Through the Door: The Insider's Perspective on Running a Business

Day One Energy

• Nevada State Bank • Episode 2

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Jonathan Jossel, CEO of the Plaza Hotel & Casino, joins Megan to chat about becoming Nevada’s youngest gaming license holder, reimagining a Las Vegas landmark, and maintaining “day one energy.” Since becoming CEO in 2014, Jossel has focused on enhancing the Plaza’s guest experience, recently completing the Main Street Reimagination project with new venues such as the Carousel Bar and Pinkbox Doughnuts. For more information, visit plazahotelcasino.com. 

All price references and market forecasts correspond to the date of this recording. This podcast should not be copied, distributed, published or reproduced in whole or in part. The information contained in this podcast does not constitute research, recommendations, representations or warranties as to the accuracy or completeness of the statements of any information contained in this podcast and any liability from Zions Bancorporation, N.A or its divisions (including direct, indirect, or consequential loss or damage) is expressly disclaimed. The views expressed in this podcast may not be those of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. or any of its divisions. Zions Bancorporation, N.A. is not providing any financial, economic, legal, accounting or tax advice or recommendations in this podcast. In addition, the receipt of this podcast by any listener is not to be taken as constituting the giving of advice, investment or otherwise, by Zions Bancorporation, N.A. to that listener, nor to constitute such person a client of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Copyright reserved by Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Nevada State Bank is a division of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Member FDIC

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Welcome to Welcome Through the Door and Insiders for Spares for Running a Business. This is a process where we interview entrepreneurs and business leaders and kind of talk to talk about their experiences and their journey through running a business and all of the trials, tribulations, and successes that come with it. So today I have with me Jonathan Jocelyn. He is the CEO of the Plaza Hotel Hautenik, iconic down-to-down hotel and casino.(...) And we're gonna be able to learn from him about his experiences being in Vegas and kind of reshape the face of downtown, so well. Thank you, Megan. Thank you for having me for that podcast. And it's called Through the Door. Through the- Yes. Is that what that is? That's the door? Yes, that's the door. Can't walk through that. Okay. But it is a little speakeasy. That door is over. Walk through that door. Walk through that one. Appreciate that. Great to be back here. And thank you for inviting me here. Yeah, of course. So we always start off these episodes with just learning just a little bit more about how you arrived in Las Vegas and actually landed in the role that you're in. So tell us a little bit about that journey for you. What made you think I wasn't born and raised in Las Vegas?

 

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Could be the accent and also some homework that I've done on you.

 

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But yeah, and you shared with me that you went to school in the UK and all that. Yeah, I was born in South Africa. I was born in Johannesburg. I moved to London when I was six years old. Went to school in a place called Birmingham University. We call it a university. You call it school college.

 

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And I did a thesis there on- Well, I did a business commerce degree, but I did my thesis on the gambling industry in the UK.(...) It is what would happen if Vegas stock casinos came to the UK. And this was 2002.

 

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And you say, "Well, why did you study?" And it's because I love gambling. I love the idea of gambling and the industry.

 

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Is the gaming age there 21? Like how did one get exposed? 18, 18. No, and I know gambling long before 18. Okay, okay. Unfortunately. What got you into doing, like, in gambling? It was like playing pool. It was just watching- Putting me on something? Putting money on something. The dog tracks were very popular back there. Back the horse racing. It was just a cultural thing in England. It's still there today. It's a huge cultural thing. I was interested in it and not just consuming it, but also business of it. And so at university,(...) that's just what's been to be my thesis, was the gambling industry in the UK. And I chose to study that study, do a business case study, start a Las Vegas stock casino opening in the UK. So while I was doing that, some family friends had invited me for lunch with my family. And I'm sitting at lunch and there's a gentleman, a gentleman named Poyuzovitch. Oh, wow. Who is the- Very unique name. Very unique. Very unique. I'm from Finland. It's a Finnish name.

