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Each episode of GAIN Momentum focuses on timeless lessons to help grow and scale a business in hospitality, travel, and technology. Whether you’re a veteran industry leader looking for some inspiration to guide the next phase of growth or an aspiring executive looking to fast-track the learning process, this podcast is here with key lessons centered around four questions we ask each guest.
GAIN Momentum episode #21 - Vendor Scalability at Las Vegas Casino Resorts | with Shannon McCallum
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Adam Mogelonsky: Welcome to the Gain Momentum podcast, focusing on timeless lessons from senior leaders in hospitality, travel, food service, and technology. I'm your host, Adam Mogelonsky, and I'm here with my special co host, Michael Cohen. Michael Cohen, how are you?
Michael Cohen: Always good, always happy to be your special co host.
Adam Mogelonsky: And our guest today is the lovely Shannon McCallum, the SVP of Hotel Operations from Resorts World Las Vegas. Shannon, how are you?
Shannon: I'm well, thank you so much. It's a pleasure to be here with both of you.
Adam Mogelonsky: It's a pleasure to have you on. Shannon, we're going to go into our first question of four that we use to frame this podcast. Shannon. What single piece of advice would you give to vendor companies entering hospitality?
Shannon: That's a really good question, and I think I have some benefit of [00:01:00] working on both sides of the table to answer this question you know, I've realized over the years that sometimes we have vendors that come up with a really great solution that they think will be a good fit for hospitality. But they may not have the experience and hospitality to really understand the, you know, the idiosyncrasies of our business. And I've, I've always suggested to vendor partners that they really, if they don't themselves have hospitality experience, that they supplement their team with SMEs that can come in with how, knowledge about how the business is run, so that they can not only talk the language. I really relate with hoteliers, but to truly understand what the pain points are in our business. Just because you have a good solution doesn't mean it will fit well into hospitality. However, if you have team members that have that background, they can help to frame it and build it and make it work based on their [00:02:00] experience.
Michael Cohen: That's a really good point, Shannon, because we've been doing this for quite a while, some of us. I always find, to your point, because you have experience on both sides of the boardroom table, of course, it's actually, it's after the sale, it's the deployment, the support, the follow through, you know, that's where it gets, um, serious. And sometimes it gets difficult. So it's, you know, that's really good advice.
Shannon: It's so true, but that really, that customer success portion is really something that I see so many more technology companies building out, and more and more I'm seeing familiar faces from the hospitality side filling those roles, because they truly know how to take care of customers, because that's what they've done in their career, and how to translate that now to a vendor hotel partnership.
Where there's communication, there's follow up, there's response time, all of those things that we need in order to feel like we're [00:03:00] supported in our business.
Adam Mogelonsky: Well, one follow up I have is when we're thinking about vendor companies, an important thing here is budget. So if we're talking on bringing on a lot of people who are going to help with the either sales or the post sale customer success, what would you say as a barometer for equating the amount of time they should spend towards product versus these new salespeople that are going to help to sell into hospitality.
How do they find that balance? What advice would you give?
Shannon: You know, you can only sell if you can support your product, because it's about not only attaining your, partners in the industry, but it's also taking care of those relationships. And those early adopters, if they're not happy with the service that they've been provided, they will share that. Because people talk in our industry, it's a very small industry. And a lot of people will reach out if you, if they know you're working with a certain vendor partner. So, [00:04:00] you know, although sales are important, especially for smaller startups, in order to start to see that revenue come in. It is about the longevity of your company and the building of your reputation, and you only get one chance to do it, um, and to launch in a certain way.
So, those first relationships can be the most important.
Michael Cohen: I have one more quick follow up, Adam, if it's okay. So, Shannon, Resorts World, amazing property. I enjoyed experiencing it about a month ago. Um, thank you. Was there any particular technology or risks that you took? Maybe you didn't think there were risks, or maybe there were a little bit of risk, but it actually paid off? I'm curious, I mean, you can mention the vendor or not, or just the category, it's up to you, but I'm fascinated.
