Rossi Ralenkotter, a research-obsessed destination marketer who led the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority for the last 14 of the 45 years he worked for the organization, died on Oct. 10 after a 16-year battle with colon cancer. He was 78.
He is credited with guiding the destination to record visitation -- 42.9 million -- in 2016.
After receiving a marketing degree from Arizona State University and an MBA from the University of Nevada in Las Vegas, Ralenkotter was hired in 1973 to launch a research department in what was then called the Las Vegas Convention Bureau, headquartered in the city's convention center.
"When I started there, we were really just a sales organization, filling our building," he said in a recent interview.
He went to work developing a marketing bulletin that collected and organized comprehensive travel data. He successfully lobbied for the organization to expand its purview to include leisure visitors and, 50 years ago, developed the Visitor Profile Survey that collected information on visitors' length of stay, trip purpose, gaming budget and overall experience. Both the bulletin and profile survey are in use today, and his approach to destination research became foundational for DMOs across the country.
His focus on how people perceived the city led to the creation of what would become one of the most successful marketing campaigns ever, "What Happens Here, Stays Here." It was based, he said, on "going out and talking to our customers to get the essence of the brand of Las Vegas. It boiled down to adult freedom."
As a result of that campaign, Brand Week magazine in 2004 named him Grand Marketer of the Year.
Ralenkotter was also on the team that lured the Consumer Technology Association's annual exhibition, now called CES, to Las Vegas, a show that last year had 142,000 attendees and more than 4,500 exhibitors. Gary Shapiro, CEO of the association, said Ralenkotter "transformed" Las Vegas. "He was a giant of the meetings and conventions world."
Rossi Ralenkotter on the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Photo Credit: LVCVA Archive
Bill Hornbuckle, CEO of MGM Resorts International and chairman of the U.S. Travel Association, which Ralenkotter previously chaired, noted that Ralenkotter was a member of the original White House Conference on Tourism. "Rossi worked and advocated tirelessly for the benefit of Las Vegas, a city he loved passionately," Hornbuckle said.
Ralenkotter was elected to the U.S. Travel Hall of Leaders when Roger Dow, CEO of Dow Global Tourism Partners, was CEO of that organization. "He taught me so much about destination marketing over the years," Dow said, calling him a "mentor, confidant, trusted colleague and cherished friend."
A love of baseball
Rossi T. Ralenkotter was born on April 4, 1947, in Covington, Ky. His family moved to Las Vegas in 1951 when his father got a job as a croupier in the Sands Hotel.
In high school, Ralenkotter won the Southern Nevada High School batting crown with a .452 average. His love of baseball, the Cincinnati Reds in particular, continued into adulthood. He was instrumental in bringing the Triple-A affiliate Las Vegas Stars, now the Aviators, to Las Vegas. He also was a member of the committee that brings MLB exhibition games to Las Vegas every spring and was a key figure in getting the Las Vegas Ballpark built; the Aviators currently play there.
He served as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force Reserve and was on the boards of many local nonprofits. Among his many accolades, the Nevada Commission of Tourism recognized him in 2013 for 40 years of tourism leadership; he received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Travel Weekly in 2013, and the Professional Convention Management Association honored him in 2016 with the Dedication and Leadership of the Meetings Industry Award. Ralenkotter retired in 2018.
In 2018, Ralenkotter was found in an audit to have misused Southwest Airlines gift cards that the authority had purchased. He maintained it was not intentional, publicly accepted responsibility, reimbursed the authority and paid a fine.
The event did not seem to affect his standing in the community. Former Las Vegas mayors and U.S. Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto volunteered testimonials.
Ralenkotter was "a true Nevadan whose love of Las Vegas helped propel the city to [become] the travel and tourism capital it is today," Cortez Masto said, adding that it was no exaggeration to say Ralenkotter's vision helped put Southern Nevada on the map as a convention, hospitality and sports destination.
U.S. Travel CEO Geoff Freeman also praised him, saying, "Rossi Ralenkotter changed the game. His audacious, data-driven marketing campaigns raised the bar for destinations around the globe."
In lieu of flowers, the Ralenkotter family requests donations be made to St. Viator Catholic Church, the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, or Nathan Adelson Hospice.