Discover the Evolution of Virgin Hotels Las Vegas with President Cliff Atkinson

Hey, everybody. It’s your hospitality, friend. Glenn, we got a special show with you today. Cliff Atkinson, president here at Virgin Hotel Las Vegas. We’re going to walk around. We’re going to learn a little bit about what he’s up to and all the incredible changes that are being made. Hey, how are you today, Greg? Glenn. All right. Coming to see us? Yeah. This is this is great. I’m looking forward to talking to you today. So let’s just start walking and you know, and we’ll talk. If you see something, just point it out. But in the meantime, yeah, I’m the reason why I wanted to talk to you today is because you are, you know, you recently new to this position? Yes. You are. Gig is to try to pull all of this together. Now, it’s no surprise that when the hotel first opened, all of the things were kind of separated. Right? The original idea of the property was just different vendors throughout the different people leasing. And unfortunately, in my opinion, it created a lack of cohesion in the property and probably a little confusion among the consumer mindset that was hamstringing you, but now you’re out to change that. So let’s walk and talk about how you’re going to make all these great changes. Yes. Yeah. I mean you’re you’re you’re yeah. Spot on. I think it was a business model on paper that looked good. It said, oh, we’ll bring in best of class operators and almost condo property out.

Yeah. And these properties don’t work like that, right. They have to be integrated resorts. And now you’re starting to hear our voice. Yeah. All right, so this this is a cool thing over here. So this is it’s a little echoey in here. I don’t hopefully you guys can hear it. That’s a really have a little fun echo. So this was the old. This was the original? Yeah. Where? This was hard rock. Yeah. And that car here. Yeah. One of the cool things about this our TJ booth right out. Yeah. Well, we we are putting a center bar back. Yes. Tonight the DJ actually stands here. She looks great. And Oh that’s really cool. Brings the vibe back. Right. So you’re bringing the center bar back? That’s huge. Yes, yes. Yeah. It’s big and not the, like, original. Original. The original. Original. Hey, hey hey. New reimagined. That’s the bar that’s really the center of this property. The vibe, the energy. We’re bringing that back. Yeah. You need something to kind of pull it all together to create that place of energy. And there are too many hotels and resorts out here that I don’t think have that little centerpiece moment that can set the stage for excitement. That’s right. And as these integrated resorts, they’re there, you know, they’re they’re big. They’re spread out every everybody needs a meeting place. Yeah. And this is this, you know, you meet at the center bar.

That’s where everybody the honor, the tower gang. And totally that’s the meeting place that makes a whole lot of sense. All right, so where do you want to start? In order to be able to start talking about all the changes? Yeah, of course, of course. Right now we have, I think, arguably the best restaurant in Las Vegas. Let me, let me let’s see which one that is. Oh, it’s Nobu fabulous. Nobu. What a what a shocker. And this one, I think. Forget this is the first Nobu that’s outside of Tribeca or. Yes, it is. This was here when this was a hard rock. This was here before the Caesars opened. That’s exactly as well. So this was huge when it first opened. And to me, it was amazing that when it transitioned to Virgin that they stayed that. That’s right. And they’re great partners. We’re actually renovating them right now. So we did a pop up in in a former restaurant where Nobu was doing a pop up. But we’re still investing in this. Even today, 25 years later, it’s really important. Well, since this opened, only the Nobu brand has gotten so much stronger over the years. Back then, it was like it was kind of like the in people know, right? Right now it’s a mainstream brand that most people know about, and they’re all over the world and they’re known for, I think, not only quality but the consistency. You come here.

The yellowtail sashimi is exactly as you would have it in Malibu, Hawaii. Now you got me. Now you got me jealous. I know we’re only, you know, 11:00 in the morning, I know. But as we as you know, we’re sharing so many things of the business model. So we’re walking, right? You know, floor. We are in the process of of taking the casino back. Right. Mohegan has been a great partner. I think the business model was just challenged. So us bringing the casino back in we’ll just it’ll be a better experience for our customer. Right? And for our team members to give a cohesive experience and deliver on service. Right. And that and that is so that is so important to be able to do again by integrating stuff you can take better care of those players. It must have been very confusing to have somebody that’s playing in the casino that would get cops. And then how does the the mathematical formulas work for who puts in what exactly does all that for business standpoint? Right. You know, they weren’t managing it. They were actually a tenant. Right. So there was literally you’re literally looking at the lease line, right? Oh. Oh, that’s really fun. Yeah. There’s a scene. All right. So the bark on the carpet. Yeah. Exactly. Yeah. So so that doesn’t work. Especially for a small property. We need to be an integrated resort. And we need one property and we need one culture in the building.

