What It’s Like Running Three Iconic Vegas Hotels: MGM Grand, NY-NY & Excalibur with their President

Glenn: [00:00:00] Everybody. It’s your hospitality, friend. Glenn. I’m super excited because we have a special series here you’re about to watch an episode of focused on MGM Resorts International and the amazing people that run this world class hospitality company. I gotta thank our friends over at Uniguest for making this possible, and please check them out at universe.com because their Hotel hub solution is going to connect your guest customer journey to your messaging and branding, making you more money and happier guests at the same time. Now enjoy! This special series took me a lot of years to pull this off, so I’m excited to share it with you right now. Hey everybody, it’s your hospitality. Friend Glenn here again in Las Vegas, Nevada. And I’m at MGM Grand with Mike Neubecker, who’s president and CEO of not just here, but we got a triple threat today, also New York, New York and Excalibur. Mike, so great to see you.

 

Mike: [00:00:55] Good to see you, sir. And welcome to MGM Grand.

 

Glenn: [00:00:57] All right. So New York, New York was under Construction when I first started, like following what was going on in Las Vegas, and I was working at a hotel magazine, and it was so exciting to see like major project like rise out of the ground like that. What’s it like running it now all these years?

 

Mike: [00:01:12] You know, it’s interesting, I, I’ve been in the industry a long time too, and I started here about a month before MGM Grand opened in 93. And when I started, I was an hourly clerk. In, in. And I’m humbled to be in the spot that I’m in today. So I get the privilege to come to work every day and work with an incredible group of people that do amazing things every day of the week. So we have a lot of fun. We work hard. And it’s incredibly rewarding.

 

Glenn: [00:01:40] Speaking of amazing, incredible things, what’s going on over here? You guys are dealing with players around the world.

 

Mike: [00:01:46] Yeah. So you know, this started out as an idea a couple years ago, and they said, hey, what about putting it at MGM Grand? I’m like, hey, why not? So it’s been a pretty cool learning experience. The studio’s been open now for a little over two months, so we live streamed 24 over seven. We’re in six countries right now. We’re streaming to UK, Mexico, Canada. Wow. Brazil, Denmark and Sweden. I think I got all the countries right.

 

Glenn: [00:02:13] All right. So we’re not going to fact check you out. He’s in Sweden, but it’s Norway. That’s great.

 

Mike: [00:02:20] That’s coming soon.

 

Glenn: [00:02:20] So I would be surprised. But it’s interesting that we’re seeing the you know, the evolution of gaming and that you’re able to house that here. So my guess is you’re able to appeal to people globally and then have them with the goal or coming, you know.

 

Mike: [00:02:35] Yeah, we think there’s I mean, you can build these studios anywhere at the end of the day. But we think there’s value to connecting it to the community around. Right. So it gives the feel that you’re part of it. And again, the more we can drive our brand globally, at the end of the day, it’s kind of win win from that standpoint.

 

Glenn: [00:02:53] So yeah, that makes sense. So you’re working with three distinct Stinct grants that are out there, right? Different price points, totally different experiences. How are you thinking about making sure that they remain distinct and have a clear brand essence? That when people hear MGM Grand, they know what it is. New York, New York, I know what it is.

 

Mike: [00:03:12] Yeah.

 

Glenn: [00:03:12] So it’s been.

 

Mike: [00:03:13] A little bit of a learning curve as we’ve grown over time. So the one thing that we’ve determined in order to be successful is we work together, as we call it, our pod. So we work closely together. So like earlier this week when we meet, we meet as groups. So we met with all the front desk teams and we were talking about arrival experiences. So we try to stay consistent with the base level of service. So we work together as a pod to make sure it doesn’t matter whether you’re paying $59 for a room or $5,000.

 

Glenn: [00:03:46] I really expect.

 

Mike: [00:03:47] That there is a base level of service that should happen day in and day out. So there we work together as a group for consistency from that standpoint now is you hit places like Skyloft which is five, four star, or you go out to the mansion and buy those. We kind of work independently at that at the end of the day. But what we found and what’s interesting is when you look at guest feedback at New York, New York and Excalibur, they’re at record all time highs. And I think that’s worked to their benefit. Again, that we work as a group and we can bounce things off each other from that standpoint. We’ve actually elevated the experience across the board.