 

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And he's the chairman of Tamara's. And he says to me, I was, I think I was 20. And he says to me, "What are you doing?" And I tell him I'm at university. I was doing my thesis on the gambling industry in the UK.(...) And by the way, I'm talking too much. Please tell me. No, no. This is interesting. This is too long. And I say to him, "I'm like gambling, my thesis on the gambling in the UK." And he in a very, very shilland relaxed way says, "I just bought six casinos in downtown Las Vegas." Pocket change. What are you talking about? I met you every day you meet someone that says that.

 

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So I was fascinated and I asked him if I could have a work experience that summer. I'm going to say, "Now we're going public." I think it was 2004 now.

 

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Was that your first time in Las Vegas or had you been here before? No, I remember I'm here in 1999. I remember the Bellagio.

 

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I remember having dinner at Prime Steakhouse. Oh, wow.

 

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I remember being in Las Vegas at least before that. Okay.

 

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So anyway, I followed up with this gentleman every day, every lunch. And I said, "I want to do work. I just do one of the work experience." And I think he was like, "You're annoying." So I was like, "The fifth go." "Go." He finally was like, "Hey." His assistant said, "Look, buy a ticket to Las Vegas and we'll set you up with a team at the Hotel de Heure."

 

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And I was this only one year and I do remember that.

 

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So I get on a plane. I fly Las Vegas this July 2004, 2005. And I get here and they put me up in my Plaza.(...) And I keep on and I keep lying. I'm not 21. It's a million degrees. And if you were in downtown Las Vegas in 2005, it was terrible. It was a dump.(...) So I'm living in the Plaza. It's 21. And I'm like, "What am I doing? What am I doing?" And I study the things that they asked me to study. And the idea was the name of the project was the revitalization of downtown Las Vegas. So credit to them, to the way ahead of the curve in terms of this idea that we're now what they're seeing happen. And Oscar Goodman was obviously the biggest propagation of that. And there's two parts. Two story. One is he had done this down the market. So he had bought here building in Times Square in 1989. This is places in the damage.(...) And he bought a building in Times Square in 1989. And it was crazy. You take a car to the cos square. You get out the car. You get mugged, mugged, or whatever. I never went to Times Square in the 80s. I don't remember. There was a mayor in here that was big on, I can't remember his name. Rudy Julliard. Yes, there you go. Rudy, yeah. We're very famous for cleaning up nut sickly in New York during that time. Also famous for his scene in the Ali G movie, in the Sacha Baron. Yeah, that is one of my favorite movies. Separate reasons to be dismissed. But so he had convinced investors to invest in Times Square. They were square cleaning it up. And to their credit, they did it. They bought this office building in Times Square. And it was a very cheap relative to what it is today and today. He put Disney as his tenant and a few hotel leases. And all of a sudden Times Square means the center of America.

 

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And an amazing investment. Many people said, hey, not many. So many of them. You can do the same thing in down in Las Vegas.

 

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So the difference being, down to Vegas is, Hotel Kizhoka is not office building. So you can't just lease it out and then be done. You got a two hour operation. You got a gaming license required to operate the businesses. You got dozens of employees. You got lots of cash. You got unions.(...) You got a lot more to think about than an office building. Was that his last entry into gaming? Was he buying up these six? Yeah. Wow.

 

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So he had these partners on the ground. And he had bought a f***ing gentleman by the name of Jackie Gorn. The reason I mentioned Jackie Gorn is if you want to study the gaming industry in Dallas, Vegas, he's probably on Mount Rushmore of the grade to ever do it. His son is Michael Gorn who owns the South Point. Also one of the greatest to ever do it. You ask, how do they do it? And they're just brilliant people that understand their customer base and they understand how to treat people. That's where you want to come to. So he had bought Jackie Gorn's portfolio,

 