Yeah, I don’t see how that would work in a larger property either. No, no. And I think the business model here, I would love to go to the Harvard Business Review right in, in, in a few years to talk about why this model didn’t work right and where we’re going with taking things back, taking control and integrating everything that we offer. And that is, again, that’s so essential. And a little a little love to our friends over at Mohegan. I’ll be out there at the end of the month going to see some concerts. So I’m going to try to talk to them as well, just because I think they’re a great company and they are they’re a great partner. And in full disclosure, we’re talking about how we partner after their departure because they are great partners. Also, you’re going to have folks that are playing here that might want opportunities on the East Coast where they’re really known, both in Atlantic City and of course, the mothership and Pennsylvania. That’s right. And that was the original thesis, right, to take advantage of, of marketing partnerships by controlling the whole experience here. I think it’ll be better for both. Yeah. And again, I think the lesson that we’re learning today is control, control, control in order to create the destiny for what you want your business to be, you have to be able to make decisions and not deal with people that are not necessarily going to be on the same page with you.

That’s right. Align stakeholders is key. Yeah. All right. I want to talk about that cultural element. But first let’s talk about this 24. We’re here at 24 Oxford. So that’s actually the address of Richard Branson’s first record store. Oh yeah his first record store. And and this is the home of our new show, ladylike. So ladylike is it’s a great, very cool burlesque show. It’s a modern burlesque show with a retro twist to it. Oh, that’s so it’s really fun. It’s 18 plus 18 and up, but it’s a great show Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 9 p.m., and it’s a taste of old Las Vegas. So come have a lot of fun, I think let me say this. It’s up on the screen. There it is. Right now. Let’s let’s take a look at that. All right. Yeah, I love that. I love the the idea of adding a modern spin to the retro thing, because one of the cool things about Las Vegas is tapping into that great history dating back, you know, goes back forever. But I’m talking about like, the Rat Pack era 1960s. And I like that because that’s how people think of Las Vegas today, even I think. Absolutely. And I think for us, you know, bringing back a little bit as you hear our Wheel of Fortune down but bringing back a lot of the old school, right, is is what the customer is looking for.

And look, at the end of the day, if this property, we’re all about fun and I think I think Las Vegas as it continues to evolve, you know, it’s getting a lot more expensive than it used to be. I hadn’t noticed. And so when you add in anything, a property like ours, it has free parking, right? Great access right outside the building. Right now I’m building our connection into the Boring Company loop. Oh, yeah, connect us with our underground. So a little update on that. I saw that they broke through. They did. They breached. So our tunnels are they’re built and we will be open and running this time next year. And this will be going to the convention center, part of the one that’s already with Resorts World. Correct. So connecting with Resorts World, our friends over there the convention center, as well as the 50 yard line of the strip and the F1 paddock, which is right next door. That’s great property, which was game changing for the last 25 years. That didn’t exist. Well, I think if I recall correctly, you’ll you’ll of course correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe that that was really the launching pad for where you’re starting to head. You crushed it that weekend. I’m pretty sure it’s the most profitable weekend you guys have had here. And ever since then, I feel like you’ve been kind of going up, you know, going downhill with success.

Downhill the good way, making it easier. Yeah. No, that’s exactly right. Yeah. And a Super Bowl was phenomenal for us. But for us F1 was like five x right? I mean it’s incredible. Nobu had his best night in 25 years. It was it’s a game changer. Yeah. And so for us, we’ve embraced it. Yeah. They’ve been a great partner of ours, and we’re helping, you know, helping them evolve as they work within the city. And I think you’re going to see multiple years now of success for everybody in town, right? Not just the race and not just, you know, the close by neighbor. That’s a that’s important. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s going to be happening with F1 this next year, because a lot of lessons were learned. Outside, you know, the some, you know, persnickety locals and stuff like that. But I think it’s going to be a little bit more affordable for the masses to be able to come. That’s right. And really open it up to a wider audience that you’ll be able to capture and let the city just announced. A a neon Festival, which is basically a free concert downtown the same week. Out. Cool to help? Yeah. To help them to help them embrace the weekend. Right. That’s the learning. And that’s what Vegas does. We try wild things. Yeah, not everything works right away, but we learned it doesn’t have to work when it opens, because you don’t know how customers are going to use the location.