Shannon: There are a few things that were done differently at this property. We had the benefit of being a brand new property that
was launching, and we could decide on what vendor partners we wanted to, uh, select. Now, I wasn't here at the selection time. I came on board a few months after opening. But what I [00:05:00] would say some of the things that I've noticed that are done differently from other large scale casino properties in the city, was the decision to go cashless. And that can be very challenging in a hotel situation. However People are now, a lot of them, not carrying cash in their wallet anymore, and going cashless for many properties might be a scary proposition, but once you've done it, you can understand not only the ability to do it is there in many Stadiums are doing it and other venues are no longer doing cash, but the efficiencies it can bring to your business as well for an operator.
No longer do you have to have an internal cashier that only deals with staff, banks, and balancing them, and following up on overages and shortages. Because when you think about how big our hotels are, you know, often we've got 26 check in windows, and if each one of those individual needs to have their own bank, and then think about the pool and all the restaurants, we've [00:06:00] got 50 restaurants and lounges here on property. Think about the amount of time it takes to manage the flow of that cash, both back of house and front of house for change, So, for us, it really was a decision of this is what we're going to do, this is our path, how do we manage it? And it has been such a great decision for our property. To be able to do that, and it is feasible, and we're seeing it also, in our casino.
We were the first property to be able to have a cash wallet in our, gaming app, which is Genting Rewards, and that is something that allows someone to, you know, put money into a slot machine, then cash out into their digital wallet on their phone and then walk to a table game, put their phone down and the table game knows who they are, how much money they want to put down on the table game, then when they leave there, they can cash out and be carrying it in their digital wallet. So I really do think that things are changing so much in our industry and you can't be afraid of change. Now again, I go [00:07:00] back to, we started that way. So we didn't have to change from having a cashless environment to a non cashless environment, which can be a bit of a struggle in change management. Um, but definitely those, uh, that was really a great decision on behalf of the property and it's bringing us benefits in really streamlining our operation.
Michael Cohen: Hey listen, as a guest, and then I'll stop on this tangent, I used everything you just described. I happen to have a good night, so, you know.
Shannon: Darn!
Michael Cohen: But it's, yeah, so, but it was really, I was so impressed with the tech the whole way through. So that's a really beautiful, example because, because I was blown away, frankly, by the execution.
So well done to your team
right now. Thanks.
Adam Mogelonsky: Well, we'll know it's the whole discussion of implementing a cashless system is the perfect segue to our second question, which is talking about challenges and setbacks. And maybe you've encountered some along the way when embarking on this direction. So Shannon, our second question, what are [00:08:00] some of the challenges or setbacks you've experienced when rolling out a new business expansion or partnership?
Shannon: You know, in Las Vegas, it's all about scalability, and when you're developing technology for a hotel that might be 200 rooms, you might get a certain result, and it can work 100 percent of the time. When you jump into a large operation that has 3, 600 rooms like this one, or my last one that had 4, 004. Sometimes you really have to look at the volume, especially if it's a technology that sends messages and updates periodically in order to update the system. And over my years in Las Vegas working in these large scale casinos, you know, it's not only about what your technology can do, it's also about the infrastructure that you're placing that technology on. And the bandwidth that it has. And, and I do think that sometimes companies overestimate their ability to operate in this environment. [00:09:00] And, it can lead to struggles in the operation where you have to look at. Separating out servers in order to give more bandwidth on the server side. Potentially looking at your wifi, access points to make sure that the wifi is it shared with the guests?
