WASHINGTON - Wells Fargo & Co. is likely on the hook for hefty cancellation fees after abruptly scrapping its upcoming retreats to Las Vegas casinos.
The company, which received $25 billion in taxpayer bailout money and recently announced a $2.3 billion loss for the last quarter of 2008, had booked 12 nights at two of the most expensive hotels in Las Vegas for events that included a luxurious four-day employee sales conference.
But after lawmakers and investigators admonished the company, Wells Fargo scrapped the trip Tuesday night.
“Typically there would be some sort of cancellation clause in the contract,” said Jeremy Handel, a spokesman for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.
That often means losing a big deposit or paying a cancellation penalty, he said.
Wells Fargo suggested that canceling the event would cost about as much as holding it.
“Late last year, we canceled recognition events for 2009 except those where the financial commitment was so great that no meaningful savings would occur by canceling these events,” the company said in a statement.
A spokeswoman for Wynn Las Vegas, which along with its sister hotel, Encore Las Vegas, was scheduled to host the retreat, would not comment on the arrangement it had with Wells Fargo.
It appears that the cancellation fees may be the same cost as holding the trip. Of course, no one at Wells Fargo or Wynn Hotel is commenting on the arrangement Wells Fargo made for this trip, nor how much Wells Fargo paid for this trip.
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