And I think one of the most famous examples that I can think of is you think, like Steve Wynn had it all figured out when they opened up encore and they opened up Wynn and stuff like that. But you go a year later, so many things change. And that’s the natural water of Las Vegas because it absolutely it by the way, we saw that when we opened City Center. The learnings there cosmopolitan lost money the first three years. Right. Look at the success that that’s that’s our beacon. That’s our example. That’s our our our blueprint. Yeah. And that is Vegas. Right. And so so people that don’t really know cosmopolitan, I think really rejiggered what the Las Vegas experience could be focusing squarely on a younger audience, but more of an upscale kind of audience. And again, that property was routed to me in what classic what we think classic Las Vegas was, but wasn’t actually you know, that’s right. Right. That’s right. Right. So where are we now? We’re going to go to Cassie. So now we’re transforming completely from casino floor. Like look at this tunnel. Oh, that’s pretty cool too. Along with Nobu, one of our I like to call our anchor F and B tenants. Yeah, ladies, we’re just going to walk through which is Cassie Beach and Cassie Beach House and become a successful restaurant on its own with multiple bars.

A Wednesday night house party with DJ suite. And you don’t even feel like, like now you feel like you’re in a different country. Yeah, look at that. Really, the Italian coast. But it has its own feel to it. Yeah. But as we set up, we got up ready to open up for lunch. The thing change that we made here was we actually added a beach club to this because it was. Well, let’s let’s try to brave the 115 degree weather for the next out. Should we take our jacket? Yeah. I felt like I came jacket free just because I knew as as you are transform outside here and it is about 105 today. Yeah. But this was our resort pool, right? And so last, at the beginning of the season, I switched it and we switched it. So now do you have an outdoor. This is a 21 and plus up beach club environment. That’s cool. That opens, I think, shortly there. And it’s it’s Friday, Saturday, Sunday. And we do a Wednesday night pool party here once a month. Right. Which is very cool. So again, a resort pool but kind of small became an intimate beach club. And we took our day club and it made that the resort pool. That’s pretty two great experiences, both profitable right out of the gate. And it was a it was a game changer for our business. Yeah.

And that’s because you want to bring in the masses and stuff like that and introduce them to all the other amenities that you have here for the restaurants, casinos. So the hotel. That’s exactly right. Right. Exactly right. You know what it reminds me of the good old days when rehab was here at the old hard Rock. Yeah, I thought so. Rehab is now our event lawn, which we do concerts on it. Oh, really? But but I did see, as you can see here, what’s going on around us. We did see this is more of an Instagrammable. Beach club. And it’s not. It’s not competing with Baki or Wet Republic. It really is an ultra pool beach club that I really like because we built it off the success of the Cassie Beach house. Yeah. I love that you actually have beach here, so let me Yeah. So take a little picture of that. So, yeah, it’s actually beach stuff over here. Actual beach stuff. Yeah. We have some daybeds. We have cabanas. You have a fantastic service. And we’re just getting ready to open, as you can see, by the line pulling up here. But it’s a really unique experience. And it also allowed us to make a great experience for our resort guests for all ages. At at our, at our beach and our, our new resort pool. That used to be the day club again, both were struggling financially. Right? They’re both profitable now.

That’s great. On the concepts and the offerings that we gave. Wow. That was a big change from even a year ago. This pool looked very different last August. All right, so let’s go back inside. Absolutely. Actually, I could I can handle the heat, cliff, but I can’t see anything right now. It’s all right. Yeah. It is Vegas. Yeah. So that’s that’s that’s really great. So how how did you get it to go from losing to profitability? What was the secret that to to make it work. Well, from a from a business standpoint, besides refinancing the debt on the property. Yeah. You said you didn’t 500 million refinancing. Right. So that must have really relieved a lot of stress from you. It did. And it just that just occurred in the film in the last 45 days. So let me get I get super wonky things up. One of the things that I talk about with a lot of owners, operators and developers is that interest rates has been taught in order to develop. It’s been taught to like reset ads. It’s all of that kind of stuff. I’ve been arguing. Do you go back to, you know, pre-great recession? Interest rates are always here, but we trained a generation of people to expect basically free money, right? That’s right. So it’s really changed the way that people are thinking. Did you feel when you were going into the refinance that you were going to have to overpay for debt? And was that stressful? Or how did you get that all worked out in order to, like, feel comfortable with it and set you on that trip to profitability? Sure.