Is it also supporting your technology? Is it enough in order to be able to support brand new technology that you're layering in on top of the technology you already have? Uh, and then. Again, what is that support? And to be troubleshooting after the fact when you're an open operation is never a fun thing to do, because then your, your team is dealing with any of the gaps in service that you might have. And then the guests can see maybe that there are flaws that they're actually experiencing it. And, and again, I'm, I'm not necessarily only talking about the property that I'm at, but also some of the ones that I've had in the past. Where, you know, you really have to understand is that technology going to be able to do [00:10:00] the job that you're promising. Um, because again when we talk about you only get a certain number of chances and people are always looking to see what technology you're using. And, you know, if you're getting comments from your guests in social media that there's certain technology that's not working as well as it should. That's not only an implication for the property, but there's other people out there saying, well, what are they using over there?
So it's, it's really important in regards to a reputation to make sure that those things are tested, prior to doing a full scale rollout. And it's up to both the operator and the technology provider to be able to partner together, to make sure that you're looking at everything before you are launching.
Michael Cohen: It's so interesting because many times in my career, personally, as an advisor or senior executive in technology company, we're advising small to medium enterprises. High growth companies. You're a pro, not your problem, but your properties are the Holy Grail. Everybody says what's the strategy to get us to Vegas?
We need to have Vegas hotels as [00:11:00] clients. I mean, I've had that. Many of us had that thousand conversations like that. You know that. And I always, caution everyone in the room. I say, that's the last place you go to. Everything needs to be rock and roll, buttoned down, smoothed out, streamlined because that's where vendors go to die. And some have. And because everyone's fascination, like it's a quick path to volume, it's prestige, obviously there's many times margin. yOu know, you have to be mature enough, whatever that means, to be able to responsibly. Not only get the deal, but like we said before, be able to implement it, deploy it, and support it, so that it's seamless, not a hindrance, right?
But I always have cautioned many, many times, that's the last market to go after once you really battle tested, bullet proofed scale and capacity on your technology.[00:12:00]
Shannon: Agree. 100%.
Adam Mogelonsky: Well, to help elucidate vendors and also aspiring hoteliers, to peel back the layers of scalability, um, an important part here is also understanding that, um, You mentioned there's 36000 rooms in these properties, and that requires teams of tens of thousands to, armies of people to effectively run those operations.
And when it comes to something like implementing an IT solution, how does that go through the various departments to arrive at that decision of, saying yes? It's Mm
Shannon: Oh, you want me to open up all the answers for everybody? Uh, absolutely. Uh, well, we have a committee and, uh, it's led through our procurement,
um, because we have to have, competitive companies come to the table. We can't just go out and say, Oh, I [00:13:00] like Michael, I'm gonna use his technology. You know, our Our procurement will say, Okay, Shannon, who else are you looking at?
Let's have meetings with all of them. Let's compare their options and their benefits side by side. Let's look at the financials and what the return on investment would be so that we can make a good decision. So it is not a short process, um, there's meetings, there's sometimes follow up meetings, if there's questions, then there's the proposals and the proposal reviews, which we do internally. Then we, end up voting internally on which ones we think are the frontrunners based on performance. based on the offer, and the return on our investment, and, um, sometimes then it does get escalated up to our property president, depending on the size of the project, to make sure that there's transparency through the process, and, uh, and then a decision is made, [00:14:00] and implementation dates implementation dates are set, um, for rollout. So, it can take, and I know this is frustrating, especially for new vendors who are not used to that, It can take several months, if not six months sometimes, to do a full review and a building of our size for new technology. And again, it's a commitment. It's not just, oh, we'll try it out for a month. No, it's, you know, is this a three year or a five year deal, you know, with a, an option to renew and what does that look like?
And not just what does the first three years look like, but what. is the discussion about what happens at that three years when we go to renew. What are the terms? So we, um, we look at it from all sides and it is a very thorough process and you know, our vendor partners have to be patient because it's not something that happens overnight.
Michael Cohen: first of all, thanks for opening up the kimono so people understand the complexities, because I mean, Shannon, frankly, if you don't mind, what you said wasn't proprietary, really, it was best practice, right? [00:15:00] Like, that's how it should be done. Some of us in the industry know that's not always how it's done. But that's, frankly, patronizing or not, that's the responsible way to do it. But when I first started commercializing to properties Like yours, you know, years ago, someone said to me, with great opportunity comes great responsibility. And on the vendor side, I always remember that, right? Because it was a buyer actually, who was a very major buyer.
