1003: How Resorts World Las Vegas Uses Technology Without Losing the Human Touch

Glenn: Everybody. It’s your hospitality, friend Glenn here. And I’m really excited because I’m on the 66th floor of Resorts World Las Vegas at the Alley Lounge, where I just bumped into my friend Shannon McCallum, VP of Hotel Operations. Who would have thought that you would just be standing here?

 

Shannon: Well, this is my favorite place on the 66th floor overlooking the Las Vegas Strip. Why would I not be here?

 

Glenn: I know, it’s absolutely fantastic. We’re filming this first thing in the morning. Fortunately, we’re allowed into this closed space. Listen, the great views all around. But I want you to see this incredible lounge behind us. And I’m excited to talk to you today because the resort’s been open for four and a half years, but you’re not resting on your technological laurels. No, you are looking to become the number one tech focused property in this entire city. Crazy challenge that you’ve taken on for yourself over there.

 

Shannon: Well, you know, you always learn things when you open up a hotel, right? What works, what doesn’t work. And it’s really important for you to be able to pivot.

 

Glenn: Right. And let me just say something to that comment. Right. Because one of the things in big hotels like these is that you can plan for absolutely everything and no matter what happens, the customer is going to tell you how they’re going to want to use the property. So every single resort that opens goes through massive changes, typically in the first few years. Right. So that’s normal. That’s unusual. That’s not unusual at all. But you also have to stay ahead of technology.

 

Shannon: You absolutely do. And you know we work in a volume atmosphere. We’ve got over 3500 guest rooms here at the property at three different levels of service. And really understanding what those those guest experiences are and what the guest journey is, helps us to be able to make decisions also, based on the feedback of the guests that we get through our guest feedback portal is really critical. So we create strategic actions that we follow through on and make changes where it’s necessary. Now with technology, it’s a way for us to be very efficient with our guest arrival. We are a luxury atmosphere. We also want to give the guests the chance to make a decision about whether they want to stand in line and talk to a person, or maybe they want to skip the line. And we found over the years that having to opt in to an app is something that not all of our guests want to do. And so what’s really important is to make it more achievable, make it more accessible. And that’s part of the changes that we made this year. But we did change out eight technologies this year because when you change one you sometimes have to change the ones that plug into it as well.

 

Glenn: And that’s like and that’s like it’s like a hornet’s nest of problems. Right. You take out one and then everything starts swarming. You gotta you gotta act really quick in order to solve those particular problems.

 

Shannon: That’s so.

 

Glenn: True. And that’s and that’s kind of where we are right now in the hospitality industry, trying to figure out when you go forward, what are you going to do about that tech stack? And you’re highly engaged here in in Las Vegas, Nevada, in technology. In fact, last week as we’re recording this, you were running the Nevada Hotel and Lodging Association’s annual tech conference out there. So let’s talk about that for a second, and then talk about how all of that applies to what you’re doing here at the property. Right?

 

Shannon: Absolutely, yes. This was the fifth year we’ve held this conference, and it really started as a way for us to be able to engage our vendor partners with the decision makers at the hotels in the Las Vegas Strip. So a part of the Nevada Hotel and Lodging Association, my, myself and my good friend Susan Ryan from MGM resorts partner, to put on this tech conference every year. And the goal is to be able to have a gathering in not necessarily a big atmosphere so that we can continue to learn on the Las Vegas Strip, some of the new technologies that we’re putting into the properties. Technology is changing so quickly. It’s important to keep educated. And I think our IT professionals do tend to do that a little bit better than the operators. So we’re really trying to engage the operators so that they can make educated decisions on the new technology that’s coming into play.

 

Glenn: It’s so hard because obviously it people, they live and breathe this. But folks on the operations side, they’re so focused on taking care of people and worrying about personnel that sometimes that technology thing can become overwhelming in a blockade. So events like yours, which took place at Blackfire Innovation Studios, great set, a great set up for it is really, really helpful for helping move that conversation forward.

 

Shannon: I absolutely agree, and it’s our responsibility to stay ahead of what’s going on in the industry so we can make good decisions at our properties, because it is all about the guest experience. It is about technology, but it’s how we use it and how our guests interact with it that is important to each of our properties.

 

Glenn: So taking it back to here, you’ve got the Hilton, you’ve got the Conrad, you’ve got Crockfords. Plus you’ve got ways for people to connect digitally on the gaming floor and throughout the the property. So how do you break down what you want to do going forward when you don’t have a singular point of view for customers?