I think I think it’s two things. It took first of all, fantastic partners, which we have. I have an unbelievable board of directors. We had a secondary investor that stood up that became the primary. They have about 80% of the property now. And they were fantastic partners. The second thing is it’s perseverance and persistence. We we knew it was important and we we worked, we grinded on it. And again, we I, we had a lot of help from our, from our basically my board of directors as well. And but that’s what it took. We didn’t give up and we and we got it done. And so that allowed us to do a few things, including evolving our relationship with Hilton hotels. Right. That was the next big economic level. All right. So they were managing it originally as part of the deal actually. Yeah. Originally if you go back Virgin was running the property. Right. And then there was a transition where Hilton became the manager of the property. So we’ve evolved both relationships. We are now part of the Hilton franchise community as part of the Curio Collection, which is great. Hilton is a great. And it just so everybody knows, this was a Curio Collection hotel. The only difference was that Hilton was running the hotel operations now in a traditional franchise relationship.

And you guys know this, they’re running it themselves and they get the benefits of being in the Hilton family. Absolutely. So everybody wins. And it goes back to how we started this of being an integrated resort. We also evolved the relationship with Virgin very closely. Their CEO James James. I’m friendly with their former CEO Raul, who helped get this place going in the right direction, and we wanted to take advantage of that relationship. So we’ve evolved our license agreement with them. But we are proud to be part of the Virgin family. That’s great. Richard Branson was just here two months ago. Well, last month. Oh, cool. For the 40th anniversary of Virgin Atlantic Airways. And they launched a new route, Manchester to Vegas. So they did that here. Richard jumped in the pool. Great fun. Yeah, totally. But we evolved, not only refined the debt on the property, but also transitioned the agreements with Hilton and Virgin to set us up for success. Mohegan we’re working on now and we’re going to continue down that road with that business model. That’s great. So it seems like everything was a little bit friendlier than I would have expected, because when you’re trying to make such major changes, you know, it seems like that could be really difficult with the relationship part of it. But the way you’re telling the story is everybody seemed to be on on board.

Yeah, I think everyone learned from the challenging days how, again, how things look on paper, then they become reality. But look, we’re we’re hospitality people. We’re collaborative by nature. And I think once you put the business case forward and we put we put deals together where everybody won, everybody involved the relationship good. And everybody wants to succeed because, you know, really the North Star here is right. It’s it’s the 1700 team members. Right. Taking care of them, making sure that we give back and we run the business appropriately. That’s important for all stakeholders, especially our team members. Excellent. Yeah, that makes sense. So I guess this would be a good time to talk about that culture element. But before we do that, where should we walk to? Do you want to walk towards the resort just to get a shot? Totally. Let’s do that. See the two different right. So one of the problems that you were having, obviously, is if you have Hilton operating the property, Mohegan Sun operating the casino. Yes. Different restaurateurs operating different areas. Everybody’s culture is different. That’s right. Nobody is necessarily on the same page because all of the team is just looking to the leader of that silo. That’s right. Right. So that’s right. What is breaking down the silo is going to be able to do for you. And what do you hope to do for the culture change? And how the heck do you change a culture? Well, it’s funny when I, when I, when I arrived here, I sat through orientation like all good leaders do, and I said we had three different sets of core values, three different sets of guiding principles and said, hey, we need one, one property, one culture that and so that’s what breaking down those silos really, really allows us to do as leaders.