He said, be careful what you wish for because we like your technology, but here it's going to be a nine month process and, you know, procurement and, you know, it's pseudo governmental and bureaucratic and all those things. And, you know, we, Shannon, all of us, Adam, we know go, go. Technology, innovation, entrepreneurs, they sometimes don't always overlap. So that's why the more mature companies who have more of a corporate structure usually win a lot of the business. And when you're a upstart, [00:16:00] your stuff better be spectacular for people to even put you in the conversation. Fair?
Shannon: I agree 100 percent and I think where it changes is when you do have new technology that is is fresh on the
market that no one that is established has and then you've got a whole load of very new companies that you're reviewing. Um, and again there's more risk in that and then sometimes no one wants to be first.
They want someone else to go first and then they'll step into the water once they see how it's So that's where references for me are so important, especially even if they're smaller properties. And often we ask for references so we can speak to hotels where the product is live just to get the operator version of how the implementation is going.
What is the solution? And I think that's really important, because, you know, what is your market support like? Is it doing everything you wanted it to do? Are there any pain points that you wish, you know, you could change about what's going on? And again, that's why that [00:17:00] relationship and that customer success role with these technology companies is so important, because those conversations.
So, what are some of the things that we can do to make sure that these investments do happen? Well, post
Adam Mogelonsky: Well, I think it's just, it's so critical for every vendor and every even hotelier to hear about this process and to understand why it's there and how it actually protects both the buyers and the sellers to maintain a good relationship, which is ultimately what this industry is all about. It's about relationships and why should technology be any different.
but mentioning a three or five year contract is the good segue into our third question, Shannon, which is, what do you see as the biggest opportunities for growth in hospitality for 2024 and beyond?
Shannon: COVID, um, what I'm seeing is really the importance of a return on investment. And before we're investing in technology, we really need to understand what is the benefit to our business. And whether that is, [00:18:00] eliminating repetitive work, um, which will of course have a positive down the road when you're looking at your largest expense, um, which is payroll, or, really Solving some kind of a problem in our business that will allow us to provide better customer service, because better customer service will mean more happy guests and more return stays. So we have to really prove things out. And so for technology companies to have. a solution for it to be successful. There really has to be a direct return on investment when we're making a decision about involving that or bringing that into the company in the operation.
Adam Mogelonsky: Well, on that front, you mentioned payroll, so team efficiencies, let's say, and improving the guest experience. All three of us here, we all go to our annual jaunt over to high tech, and this is basically [00:19:00] the world series of hotel technology, at least in a North American capacity. And every single company seems to be Advertising their wares in various ways around team efficiencies and improving the customer service.
So from the hotelier's side, from the buyer's side, how do you go about picking and choosing what is what you really need for one of those core purposes? And then from there assessing what you feel the return on investment is going to be.
Shannon: That's a great question because when I go to high tech I really have a very Carefully planned in advance. I look at my business. I look at the standards that I'm trying to achieve. Can I replace my hard newspapers with a digital newspaper? Check. Yes, I've done that. And always been very happy with with doing that.
It reduces cost on labor to pay. Deliver and pick up newspapers, recycling costs because we have to pay by [00:20:00] poundage to have Recycling picked up and that's just one example, but things like AI, I already know that I'm going to look to see what I can do What are the automation companies that are out there that can take simple report making that my team might be doing manually? And how can I get that automated? And not necessarily make a decision at high tech, but create relationships with vendor companies that are providing those services. In addition, we use digital, we have a digital concierge here too, which Michael probably was testing out while, while he was here trying to break it. And, For me, it's important to understand, like, I have a digital AI, I have a chatbot, it operates on my website, it operates in my app, you can actually text it. You know, how is that business progressing and is my partner staying up with what's progressing within the industry? So I might stop by and talk to a few other competitors, even though I'm happy with my partner, just to understand what they're doing, because [00:21:00] I want to make sure that I stay educated.