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which at the touch of name included the Plaza Las Vegas Club, the Weston, the Golds, the Glike, Nevada Club, the Queen of Hearts. Is that seven? Six. How many? Six. Yeah.(...) I just came back from London last night. I was like, that's seven. That's six. But it was six. It was six. We had four in two. All right. So we're good. But I'm jet lag. Give me the best of the night. I'm struggling a little bit. So he had bought Texas casinos and a bunch of land. And the Plaza was obviously the biggest. Las Vegas Club was second, the Weston, the Golds. And then you went down. There were some smalls. Yeah.(...) And the El Cortez was the seventh, but he never bought the El Cortez. El Cortez could have bought the El Cortez at the time, but didn't. So he bought all these boardies. He needed someone on the ground. I come out, I become a kid,(...) 20 years old. And after four weeks of living in the Plaza, I was playing poker. I played poker a couple of times. I remember playing poker at the Plaza in the Plaza 21.(...) And I sort of emailed him after four, after, because I thank you for the opportunity, but I don't know what I'm doing here.

 

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I've studied what I can, but that is really rough.(...) Long way to go. So you saw Sorez, like, this is not ready for this revitalization project that you have, and I can't really contribute much. Correct. And to their credit, they saw it. It was something I didn't see. Yeah. I was 20. Yeah. I didn't know what I was looking at. I just, that I was living in the Plaza eating room, so rooms kind of bought. Yeah. I had no business experience. And I was kind of sure. So I left. But what I had done was I had obviously, I had good contacts within his company, in his knee and hook office, his London office. He ended up offering me a job after university career, or whatever you call it, a university program or program.(...) So I ended up working for him for two years in London.

 

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And I worked for his team in traditional, real estate.

 

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And after two years, I was kind of bored. What did you learn during that, during your cycle that maybe you still apply today?

 

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Honestly, I don't remember. I remember thinking that you evaluate traditional real estate, how you look at it. There it's really, when you say traditional real estate, it's leasing a building. That's what I was doing. I was doing leases, tenants. And you know, probably what if I had to ask a question specifically, it's this idea that relationships are more important than anything else. And that even in those buildings, yes, you're doing a lease, but it's relationships with the tenants that all that really matter and where you find the tenants from and the promontors and the network. And how you create success, yeah. It is very important. So I actually started interviewing at other places. I was interviewing Goldman Sachs, a few other banks. And I wasn't sure what I was going to do with my life at that point. And he comes and he cuffed us one day and he says, it's now 2007 July. And he says, hey, downtown Las Vegas is changing. I was just there. And we need someone on the ground and you are the only person who is not married, or does have kids, does have a house.

 

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You need to go out there. I went home and I was like, well,(...) as a pros and cons, I'm looking for the next thing. You're now 21, 22. I'm now 23,(...) 22. Yeah, over 21. I was of age.

 

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And I'm looking for what's next.

 

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I'd just been there two years earlier and there wasn't much going on. So what the hell is he talking about? And he said, I was like, I was waving on the side of the nose, look, just give it three months. And I just come up with my girlfriend and I was like, all right, I'll give it three months.

 

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Landed here July 5th, 2000, 2000, back to the Plaza, still a dump.

 

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But the guy that was working work who wasn't there two years earlier said to me, there's this new bar that we all meet at on Thursday, on Thursday, noon. So I was like, there's a community, there's a bar. I wasn't a bar. There wasn't a beauty. There was nothing there in 2000 and thousand. Really? Beauty bar wasn't there? No, we sound at least for beauty bar. It came later that year. Yeah. I didn't start going downtown in town.(...) Probably around the year 2009 ish. Beauty was first in like late 2005.(...) Okay.

 

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Came the Griffin downtown cocktail. So he says, we all meet at this bar on Thursday, on Thursday, it's called the downtown cocktail room. Let's go there. Go there. So I go to the downtown cocktail room with her room. Day one. And I walk in, I walk in the downtown cocktail room. Gentlemen by the name of Michael Kornthwaite. Wait.