 

Shannon: We do have a unique situation here. Most hotels focus on one market, right? We have three, which was really a very ingenious decision that was made by our ownership, because we’re able to attract our guests from three different levels of the market. All of our hotels are a four diamond and above. So we’re very proud at the luxury experience that we have. But we do have Hilton, which is our entry level. It’s our largest property, and it really is focused on our convention guests, that first time traveler that may want something more of a value entry into the property. That being said, it is the best Hilton in the world. It’s got over 55 restaurants and lounges that our guests can dine at, and you can’t really have that anywhere else at Hilton. Secondarily, Conrad. Conrad is our entry luxury brand. It’s a larger footprint. Our guests have more space in their room, and we do have suites that are available. So if someone’s coming for a conference and they stay in Hilton, but they want to return and have a special anniversary or a birthday or celebration, the Conrad is a perfect place to do that because it offers a more luxurious experience and it’s a slightly smaller hotel. Now, for those guests who are truly looking for something individual and private and very upscale, our Crockfords Las Vegas, which is our lxr, is really the place for them to stay. Larger suites we have suites are upwards of 15,000ft², indoor and outdoor.

 

Glenn: I’ve seen some of them.

 

Shannon: So it really is what I consider. And I’ve worked at other properties on the strip to be the best product on the strip. And we have a lot of people that come here that this is their dedicated location when they come to Las Vegas. It is a small property. It’s 332 units, so you have to book ahead in order to be able to enjoy it because it’s quite highly sought after and it sells out every weekend.

 

Glenn: Yeah, it really it really does, which is phenomenal for you. So now you’ve got these three different buckets of people that all might want to use technology in a different way. So how do you go about appealing to everyone and not leaving anybody out, but also giving that freedom of choice for how they want to engage.

 

Shannon: Well, that’s exactly it, Glenn, is that freedom of choice? We’re a luxury property. We want our guests to have options. And I think luxury is having a different path for different guests. I might have a guest who comes and stays with us every month. They don’t necessarily have to stand in line. They don’t have questions to ask the team, and they just want to get a key to their room, drop their bags and go to their meetings. And that’s where the digital check in is really essential. It provides the guest a way to check in the day or two prior to arrival. When their room is ready on the day of arrival, they will get their their key, which, because we’ve been able to change over our technology, we’re doing digital wallet first property on the Las Vegas Strip and in most places in the world to be able to use digital key in Apple Wallet.

 

Glenn: And the digital key is really cool. It’s different. I think people need to understand it’s different from that old digital key technology, right? There are a lot of hiccups with it. I don’t know what it’s based on. It was NFC technology or something like that now. So it works very different. So it’s not within the app kind of a thing. So you could really just touch your phone and it actually works. I remember one one particular resort down the strip. Every time I’d walk into the elevator, people would be holding their phone and it wouldn’t work. And it wound up being something that turned the guests against you. Instead of enhancing the experience, you got to be careful. Correct.

 

Shannon: You have to do it right. And the advancement of NFC is extremely important, not only for you know, the functionality that you were talking about, but it also uses less energy. So it doesn’t wear down the guest phone as quickly or the batteries in the locks. It truly will allow our guests to be able to use the technology, even if their phone has been dead for five hours, really still work.

 

Glenn: Yeah, because honestly, Shannon, my greatest fear. I’m older now, so I don’t have to worry about it as much. But coming in, coming in at like three four in the morning and your phone’s dead and then you can’t get into your room and you’re all the way at the end of one of those massive long hallways. Correct.

 

Shannon: And the other thing, too, is often you might want to share your key right with someone while you’re staying here, or you have a friend that’s staying with you. You can share up to 12 people your room. I don’t suggest that that’s a good idea. No, but it gives you that option. And if you change your mind, you can actually pull it back. And we can actually understand that there’s someone else that has been given access to your room as well. So from an operator standpoint and a security standpoint, there’s a way to be able to understand what the flow of your journey has been. But but truly gives our guests a lot of different options. And our guests are loving it because it’s so familiar to them. They usually when they’re traveling to here on on a flight, they’re putting their flight paths in their wallet. So then when they come to the hotel, they’ve got their key in their wallet. It’s technology that’s very familiar with our guests. That’s great. And so they’re really putting their arms around it. And we’re seeing a much higher conversion than we did before with. With the Bluetooth and through our other path that we had prior to implementing this.

 

Glenn: And my hunch is that this allows the people that want to go to the front desk to get quicker service. And it also allows you to run things a little bit smoother operationally.