So I use high tech as a way to continue to educate me, not only on the technology I already have, but what is my next step? What will my next goal be to further bring efficiency to my business and to be able to provide that, Extraordinary guest service that we're really, um, striving for each and every day. And I also use high tech to talk to my existing vendors and to check in with them or to talk about current items that we might be talking about with the technology that we're using. But also to be able to continue to build that relationship outside of the hotel in a more social way because I think relationships in our business are so important because when I am having a stress point with maybe technology then I can reach out and they know I'm only reaching out because I really need their help at that moment and if they know who I am, Then they are more likely to pick up the phone or answer me on a Saturday [00:22:00] evening when things are happening and maybe help desk isn't as available as they need to be. So for all of those reasons, I like to go to high tech. And then on top of that are the educational sessions. And the new technology that's rolling out that I may not have heard of yet. So, uh, the 20EX is one of my favorites to see some of that cutting edge technology that's coming out. It may not be ready for me yet, but just knowing that it's there and kind of watching it as it grows and it.
It's tested out in the market. I like to follow those new technologies and then also join the educational sessions, which I know both of you have been very much involved in. In order to understand what is, what is the discussion that's going on right now? How are we solving things like labor shortages and what are other properties doing and how can I learn from that and hear another perspective? I love going to high tech. I try to go every year if I can. I encourage other hoteliers to go too, because it's not just [00:23:00] for technology and IT professionals. We need to have a balanced opinion and education from the operators as well, so that we can make good decisions when we're looking at new technology.
Michael Cohen: Yeah, I'm gonna add something to that. And People, you know, know me. They know you, Shannon. They know Adam. I'm not trying to patronize you or just be nice. You're one of the nicest executives in the industry and that pays off tremendously. People, you know, like I do use you as an example to frankly other folks on both sides of the boardroom table, when I said, you know and this sounds like I'm being totally, you know, uh, over the top, I don't care. You have almost the best practice as a human in regards to this industry. The way you, you know, you always listen, you give people a shot, you know, you're friendly, but you're tough when you have to be, like every executive should be. You know, but, people enjoy interacting with you and I hopefully that's not inappropriate for me to say.
I don't think it should [00:24:00] be. It's just that, that's not always the case. So, I think in some ways, people who don't know you, which is rare, but if they don't, they should find out about you because You're a good mentor too, for a lot of people in the industry. And they, you know, not, not that I want your LinkedIn to be inundated with requests in your busy day, but it wouldn't, it wouldn't be a bad move for some people to reach out to you to say hello on LinkedIn.
I'd like to get connected. That'd be a smart career move folks in general. So I'll stop with the advertisement now, Shannon, but, uh, I think that was fair to say after what you just said.
Shannon: Well, thank you so much and I appreciate that. And you know, I think mentorship is something I'm very passionate about. Not that I need a hundred more mentees, but you know, I do participate with UNLV, which is our local hospitality school, to teach in their Masters of Hospitality classes or have them come to the property and do tours of the operation. And I think executives in, in higher roles. Should be doing that because as an industry, especially with COVID, we had so many people leave our industry [00:25:00] and people have not necessarily the best opinion about hospitality as a career, because they don't always get all the facts and they don't understand all of the amazing things that you get to experience when you're in hospital. And I've worked in hospitality in Canada, in the United States, non gaming, corporate luxury hotels. And then also I've enjoyed my time in Las Vegas the last 13 years and three large casino properties in the city. And I've learned so much, but hospitality is an, is a career, if I can just talk about hospitality for a second, because I'm very passionate about it. That you can find your passion, and you can start in one role, and you can continue to grow and learn, and it's like going to school and getting paid for it, because you get paid to learn new roles as you're taking new responsibilities on, and you can continue to learn through your entire career, and, you know, our business is one that can [00:26:00] really fill your, heart up, I love that you are not only helping to build a great relationship with your team members, but you are also helping to grow your team members, so that they can take on more responsibility.