And it gets all the team members. And look, the team members are sophisticated. They’ve a lot of them, and 25% have been in this building since day one. Wow. And so they want to work together. They want to make it seamless to the customer. You can’t have a different checkout experience and then have a different table games. Right. Experience or different spa as we walk by our beautiful spa. Let’s go. Let’s show them the spa insurance. There we go. Yeah. This again. This is another highlight of the hotel or health fitness, wellness. Tony who runs our spa. Amazing. And so it is, it is about the people. Yeah. And that’s what translates in my mind to good service is being able to take care of each other and especially when something new. Thank you. And things struggle. That’s when people like, they hunker down and like, I gotta take care of my little division or restaurant or my area like we have. We’re only gonna win if we win together, right? That that’s a really great philosophy to have out there.

So back to our conversation, Cassie. This. So this was the day club. This is now a resort pool with beach, pool, cabanas restaurant, a terrace pool that’s 21 class that sits on top of it. And we’ll put bands and DJs out for live music on the weekends as well. But it’s a great experience. And so the feedback was translated to financial success. But the the feedback from our customers is they love both offerings, the Cassie Beach more adult, more vibey, right at a very popular with a lot of amenities filled resort. I love this. This is like the first beachy beach since Mandalay. Yeah. That’s right. And I got two of them. Yeah. So our outdoor grounds here are even though it’s hot for you and me today. Yeah. But they’re, they’re, they’re critical because you would never build a property like this today in 2024. Right. And we take advantage of this a lot. Our outdoor groups, we had 6000 people here for Cisco last eight months. So yeah, it’s a it’s a special property. Yeah, it really is. So how are you thinking about sports book going forward? Sports book? Yeah. So as part of the evolution with Mohegan. We will be taking back the sports book. The sports book is actually a subtenant. Oh yeah. If the business model can Yeah. Again, everybody seemed to be a tenant. So with the change of Mohegan, we’re looking at and evaluating what our sports book option is going forward.

But I can tell you it’s going to be key and we’re going to be really changing the game here. I think with what we want to do with full integration, food and beverage and really create a unique experience with sports betting. While sports betting, it took a it took a long time for the city to really understand the opportunities. I think with that, give it a let’s give a shout out to Derek Stevens, who has multiple hotels downtown 100% circa became the most incredible sportsbook I’ve ever seen on the planet. I’m not talking about stadium swim, I’m talking about the inside one. I really agree, Derek. Derek and I just caught up. He was here the other night with some of his team. And I give him kudos. Yeah. First of all, he knows his customers so well. So. Well but he hangs out with us. That’s. Yeah, he was the business. Yeah. And so what they have created is so unique and it’s inspiring to us. Set not copy that. But how do we find our thing. And we believe a collection of offerings. Right. Is is what’s key to our success with all the things that you see here. But but Derek nailed it. Yeah, he absolutely did. Should we go down this way? Yeah, yeah. And it really showed what he did is he really showed the town that people are craving that sort of thing. And you look at now stations, casinos, what they just did with Durango, Durango is incredible.

So again, for those of you who don’t know, Durango is the latest local casino to open. It opened last December, 20 minutes or so from where we are here maybe, and it’s really redefined what a luxury, what a local casino could be as well. It absolutely does. And and I give stations of the fertittas a credit again because they keep reinventing what red rock. Well, I was just gonna say that that’s what it is. Yeah. And now they’ve reinvented that again. So I need to do that here in the property as we come up on our cool little Instagram moment with our our scooter and zine. And he got some progress going on because we’re doing construction here, too. Yeah. Always good. Always good. And it’s so important to be doing all that construction to help, you know, get the property to where you want and what you just mentioned went. Yeah. For cheetahs and Derek Stevens and, you know, the, the, the forefathers of Las Vegas avail. They’re always reinventing. And so when I got here we picked out strategic areas that we needed to improve and things like where magic Mike, our theater, we’re working on a very significant nightlife concept there right now. But even then we’re bringing in new and some entertainment acts that I know from my former lives here into our shag room Friday, Saturday, Saturday nights and extending the hours and making the property fun.