 

Glenn: [00:04:28] That’s really that’s really what it’s all about is making sure people feel that experience. And in New York, New York, for example, I just saw you change the whole check in area to make it more digital mobile friendly.

 

Mike: [00:04:38] Yeah. So you know, we’re always looking for opportunities to, you know, how do we get more efficient, but also how do we improve the guest experience? Nobody wants to show up at a hotel and wait in line.

 

Glenn: [00:04:51] No, I’ve seen those videos. Yeah, yeah.

 

Mike: [00:04:53] So we’ve all been there. You’re excited and you walk in the door and you’re like, oh now I gotta wait. So we’ve been using Excalibur as a test bed over, man. We’ve been doing it 6 or 9 months from that standpoint. So we worked out a lot of kinks. We’re actually rolling forward with Excalibur this week. With the digital footprint. And the good thing we’ve created optionality for the consumer. I mean, all the major brands are going down this path. So you can download the app and improve check in in advance. Or if you don’t want to download the app, I get it. You can just go to the web and check in. And basically it’s a seamless arrival experience that you can basically walk right to your room.

 

Glenn: [00:05:35] Well, to me, it’s all about giving the customer the opportunity to engage with you in the way that makes them more comfortable. They still have that.

 

Mike: [00:05:43] They still have the choice if they want the traditional check in. And it’s your first time and I want to talk to somebody.

 

Glenn: [00:05:48] Right.

 

Mike: [00:05:48] We still offer that at the end of the day, but I just want to get to having fun or I want to get. I got business to do. A total.

 

Glenn: [00:05:56] And and for me, I’ve stayed at this particular property, you know, dozens of times. So I would like to just seamlessly get to my room and then go out and start enjoying some of the casino stuff and the stuff beyond the casino stuff. So how are you thinking about here when I And I’d encourage you all to check out my interview with Bill Hornbuckle, president and CEO of MGM Resorts International. I’ll put the link down below for that one. We were talking about the incredible amount of spend off the gaming floor. So you must be spending a lot of time really thinking about how you’re going to capture guest spend in that 360 kind of sense, both through entertainment, dining and right here, gambling.

 

Mike: [00:06:33] You know what’s interesting? I mean, Vegas has changed a lot over the last 20 or 30 years. And back in the early days, you’re focused on gaming and everything else was kind of a minute. When they.

 

Glenn: [00:06:43] First opened. You could have gotten eaten by a lion. Yeah. So, yeah.

 

Mike: [00:06:46] But nowadays our revenue streams are much more diverse. So it comes in on a lot of channels. So now there’s a lot of focus and entertainment. There’s a lot of focus in food and beverage, so you definitely have to be more strategic to the amount, more well-rounded and also just thinking into the future. I mean, sports has done phenomenal in Las Vegas. And you know, we’re getting ready to to welcome the A’s next door. Hopefully at some point we welcome the NBA to the city. So I think that is something that we need to continue to stay focused on. But I think entertainment will continue to morph to. And you see it in a lot of the new experiences around town spheres, the classic kind of kind of like I think things will start to transition from an entertainment standpoint that people are looking for more immersive pieces. And you’ll see it in my building here. You know, a few years ago you would have said, hey, a collaboration with MGM Grand and Netflix to do a restaurant like, that’s crazy, but it’s a reality now.

 

Glenn: [00:07:48] So yeah. And it’s great. Food is named after different programs and characters and stuff like that, which is really neat and it was a good way to redevelop. I think that was like your coffee shop, correct?

 

Mike: [00:07:59] The traditional kind of old school coffee shop. So now it it still has familiar foods, but there’s there’s cute decor and there’s clever relationships into Netflix.

 

Glenn: [00:08:10] To take a Walt Disney term, you’re plussing it, you know, taking what could have been a regular, average experience, putting some fun branding behind it so you could get the customers to connect better with the property.

 

Mike: [00:08:22] And it opens us up to a bigger audience at the end of the day that are coming into this building, this for that experience, that I wouldn’t have seen that consumer.