 

Shannon: Absolutely. Because even with guests coming in, there’s no going to the desk and getting your key when your room is ready. You know, if you’ve done a digital check in, it just gets delivered right to your phone, which is very, very seamless. Also, it cuts down the number of people standing in line. So for those guests who are checking in and they want to come in in person or they they don’t feel comfortable using digital key we still have the team members that are there to help, and I think that’s what’s really important. It’s not an all or nothing situation when it comes to digital key. It’s there to help ease the experience. It’s there to help make your front desk check in more efficient. And it needs to work. And I think what you said there is, is correct. And we’ve done a lot of extensive testing. We’re seeing a lot of success with the digital key. We are still building out the Android version, which is getting ready.

 

Glenn: I’m looking forward to.

 

Shannon: That every single day. It’s about 9,010%. So 90% of our guests use Apple iPhone.

 

Glenn: Really?

 

Shannon: Yes, and 10%. So that’s why we chose to do the Apple path.

 

Glenn: I’m always in the bottom 10%. Oh well what are you going to do about that Shannon? I will say this though. I’m excited about the digital key, but my my key card collection is gonna not grow as much in the future, so.

 

Shannon: Well, you can have a souvenir. Right now, we’ve got rodeo keys because it’s rodeo at the property.

 

Glenn: Oh, I love that.

 

Shannon: Branded. So it really makes for a fun experience, especially if people are here for F1 or for rodeo. And we can actually do that with group guests as well, where we can.

 

Glenn: I’ve had that at conferences.

 

Shannon: Yes, but in your digital key and your digital.

 

Glenn: Oh, cool. Yes, that’s pretty neat. All right. So beyond the digital key, how are you thinking about leveraging technology to create better experiences and more moments for customers?

 

Shannon: Absolutely. I think that’s an important question. And since opening we have been using a digital assistant or digital AI, and we’re slowly growing that technology as well in the use cases. Last year, we took over 259,000 interactions that didn’t get escalated up to an individual. And what’s really important about that is on our phones. So if our guest is calling us to get towels to the room, they can actually get that through our digital assistant, which we call red, in order to be able to facilitate their request. If if they don’t want to talk to the digital assistant, they can actually talk to a person if they have a more complicated request. But as we go, the more complicated requests are getting included in the capabilities. Right now, we’re working on a digital voice reservation functionality, and we’re going to be moving to generative AI. Wow. And that really is going to be exciting for us to be able to include that in the capabilities. But that technology is also moving very fast.

 

Glenn: Yeah. Very fast. And since this resort opened, we’ve had the entire AI revolution, so you’ve got a lot more opportunity to create a more in-depth experience that you won’t have to manage.

 

Shannon: Yeah. In addition, our guests can actually make a request. It can go through our our functionality for tasks for the guest rooms and go right to the device of our team members who are already up on the floor. So from an efficiency standpoint, there’s no swivel chair happening in the background. The team up on the floor can get to the room more quickly with the towels or the toothbrush or whatever the item is that’s being ordered. And our guest is happy because it’s really quick to get the items that they’re requesting.

 

Glenn: So I also like that. Yeah. Also, they don’t have to talk to somebody, which I think is beneficial because people want to.

 

Shannon: Talk to people in the morning.

 

Glenn: Yeah. No it’s the it’s the worst. And like when those robots are really popular everyone’s like oh it’s dumb. I’m like, not dumb. If I need a towel in the morning and I can’t talk to anybody, right. So I’m also curious how you think about utilizing technology to give people more opportunities to spend money with you on property in ways that make them happy.

 

Shannon: Absolutely. You know, our digital AI upon check in, will actually send our guests a text message and let them know the use cases. And that’s everything from getting deliveries to the room to booking a cabana or booking dining reservations. And that’s really exciting too, because they have everything that they need in the palm of their hand. But it is important for us because we do have over 50 restaurants and lounges, that we are giving the guests all the information that they do need in order to be able to take advantage of those experiences. And we’re so fortunate to have such a variety of restaurants and lounges. As I mentioned previously, over 50 restaurants and lounges on property, but sometimes that’s a lot for people to ingest to understand exactly what we have here. So really having that information for them to be able to see hours of operation. We also you can order your food and have it brought to your room on your phone as well.

 

Glenn: Really from anywhere.

 

Shannon: From from from all of our restaurants based on their hours of operation.

 

Glenn: Yeah. I’m not going to be getting a ribeye from Carver Steak at nine in the morning.

 

Shannon: No, that’s so true. But having that flexibility is really nice. And not having to just order off of one menu that’s in room dining.

 

Speaker3: I love that.

 

Glenn: I had no idea you did that. That really that really opens up the experience for for people. Because I know that you can have a little bit of fun here, and sometimes you just don’t want to leave your room, but you still want to have that experience.

 

Shannon: Absolutely. You want to order a Starbucks in the morning with some egg whites, have it brought to your room, and then you can enjoy that while you’re getting ready in the morning.