And for me, that is a very rewarding part of my career. So I agree. Mentorship for hoteliers that are further along in their career. It's time to lift people up and show them what an amazing industry this is and that you can have a fantastic career that is very rewarding.
Adam Mogelonsky: on the note about mentorship, and this is something that Michael and I have had conversations about, which is supporting the next generation of hoteliers. And what advice do you have for hotels and hotel vendors to help support that next generation?
Shannon: You know, it's a, it's about trusting these younger team members when they come in because it is a different market from when I first started. It used to be more of like a [00:27:00] dictator style. You know, a way of doing things where do what I tell you to do, now, the younger people coming in really want to feel like they're making a difference and they want to feel like they're contributing and they don't want it to feel like it's a system that they can't change or impact because it's too rigid and that's why I love where I'm at right now because we're an independent hotel in Las Vegas and, you know, we are not Part of a huge
company, which I learned a lot in my prior company.
It was an amazing company and it provided me with a lot of skills. But in an independent property, I think my startup technology background is really beneficial because we can decide as an executive group today that we're going to do something and we can have it rolled out by next week because we are so nimble and we can also embrace different kinds of groups at the property that other companies that would take them three or four months just to decide are we gonna do it?
How do we do it? What does it look [00:28:00] like? Everybody needs to have an opinion on it before it can happen, and I liken it back to EDC Hotel, and a lot of people in the city were calling me saying, what are you guys doing over there? Why do you want to do that? And EDC is the Electric Daisy Music Carnival, which is a huge thing in Las Vegas, but it's a lot of young and middle aged people that come to go to an electronic music festival and we allowed them to take over our Hilton Las Vegas brand and theme it and make it into EDC Hotel and We're so unique here because I have three brands and I could actually do that with Hilton and still have my other guests in Conrad and Crockford's without affecting their guest experience, but we could put up big flowers and you know a lot of fun activations at the property and have their day parties at our IU nightclub and then their yoga and their calming session out on one of our patios and and it was really [00:29:00] a lot of fun Even our front desk agents wore EDC hotel t shirts here I'm giving EDC all of this free exposure, but, you know, they're an excellent partner and it's a very strong event in the city, not just at our property, but across the city. but doing things different is what young people want to see and they want to see flexibility and they want to have fun at work. And we've got rodeo coming up in a couple of weeks. And my front desk agents and our dealers are going to be able to wear cowboy outfits and checkered shirts and jeans and cowboy boots to work. And that's fun for them to do. It keeps the environment really, uh, engaging for the team and, and those younger people, that's really what they need, in regards to nimbleness. But I will also say culture is the most important thing right now. And when we're hiring people. It used to be in the past that we would tell them, you know, what the job was about and they would be like, okay, okay, that sounds good.
Now they're like, tell me about your culture. [00:30:00] How are you different than anyone else? They're interviewing us because they wanna make sure that this is an environment that they wanna work in. And so there is a bit of a shift that has happened and unless companies. are open to doing things differently, they're going to miss out on a lot of this young talent that's coming out that have different needs than when I started in the business a few years ago.
Michael Cohen: Yeah, I mean, listen, well said, so true. the next generation, whatever that happens to be, if they're going to wear the logo on their sleeve, it actually means something to them. Where historically, perhaps it was, this is my job, maybe this is my career, but who I was, was partially that, but more outside, whereas now it's all everything what I am on social media.
Here I am a front desk manager, or I'm a pool manager. I'm going to put that on my daily flow to my other 20 somethings, and it's either going to be interesting or cool, or people are going to [00:31:00] say, what are you doing today? And it also brings in business, because every Employee for a hotel, a restaurant, an airport, a, you know, a guest, patron, or passenger facing employee is now a social media influencer as well.