 

Glenn: [00:08:31] Right. And the same thing with you know, the baseball park being built across the roadway. I’m a big believer in cities like here and other places to the cluster effect. The more that comes in, even if you have competition, it’s still good because it’s creating global appeal. Like, I’m sure you guys don’t have anything to do with fear, but it is bringing eyeballs to.

 

Mike: [00:08:50] Anything that helps visitation to the city is good for all of.

 

Glenn: [00:08:53] Us. Hey, listen, I’ve been to shows over there, and.

 

Mike: [00:08:55] It makes us step up a little better to know we gotta step up our game.

 

Glenn: [00:08:59] Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So as you’re stepping up your game, you have to think about overall profitability, right? That’s a huge part of your job. So how are you thinking about profitability not just on RevPAR but thinking about moving towards perhaps a per customer kind of number as opposed to a room type number.

 

Mike: [00:09:16] Yeah. So we’re always looking for opportunities and we’re to me you have to be careful. You have to balance. You still have to meet the guest expectations. So you can’t you can’t do things to the detriment of the guests. We’re not inexpensive. So we have to deliver from a service standpoint. So a lot of the focus over the last few years and kind of going into the future has been from a technology standpoint. You know, we just talked about the the check in experience. Again, the consumer still has choice on whether they want the traditional that helps us from an efficiency standpoint, but where we put a lot of effort is when you look at these hotels. There’s massive amounts of labor in these and you just take MGM Grand alone.

 

Glenn: [00:09:58] You get 10,000 or something.

 

Mike: [00:09:59] Most, most days, like today, there’s probably close to 4000, 500, 5000 people working. So now we’re embracing technology especially in the hotel division, to let individuals just be a lot more to give them a lot more knowledge and real time information to be more efficient. At the end of the day. I mean, back in the old days when you showed up in housekeeping, there was lots of clipboards and paper and every few hours you’d have to update things. Now things are updated real time, so guest room attendants can look at their phone and see exactly where they need to go to next. If a guest needs, you know a towel to the room that’s getting dispatched remotely. So a lot of focus on just how do we become much more efficient with the labor we have and which Stem provides better guest services.

 

Glenn: [00:10:50] I was just gonna say it’s a win win.

 

Mike: [00:10:51] Yeah. So now we try to stay focused on is like, how do we get those win win scenarios that we can become more efficient at the same time? Deliver. From a guest standpoint.

 

Glenn: [00:11:01] And I would say part of the the overall profitability is making sure you have great programming here on property. And and, and we’ll bring in the other properties as well. You got such diverse entertainment just here. I mean, you got classic car show here. Brad Garrett’s comedy club, Jabbawockeez is a.

 

Mike: [00:11:18] Jabbawockeez.

 

Glenn: [00:11:19] There as well. Yeah, yeah, I think I saw a burlesque show there like 20 years ago.

 

Mike: [00:11:22] You are correct. You are.

 

Glenn: [00:11:24] Correct. Yeah.

 

Speaker3: [00:11:26] All the time. So I know there’s so much. So so.

 

Glenn: [00:11:30] How are you thinking about at each of the different properties, entertainment that doesn’t just fit the brand of the building, but also is appealing towards a wider audience to get people to come in and spend money in the restaurants and on the gaming floor.

 

Mike: [00:11:43] Yeah. So we’re I mean, between MGM Grand, New York, New York. We’re blessed with a lot of entertainment options at the end of the day.

 

Glenn: [00:11:50] And it’s great because it’s like a cluster. Everything is right.

 

Mike: [00:11:53] Everything is within easy walking. I mean, you take a property like Excalibur. Tournament of Kings. We just celebrated the 30th anniversary or 35th anniversary. I think it was of Tournament of Incredible. The show still does phenomenal. But you just have a breadth of different experiences. You got tournament of case, you got mad up and we got the Grand Garden. We had the Pacquiao fight here just the other week. So we rely on entertainment is is key to drive visitations and to keep the energy level.

 

Glenn: [00:12:23] Bro, I gotta ask you. I gotta ask you about boxing over here because MGM Grand is synonymous with boxing. I mean, I can’t think of two brands. Even better. Even close.