That’s what our customer wants. I think the original property the shag room was probably the highlight because it really captured what you want from a place like this. And so like Nobu, like Cassie, I saw that chagrin as an opportunity to build on success. And that’s we’ve extended days, we’ve extended hours. We have live entertainment here seven nights a week. That’s real. And yeah, it’s a lot of fun. Are you thinking about live entertainment in the big theater? I know Ziggy Marley is playing here. Ziggy Marley’s coming up. The reason why I bring that up is I just watched the Bob Marley movie on the plane coming out at dusk. Ziggy was one of the producers, and the only kid’s name they mentioned was Ziggy in the entire movie. So he’ll be here this Wednesday night, and then we have acts like America, Ventura Highway. Yeah, man. So they’re coming next month. America was the first band I saw at a hotel industry conference. Before I knew that they hired amazing bands. Yeah. And so we have a partnership with AEG, and we’re evolving. We’re evolving our partnership with them as well to get more acts. With our Wu-Tang clan, we’re the first hotel to offer a hip hop residency in Las Vegas with Wu-Tang. Freaking amazing. It’s been it’s been a home run, so they’ve already had several dates. They have two more coming up in September.

Wow. Wu-tang has been unbelievable for the property. Yeah, but then we’re also one of the only properties where you can turn around and have Lainey Wilson. She did four nights sold out here over the rodeo last year. Wow. Country Music Artist of the year. So not many venues or properties can say you got Wu-Tang and you got Lainey Wilson. That’s entertainment. Yeah, it sure is. I Also, our journey here once was great. I felt the best. Yeah. I want to get him back. I know Steve Barry. Yeah. Well, that would be amazing. Yeah, I consider me the the first customer. They’ll pay for a ticket for that one. So before we wrap up today, you really got your, you know, you really had your roots in the hospitality industry. You started at Marriott or Hilton? I started with Hilton. Right? Right. With helps with my collaboration today. But half my I mean, big 33 years I’ve been doing this half of my career. I was with, I think, the best brand in the world. Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, from running the property here in Las Vegas. So I got transferred here. Oh, you were with them before I opened New York. I was I was running San Francisco. And then they moved me here at MGM resorts owned the property. So we did a turnaround at MGM at at Mandarin here financially. Right. And then MGM, I got to know those guys, and they hired me, and I, I had the benefit of working with Bill Macbeth.

Yeah. Bobby Baldwin was second. No way. Yeah. He’s industry royalty. Yeah. Especially for gaming. Yeah. And and then I got to work with Bill Hornbuckle and Corey Sanders at MGM resorts. Bill is the current CEO of MGM now. And so to have like those for as my gaming tours was it’s I’m very lucky very blessed you also ran Luxor. Are you there before or after the late great Felix Rapoport after. Yeah. So actually Bill put me there to learn gaming. And so what I would walk the floor the employees the 3000 employees there. That’s that’s that’s who they knew was Felix. Yeah. Yeah. They still refer to him very very fondly. He was a great dude. Great. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So what do you think about the future of here and the future of Las Vegas? First of all, I’m excited for both. For Las Vegas, the town continues to reinvent itself. Like I said with F1. Yeah, there’s some challenges. Year one, we learn, we adapt. We’ve got that for nine years. It’s going to continue to get better and better. Nba coming I’m sure as we’re recording this it’s NBA Summer League as well. Yes. And we’re we’re the home of that. It’s a Thomas and Mack next door. Oh cool. What will happen with the A’s. And what will happen with the bright line? These these exciting things that have never existed before.

But as I tell our team, we have two we have two experiences in our neighborhood that didn’t exist a year ago. The fear just anniversary. And I’m not familiar with that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No one’s heard of it yet. I’ve already seen five shows there. At least the Eagles. Com. Wow. Yeah. For sure. So you’ve got the sphere, you’ve got F1 next to us. And those things didn’t exist even a year ago. And so as the town continues to reinvent, reinvent itself, then I’d take it to our four walls here at Virgin of getting back to fun, but also evolving the guest experience for our rooms and suites. We put $300 million in these rooms and suites. We call some of the best in the market, and so we need to do a better job of of of marketing that and telling people that it’s here, but bringing the fun back, bringing the entertainment back, coming here. There’s some great properties in town, but we we want to be known where you can come here, let your hair down and have fun Las Vegas style. That’s cool. Well, thanks for talking to me today. Thanks for your. I really appreciate it. Hey, thanks to all of you. I hope you enjoyed this video. Us walking around this incredible hotel. That’s Cliff Atkinson, I’m Glen Housman. You’ll sign up for the newsletter. Text the word hotel to 66866. Thanks so much for watching. We’ll see you next time.