 

Glenn: I should have done that when I was here last week. I know, oh well, I’m going to make up for that tomorrow. How else? How else are you thinking about technology here?

 

Shannon: Well, we’re also looking at understanding our guest journey better. And we have implemented this last year some technology that allows us to understand the booking path and the booking pattern on our landing page, and also to see which offers the guests are more focused on. So it helps us to be able to develop new offers in the future. Also, if they’re abandoning the booking, what point are they abandoning? Is there an issue with the technology, or is it something in the offer that they’re just not not jumping on? So having those kind of insights very similar to getting feedback from your guests through your surveys, is really important for you to be able to put strategic actions in place in order to better your services to your guests.

 

Glenn: So how do you think about making it more sticky? Like, how does that work if you see people abandoning in a certain way? What are some of the fixes that you go through to get them to stick around and actually book? How’s that work?

 

Shannon: You know, this last year has been an interesting one for Las Vegas, and we found that we needed to do things differently here if we were going to be able to capture market share.

 

Glenn: My guess is you need to heighten up that value proposition, not lower prices, just heighten what people feel that they’re going to be getting.

 

Shannon: I agree, and traditionally the hotels have all done the very same thing with discounts or food and beverage credits. And I’m really proud of the team at Resorts World for thinking outside of the box and being able to provide different things, like free parking to locals. So because that’s a big thing in Las Vegas and to have people come to your property, whether they’re staying with you or not, to enjoy your restaurants, go to your entertainment. To put some money into the casino is something that we really need to do. In addition, we did offer last summer free parking for our guests who are driving in. And and that’s something that’s like a lever that you can actually turn on and off for need periods. In addition, we we always talk about resort fees and whether our guests like that or not, but that is something that we were also able to create packages for some of our need dates in order to be able to drive additional volume to the property. And although international travel may be down, we were able to capture a higher percentage of domestic traffic to the hotel. So it showed what a success that could be. So I think what’s really important in in our economy, when travel might be down a little bit, is really looking at ways where you can stand out as a property and to be able to provide things that the that the guest is really wanting.

 

Glenn: Well, besides the food, like entertainment, you bring in specific entertainers. You’ve had amazing headliners here in the last four and a half years, and those are the types of things that make people want to come to a place like Las Vegas. You all know this. Talk about it all the time. The city is really transforming into an entertainment and sports capital of the of the world, and it’s a and tying all of opportunities to to this. I understand that you guys are working on some cool things with some venues in town that that I think is really going to help make it easier for people to enjoy experiences while making them want to spend more money with you.

 

Shannon: Absolutely. We’ve got a lot of wonderful experiences in town you know, and it’s important that we’re partnering outside of the property as well, in addition to partner with other companies that can help facilitate an experience for our guests. Zoox is one of those technologies. It’s an automated vehicles, and it’s a really exciting partnership that we we entered into several years ago with testing on property. The autonomous vehicles are really a thing of the future. And again, I would say transportation in Las Vegas and waiting in taxi lines has been a real thing. And to have different options, like we have the Boring Tunnel, which is connected to the conference center, has been a huge plus for us on attracting our convention guests and over annexing in those citywide conventions. But the autonomous vehicle and it’s purpose built, it’s not a car that has a steering wheel.

 

Glenn: It’s really awesome.

 

Shannon: That you feel like a ghost is driving because there’s no one in the driver’s seat. It’s actually a carriage style seats for. And they leave right from our South portico and can take our guests to different locations and attractions within the city, and those locations are continuing to grow.

 

Glenn: It was just as we’re recording this last Saturday. I was doing something over at area 15 for some content I’m working on, and I saw this thing and I’m like, oh, I wish I was still at Resorts World on Saturday night because I could have taken it back from there.

 

Shannon: I agree, I agree, so it is a huge addition. It’s also very aligned with our focus on technology at the property. So it was really a natural fit when we were looking for partners.

 

Glenn: Okay, so we’ve talked about what you’re doing. But when you’re looking at on the horizon, how do you start to just think about technologies that might be coming to the fore? And how do you start planning for the future, when everything moves so quickly and sometimes in unexpected directions with technology?