 

Mike: [00:12:34] I totally agree, and what was interesting. I’m gonna lose track of time, but it feels like I make. But. But anyways, we celebrated our 100th fight, and we did a big ceremony, and we did this video collage and I’ve been here forever. And when you work in it every day, it’s just kind of normal day to day stuff. And you watch that video, you’re like, holy, you know what I was going to say? We did some pretty cool stuff over the years and hosted some pretty iconic moments in the boxing world, that when we kind of step back, it’s like, yeah, it’s like we’re pretty proud of that.

 

Speaker3: [00:13:07] Yeah, you should be.

 

Glenn: [00:13:08] I’ve like, I’ve never seen a fight here, but I happen to have been here. I was leaving town the day fight was happening, and from the time I arrived, from the time I woke up that morning to the time I left in the afternoon, the entire vibe of the place.

 

Speaker3: [00:13:20] Yeah, definitely.

 

Mike: [00:13:20] The energy steps up a couple rungs on the ladder when there’s a fight, though.

 

Speaker3: [00:13:24] Yeah, for sure. So you must have, like, a well-oiled.

 

Glenn: [00:13:26] Machine with how to handle these kinds of things.

 

Mike: [00:13:28] What’s interesting is we have a crew that Finn asks you to lay out a week. Some weeks, you know, like that’s impossible to do at the end of the day. And they make the impossible seem easy at the end of the day. So we have a well-oiled machine and it does well because we let everyone, they, they know their job well and they execute well and, and deliver incredible experiences day after day.

 

Speaker3: [00:13:56] So sports.

 

Glenn: [00:13:58] Entertainment, all of these things are crucial. But there’s another really important component the convention stuff. Right. Such an important component. They got rid of the theme park to build a convention space, which is probably a much better choice for monetization over there. So how is that business and how is it changing these days?

 

Mike: [00:14:16] Well it in Los, I mean, convention is incredibly important to every property. In Las Vegas, at the end of the day, they make up a good chunk of our business. You take a property like this with. We have a big room base, almost 5000 rooms. That, that, you know, we look that almost 30% of our business is convention business at the end of the day. So that’s an important core business midweek. So I mean the perfect week in most big properties in Las Vegas is you’re heavy up on convention Monday through Thursday and you got you’re driven entertainment from a weekend standpoint. But they’re, they’re key. And the good thing the convention business still continues to be incredibly robust. You know, during the pandemic, it was a little interesting because, oh, yeah, some companies, you know, started, you know, maybe maybe they don’t need to meet in person. But I think most have realized that connecting human to human is good for business. At the end of the day. In, in this year’s been a great year in the future years look fantastic. From that standpoint. So it’s important to us and we stay highly focused. And to your point, we we got rid of both theme park to literally build convention space. And then we doubled up that convention space. Because it’s that important to us.

 

Glenn: [00:15:45] But you also got one of the best pool areas out back.

 

Speaker3: [00:15:47] Yeah. We haven’t.

 

Mike: [00:15:48] We have a fun experience.

 

Speaker3: [00:15:49] Out there.

 

Glenn: [00:15:49] So our meetings and conventions as critical for like a Excalibur as it would be for here.

 

Mike: [00:15:55] A little different. It’s still important at every one of the properties. It’s a little.

 

Speaker3: [00:15:59] It feels like.

 

Glenn: [00:15:59] It’s a little bit.

 

Speaker3: [00:16:00] Smaller, a little smaller.

 

Mike: [00:16:01] In at a property at Excalibur. They’re picking up a lot of overflow room nights from either MGM Grand or Mandalay Bay from that standpoint. So they kind of serve that. You have a massive group citywide. We have.

 

Glenn: [00:16:14] Yeah. No, no, I know exactly what you’re talking about. I’ve been to a couple of major hotel conferences at Mandalay Bay, and a lot of people wind up staying with you at Excalibur or your, you know, friends over at Luxor, for example. Yeah, that makes sense. That makes a whole lot of sense. For for sure. So what are you thinking about now in terms of continuing to reinvent this, this place over time and your other properties as well, and putting money back into them?