In
Shannon: Yeah, it's funny that You say that. You know, it is all about social and I've noticed a big shift in how we market our properties and social, especially at the property I'm at, is, is really, heavily used and again, it's because our market is changing and our demographic is getting younger and the events that we're having in the city and there's more sports and so it has changed.
It's not, Primarily, as much focused on casino. Casino is still very, very
important to us, but there's a larger mix and, just with the entertainment side of things and entertainment has become very important in Las Vegas and whether that's entertainment in our theater, we have a 4, 000 seat theater, or whether that's in our nightclub or our day club and the [00:32:00] DJs and, entertainment is a way to hook a guest and bring them in to experience Experience your property, even if they're staying somewhere else in town. So that has become very important. And then how you manage social media with your teams. And there's teams of people, like our IU dayclub and our, our Zouk nightclub, all of their team members are posting. And
Michael Cohen: There you go, that's exactly what I was saying, exactly, right.
Shannon: and that creates, uh, an environment where people say, I want to go work there.
They're having fun. I can actually see what their work environment is like and I want to be a part of it. And, uh, we really have to embrace, as more established individuals in this industry, these shifts. Um, because this is the way the future is going and every single demographic, um, and every single market segment that we have. is shifting, and you might think that your casino guest is an older guest. When I look at my demographics, they're starting in their early 20s, and yes, they do go [00:33:00] into the 60s, but it's how do you engage that younger guest and, and really let them know everything that you have to offer in all of your segments.
But, very exciting though to see it because it is very nimble and we can have a social media influencer stay with us and be, um, doing videos about us while they're still in the hotel. And people are watching that and they have so many followers that you're getting your product out and your brand out to such a wide market.
Adam Mogelonsky: We talk about uh, social media and, and Las Vegas as a, rounding out its entertainment and we haven't even touched on the opening of the Vegas Sphere and then F1 coming in town uh, in a matter of weeks. So to finish off with our fourth question and um, circling back to the first one here. Shannon, what problems would you advise entrepreneurs to focus on solving in order to quickly scale within the hotel industry?
Shannon: You know, I feel like we've touched on this a little bit, Adam, in [00:34:00] regards to making sure that your product has an ROI, and then also making sure it solves a problem. Because you can bring a fantastic technology to us, but unless it solves a problem in our business, we might say, oh, that looks interesting, but I don't necessarily have a reason to implement it. So you have to, again, really understand our business closely, and understand The Market, and be able to understand how your technology fits in there, so much so that the operators can't say no to it. And I think that's the tricky part when you're bringing new technology in. And sometimes it's timing too, right?
It's, what time of the year are you bringing it to me? My budget's already spent for this year, so I have to plan for next year. Or, Maybe you're a little bit ahead of the time, and I'm not even thinking about that yet. So even if you're not successful the first time, stay in touch, keep sharing your information, because sometimes your hoteliers, you know, it takes a little bit for them to catch up to understand the [00:35:00] benefit of having your technology in their business. But you did talk about, F1. That's very exciting. That's right around the corner for us. So it's really changing the landscape of the city right now and the traffic experience. Um, but you know, having that come to Vegas and have so many eyes on the city is very exciting. And talking about the MSG Sphere, I had the pleasure of joining on the very first night and going to U2 in concert. And I have to say it's an unparalleled experience. When people talk about immersive technology and immersive experience, they can't do it anymore because going
to the MSG sphere, you feel like you're indoors, you're outdoors, you're moving, you're, you know, there's wind, you know, there's it, you know, your seat moves in certain places.
Um, you know it's such an amazing experience and I love to see this. Adaptation of the technology and how it is bringing you [00:36:00] new and unique experiences to Las Vegas, and it's fortunately not too far from us, so we're a good place to stay when you're coming to
town. It's
Michael Cohen: it was amazing. So yeah, that's.