 

Shannon: Well, I think as operators we can’t push it away. Technology is here. Ai is here. We need to educate ourselves, understand maybe what your pain points are at your properties so that you can focus on solutions. It doesn’t need to be like us and changing eight systems out at one time. But looking at is it wait time for guests to check in? Is it wait time on the phones? And that will help to guide you to looking at the right technology for your property at that time. You do it in small bites. It’s not like you’re switching all of your phone calls over. You take one segment at a time for us, as well as capturing those third parties, because they’re very difficult to talk to ahead of time. There’s now ways in order to be able to talk to through portals to that guest, to be able to let them know about digital check in prior to arrival, and to be able to try to engage them with restaurants and and upselling them prior to arrival. So really try to educate yourself, your team, partner with your IT team as well. Share what your priorities are and they will be able to bring some ideas to the table because they’re it keeps growing. And and again, I think sometimes operators are a little nervous to jump in because they feel like they don’t have the knowledge. I would say attend technology shows, go to high tech once a year. That’s where you’re going to see all of the technology. That’s the largest technology conference in the world, and we have it here in North America. So that is something. That’s how I got into technology. Going and educating myself. And it’s really helped me to be able to make better decisions and to be able to really focus on on my, my operation and understand first what the issues are that I might need to focus on, and then a pathway to fix and to make the guest experience the best that it can be.

 

Glenn: You seem really comfortable when it comes to all of this stuff, but I’m sure you weren’t at some point.

 

Shannon: Absolutely. I mean, when I first started dipping my toe into it because I had tablets in my room, and when the hotel opened, they were already two years old and they were becoming end of life. I had to continue to educate myself. And the vendor partners can be really great, but you have to make sure that you’re not just talking to one vendor partner. Make sure you’re talking to 3 or 4 so that you can see the cross-section of what’s in that space to make sure you are getting what is is meant for you or what will cover your priorities.

 

Glenn: Yeah. And that particular technology at that particular hotel was really great for the time, but it was so early on that it got outdated really, really quickly.

 

Shannon: Correctly, when I first started, they had monochrome screens and that was before color screens. Right now I’m dating myself, but you know the technology.

 

Glenn: Well, it’s got to be. I mean, that resort opened 20 years ago. 15 years. 15 years ago.

 

Shannon: Yeah. But I think what’s really important is to understand everything changes and it’s changing more quickly now than ever. It’s almost like it’s speeding up. So whether it’s a TV in your room, it’s telephones in your room. If it’s digital, check in, if it’s guest feedback. There’s so many ways to expand what you’re doing in order to provide more benefit. And again, it’s also about efficiencies. Operators have more pressure on them to be able to cut costs, but we need to be able to do that in a way where we’re not harming service. And that’s really what my primary focus is, is looking at the entire scope of what we’re doing and understanding what the benefit it is for our guests, what the benefit it is for the hotel and to be able to marry that together when I’m making my decisions about technology.

 

Glenn: Yeah. For sure. Sorry. I was looking over that direction. The sphere just started advertising the fish shows and I got a little distracted. I was like, that’s a pretty image over there. But all right, so when it comes to pulling the trigger on technology, right. When do you feel comfortable? You don’t want to be too soon. You don’t want to be too late. I feel like it’s a middle somewhere in between science, art and gut.

 

Shannon: I think you look to other hotels to see what they’re doing, because if someone else has done it and proved it, then it’s easier to be able to understand what the impact is going to be at your property. So look to others that might be ahead of you in the space. Talk to them. Find out what the challenges were. What are what are the benefits? Are there any detractions? Educate yourself. And it’s easier talking hotelier to hotelier than it is sometimes to technology professionals who are using acronyms. And you’re totally lost after two sentences because we are talking about the guest experience. And so I think for for me, when I’m looking at a technology, I always want to know where is this implemented? Who is a contact that I can talk to your your technology partners, if they’re good partners and their their technology is successful, won’t have a problem giving you context at other properties in order to have a conversation. And again, many of us are not your direct competition. So talking to me in Las Vegas, if you’ve got a 200 room hotel that’s in Canada or anywhere else in the United States. It’s not a risk for me to be able to share information and to be able to let you know where we may have had challenges and where we were successful, and I think that’s a good place to start. But start attending things like high tech technology shows that might be local in your community in order to continue to educate yourself in order for you to bring the best experience to your operation that you can.

 

Glenn: Awesome. I love it. Anything else you think we need to know?

 

Shannon: Gosh, it’s just such a pleasure to have you here and to be able to spend time with you. And thank you so much for for having the conversation today.

 

Glenn: Shannon. You’re the best. I absolutely love it. Hopefully we won’t have to wait until high tech next year to do another one of these.

 

Shannon: I agree, I agree we’ll have to do it soon.

 

Glenn: I suspect I will be back, especially after what I saw on sphere. All right everybody, thanks so much. Please like share subscribe, all that kind of good stuff and give a good shout out to Shannon over here as well. Make sure you hit the Nevada Hotel and Lodging Association tech conference in December sometime 2026. Can’t start advertising these things too early. Thanks so much for watching. See you all later. Bye.