. Then they can definitely get more bang for their buck."
Essential to keeping customers happy is to train employees to provide excellent service. Reizen explained Entertainment Benefits Group strives to hire "people that are excited and engaged in selling and being around live entertainment. We're lucky and fortunate that we do something fun every day, so we try to instill fun into what we do and how we do it and our (corporate) culture, and within that we have a pretty good training program."
Entertainment Benefits Group employs 119 people in Southern Nevada, including 15 in its local call center, and another 40 at its office at 1421 E. Sunset Road in Las Vegas. The remaining employees are field agents who work at the Tickets & Tours locations.
Cheryl Roycroft, vice president of human resources, training and development for Entertainment Benefits Group, said the company is currently working to fill up to a dozen field agent positions, and could hire nearly 40 agents in the coming months. Resumes are being accepted online at job@entertainmentbenefits.com, and at the company's office. Applicants should be at least 18 years old and have completed high school or the equivalent.
In considering job applicants, "We are looking for folks who have a sales background or some sales training," Roycroft said, explaining that candidates typically come "from other sales positions, whether it is car dealerships, hotels, time shares (properties). The better the sales experience that they have, the more successful they will be" while working for Entertainment Benefits Group.
An internal employee referral program has proved "very successful" for the company in recruiting new hires for Entertainment Benefits Group's offices in Florida and Las Vegas, Roycroft said. Locally, at the retail locations, "A lot of our employees interface in the malls and at the shows and in the hotels with other people looking for jobs," which helps supply the company with a steady stream of applicants.
The company also works proactively to locate potential employees. When the Sahara closed in 2011, Roycroft and her team met with the human resource staff at the historic property, "basically to see if we could pick up some of their folks who were going to be unemployed." One of those workers, she recalled, accepted a position and is now employed at Entertainment Benefits Group's headquarters in Aventura, Fla.
Following the completion of an application, interview and background-check process, new hires with Entertainment Benefits Group attend training classes, which review company policies; an orientation event; and a uniform fitting. A week is spent under the tutelage of a training facilitator, learning about the company's computer systems and various products through role-playing and other exercises.
There are "several modules that we go through in a training environment," Roycroft explained, including cash handling and sales training, as well as learning the ins and outs about the location (be it a shopping center or hotel-casino) where the field agent will be assigned. "They really need to understand the property" as agents "get lots and lots of questions about everything you can imagine" during the work day.
Tickets & Tours field agents receive assessments from managers about once a month during their 90-day probationary period. "I think that we give a lot of one-on-one attention" to employees, Roycroft said, "so that our folks are equipped to deal with the customers to the best of their abilities."
Following the completion of their first three months on the job, most workers can be "really seasoned, good employees," she said. After that, "as (additional) locations open, they can bid for different shifts and different spots up and down the Strip."
And, in the process, rub elbows with some of the biggest stars in show business. "We have a lot of the performers visit our offices," as a treat for Entertainment Benefits Group employees, Reizen explained. "We try to keep it fun and fresh."