Incredible, very fortunate for your property in general. But I mean, what's great about that particular technology and how it was implemented perfectly, it's obviously, you know, we all know, incredibly major investment, and it could have been a huge white elephant if You know, it wasn't executed like we just talked about. Appropriately, with forethought, and obviously it's been a massive success. But one thing you just said Shannon, just to affirm about technology, for technology's sake, I was involved in Vegas Hotels in 2013 with MobileKey. Just, I'll use the, I'll use the general term MobileKey, and that was a solution looking for a problem sometime. And everyone was like, well, of course, it makes sense. And people on your [00:37:00] side of the table were like, sounds great. But, you know, I mean, it became obviously much more ROI and driven to mobile apps. And it drove engagement to the mobile investment. But at the time, we were having to explain why. You know, major investments need to be allotted at that time. So to your point, I think that's very well said. People say it all the time. It's got a, you've got to identify a problem. You have to ideate, you have to get an MVP, you have to get good clients, you have to be able to deploy support, but it actually has to deliver. And that's where people forget is that really fixing a problem that is relevant today and maybe five years from now.
Shannon: Well, and you bring up MobileKey and I think that's a really good example because at the time you could say, yes, MobileKey is a great thing, but what other things do I need in order to make it
happen? So I'm a company, which I was at that time working on MobileKey. How do I deliver it to the guests? Oh, so I'm going to email it to the guests. [00:38:00] How do I do ID verification? Is that ID verification substantial enough for the Nevada gaming? Regulations to approve. So what kind of hoops do I need to jump through in order to get that approved? Then how do I embed that in my service? And and when do I send it out? And you know, how can we we tailor it to the business? And Those were all, you know, conversations that were had over probably three or four years. It was not a fast moving process,
however, in the end, it made a big difference,
you know, but it is also, do you deliver it in an app? And if you don't have an app, then you've got app development that you need to do and then payment.
Like, do you, How do you do the ID verification? There's different ways to do it. You could do it based on a profile. And if you have a profile in an app with a company that's established and you've verified yourself somewhere else, then you can actually do mobile key. And I'm talking about some of those big box hotels that have that.
I'll leave those unnamed, [00:39:00] but you know, so there's different ways of doing it. And there's benefits and, and challenges to both. Um, you know, and you talk about ID verification and, and being able to do that. Now gaming companies, just as of this last year, are able to have people enroll and to be able to do it all remotely.
And we were the first hotel in, in Las Vegas, just want to say that with our Genting Rewards app to enable our guests to enroll online using, um, their phone to be able to take the picture and validate their ID. And that shows where the gaming board has come since I was first trying to put mobile key in and do just an authorization of a person's age and their identity to now allowing them to game. Which those regulations are even stronger than just being able to check into the hotel and making sure that you're 21 years of age because we have a minibar in the hotel. So it shows how the technology is progressed, but it also shows how the [00:40:00] legislatures are understanding that this technology is not going away.
It's a benefit to our business. How do we achieve what we need to and validate a person's identity? But yet also allow this to happen and release some of those stringent regulations that have been there in the past. And, uh, and that's, what's exciting about our business is seeing, some of these barriers to success in the past happen.
And, and again, when you are looking to better your business, you know, I'm, I'm a luxury hotelier and I always say it's not about forcing our guests to do something different, but it's providing an opportunity for them to take a different path should they wish. And by them taking that different path because they want to skip the front desk and they want to check in, on their phone. It enables them to be able to make that decision to do that, and it allows my other team members to help someone who may be a first time guest to Las Vegas to answer all of their questions. So that's what's, really exciting as well, [00:41:00] is to accommodate everybody's needs, and not force people that maybe aren't comfortable doing a digital check in to, to have to take that path.
Adam Mogelonsky: Shannon, you've given us a lot to think about, uh, in this conversation and really just for any vendor who's listening here, just honestly, the keys to the kingdom for what to think about when, uh, approaching and developing the relationship with the Las Vegas Hotel. So Shannon, thanks so much for coming on the podcast.
Can't thank you enough. It's been an incredible conversation.
Shannon: Well, thank you so much. It's been my pleasure. I appreciate it.