 

Mike: [00:16:38] Yeah. So so we’re spending a lot of money. We’re literally We got about two months left on the renovation here.

 

Glenn: [00:16:45] For the main tower. The main tower. And I should say that the original 1975 tower that was incorporated into this when it opened in 1989 was redone. Three. Yeah, we did that.

 

Mike: [00:16:57] I lose track of time, but I think we did that in 2022.

 

Glenn: [00:17:00] Yeah, it’s about three years ago. Yeah. One of my one of my one of my friends supplied all your plumbing, I believe so.

 

Mike: [00:17:07] So, yeah. So we’re wrapping up our $300 million room renovation here, so that’s pretty much done. Middle of October, we got a couple sweep floors that’ll roll into November, and then we at simultaneously, we’re doing one of the towers at Excalibur. So 4000 rooms at Excalibur.

 

Glenn: [00:17:28] And so what other projects are you thinking about on an ongoing basis to keep these properties in?

 

Mike: [00:17:33] So you know, we got the A’s coming up in 2028. So, you know, we got some Todd in there. And just how do we benefit from that opportunity?

 

Glenn: [00:17:43] I mean, with three with you have four corners.

 

Mike: [00:17:46] Corners?

 

Glenn: [00:17:47] Yeah, they have the other three corners.

 

Mike: [00:17:49] So focus on that. A lot of focus this in the future of entertainment. So, you know, we’re looking at a lot of opportunities in entertainment, we’ve learned a lot from the. Netflix has been phenomenal. They’ve been great to work with. So we’re looking at how do we plus one that to that I think there’s there’s bigger opportunities when you combine experiences with food and beverages from that standpoint. So we’re looking into that even this recent things, we opened up friends last week. It kind of was super cool, kind of. How do you take iconic TV shows in and create opportunities for people to be part of it at the end of the day? So we’re exploring there’s other of those types of opportunities out there. So a lot of focus on we’ve got the gaming piece down pretty well. We’ve we’re pretty tried and true to that, but it’s like, how do we continue to, to create, you know, we’re always going to have food and beverage and so forth. But how do we again, bus warm things to kind of cross entertainment experiences into those channels. At the end of the.

 

Glenn: [00:18:58] Day, you guys have to be so on point, though with the CapEx expenses, because you’re always constantly reevaluating. And with the hundreds of thousands of square feet on the gaming floors and off the gaming floors, it’s incredible. How do you make the decision when it’s time to move on from something and you know, it’s run its natural course? It’s got to be just beyond looking at it at a PNL.

 

Mike: [00:19:20] Yeah, there’s definitely a few buckets. There’s some things you just have to do from a maintenance standpoint. It’s like your buildings have to be in good repair. From that standpoint there’s some money you have to put at risk as you’re trying new things that sometimes they’re hit, sometimes they’re so forth from that standpoint. So it’s tough decisions. I mean, you take you know, some of our shows like car I mean, that was over $100 million investment back in the day. So when you make a move on that, it’s like you need to make sure that you’re doing your due diligence and in not just listening to yourself, that you’re getting consumer feedback. So you’re making good decisions.

 

Glenn: [00:20:03] But it’s got to be also it’s also got to be difficult because if you’re just listening to general consumers not having stuff in front of you that you ask them, there tends to be people, the people that are most involved, either the huge lovers or the huge haters. And I find like if you’re just looking at social media and stuff, it may not be an accurate representation of how I don’t disagree.

 

Mike: [00:20:23] Because when you look back at this city 20 years ago, half the things we have now would have been crazy talk back from that standpoint. So that’s where as operators, we always have to continue to push ourselves. So how does Las Vegas continue to be the originator of incredible experiences? And with that comes risk. From that standpoint. So it’s it’s a little bit of a balancing act.

 

Glenn: [00:20:45] So then what’s the next big bet for you folks moving forward.

 

Mike: [00:20:49] I think it’s going to continue down. The entertainment component again, just how to and this is just my personal belief. How does that continue to morph into more immersive type experiences? And again, I think that combination of taking food and beverage and immersive type things has lots of opportunities for growth.

 

Glenn: [00:21:12] Yeah. I’m seeing on seeing more like the theater shows with meals that are coming to town that are good. The supper club concept. Yeah.

 

Mike: [00:21:19] It’s like the old days of this. Opening a restaurant with good food is difficult. There’s lots of great places you can go, so. And more you can up the game and create that. And it’s more than just a good entree. There’s there’s a whole experience to it. I think that helps you cut through. The rest.

 

Glenn: [00:21:39] I would say when it comes to food and beverage specifically, I think over the last 20 years, in my opinion, let me tell you, I think I’m crazy. I think Americans tastes and understanding of food has grown dramatically, not just because of like things like the the Travel Channel and food networks and stuff like that, but they’re getting used to things like I had Filipino food here in town, you know you wouldn’t have seen that before. So that, I think, gives you an opportunity to experiment with a lot of different types of cuisines as well.

 

Mike: [00:22:07] Correct?

 

Glenn: [00:22:08] Yeah, yeah. That’s interesting. So what are you most excited about now in this game running these three properties. You know, you must have 12, 13,000 people that are under you or something.

 

Mike: [00:22:17] It’s it’s well, here’s the good thing about Las Vegas. It’s never boring. You know, there’s always a million things going on. In kind of like, to my earlier point, we work hard. We have fun at what we’re doing at the end of the day in Las Vegas is an incredible city. In I Las Vegas will continue to reinvent itself always in create opportunities to to drive visitation from that standpoint. But it’s just it’s, it’s, it’s a, it’s an incredible place to work. At the end of the day, there’s an incredible amount of opportunities for people to come in and grow. And when I look at my team, I see individuals that have spent a lot of time here too, and where they started and where they are now, it’s it’s it’s incredibly rewarding for me.

 

Glenn: [00:23:05] It sure is. Do you sometimes look back on your career and are shocked that you’ve done it all?

 

Mike: [00:23:10] It’s it’s unbelievable and it’s unbelievable how fast the the time is. One at the end of the day. So I take more time now to enjoy every day and, and celebrate the things that we do. Because when you’re in it every day, sometimes you can just, you kind of take it for granted and you don’t step back and, and and thank the team for the hard work and effort they put in and and celebrate the wins that that we have on a daily basis.

 

Glenn: [00:23:38] Nice. This has been really special. Any final final thoughts?

 

Mike: [00:23:41] I appreciate the time today. And and it’s it’s our industry is fun. Again, it’s not for the faint of heart. But you know that but it’s you know, I think the good thing we’re we’re probably our biggest critic at the end of the day. So which forces us to kind of come in with a mindset of just how do we do it better the next day? At the end of the day. Right.

 

Glenn: [00:24:05] Excellent. So we got a lot of younger people that watch this as well. Give them one piece of real good career advice that you’ve, that you learned over here.

 

Mike: [00:24:12] Well, here’s the one thing I’ve learned. You can’t be singular focused. So you have to be willing to go down a lot of different paths. So when I think back, I raised my hand a lot of times on things that I didn’t know anything about. And I always took the attitude. I’m like, I’ll figure it out. The other piece I pushed my team to now is do not underestimate the value of networking. It’s like you need to be known. At the end of the day, you can do fantastic work. But if nobody knows you. That’s right. It’s a little bit all or nothing at the end of the day. So not only do you have to be a subject matter expert, you need to to to work the network at the end of the day to get people to know. And if I had to do it all over again early in my career, I focused on being a subject matter expert. I would have focused more time earlier on being a good leader of people.

 

Glenn: [00:25:01] Right?

 

Mike: [00:25:01] Because I would argue that’s more important than subject matter experts.

 

Glenn: [00:25:04] Yeah, but how are you supposed to know that at the early part of your career, when all you’ve done your entire life is go through school and learning and no one’s tipped you off to that?

 

Mike: [00:25:14] That’s where old guys like me need that route.

 

Glenn: [00:25:18] Oh, awesome. Well, hey, thanks everybody for watching. Mike, thank you so much for this. I really appreciate it. Hey, please like subscribe to this video. I love you guys and we’ll see you next time right back here on No Vacancy.