 

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And he's like, and we connected over the fact that I'd run into him two years earlier with the other people. When he said his dream was to open a bar in downtown, great story. He fulfilled his dream, open a bar down to him.

 

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And I get to him and then in, then another gentleman,(...) Sam Cherry, and he was building, it was Burai's downtown called Soho Loft. Just built it. And I sit with these two guys and I'm like, there's a community, there's people, there's an entity to do something. And that was the moment of, this is where I think I can make a difference now because there is a movement and maybe I was more mature and there was this idea that there's an opportunity to be a part of your thing bigger than yourself. And I think that was like my first lesson. Now when I look back on it, you got to put yourself in a position where you're in a, where you choose to live or live, choose to grow, where you choose to work, is the most important thing, things. It's the surroundings of that that will fulfill those opportunities for you. So that actually brings up a good point where I was watching the YouTube video that you did with Gareth Leonard. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Great day in the life. Yes, great video on YouTube. It was very entertaining, but you talk about that, bring them up to the roof of the building, and then you talk about the neighborhood effect. Can you explain what you mean by that? That's probably what you saw when you thought back in 2007. Sorry, 2007. There still wasn't much, how much? But if you fast forward to today and you're in downtown Las Vegas, you look at the plaza specifically,(...) when I talk about Trogaza and its success, you got to imagine that a decade ago there was a dirt park called Symphony Park, literally live dirt. I mean, there was nothing there. A train track and dirt. Then you had the Greyhound bus station with the highest crime per call to Metro in the entire city of Las Vegas.(...) You had the Las Vegas club, which was a torn down, a rundown that needed to be torn down. And the plaza that really wasn't taking Trog.(...) And so you had this basically intersection of next thing, as far as I'm concerned. So between Main Street and Fremont, there was just nothing. And if you look at the neighborhood affected effect, so that dirt lot on Symphony Park is now the Frank Gehry River Building,(...) Frank Gehry's signed Louvre building. You have the Smithson Smiths, you have 800 apartments. You have the Greyhound bus station, which is now just on that I got a key to the city for getting them to leave their lease early. You've got the Las Vegas club that was torn down. You've got Sucker, a brand new, a brand new hotel. And you've got the plaza, which has been revitalized, rooms being remodeled, all the new F&B, F&U entertainment. So you have this area that's now become something. And the answer to me was to meet the neighborhood effect is what has allowed everything downtown to become more successful on its own. All these places could not work on their own.

 

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The arts districts, East Fremont, everything, Tony Shay, has helped to raise the priest fall of the neighborhood, which is allowed the plaza to be a part of something that,

 

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yes, the plaza has come a long way. But I don't think it could have done without the neighborhood, and the neighborhood to where it is. And someone, and strategic, you know, getting rid of Greyhound was in the hand control, selling the Las Vegas club, which is what now is circus. When I met with the owner of the own, I said, "Hey,(...) we'll sell it." And we've gone through a very interesting differentiation. It's a whole different podcast. But when he asked me that there was going to be a destination, a tradition on that corner, I was like, "Well, that could be interesting because I'm going to make this whole thing better." And I remember Steve Wynn talking about how Fashion Show Mall not being great across the street to the Wynn, but winning new high-end development that matched their demographic in Macgreta would help. And exactly what's happened, having circa across the street has really helped the plaza. It's been wonderful. Wonderful. So tell me a little bit about your, the renovation of it happened in 2010, because in being the About Us on the Plaza class, you actually oversaw the renovation. And there was some key people in your life, some mentors, if you will. You had talked about what do you do with the Plaza Hotel? So you just implode it and like rebuild, renew, or how do you de-pract people to this iconic concept that has been in Vegas for a very long time?

 

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Yeah, yeah. It's a long journey. A lot of people did say that you should close the plaza. That was the sentiment from a lot of people that I talked to. I never really did that, although maybe that's because I never really believed that it made financial sense to do that.

 

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What we,(...) I should say because it would be at least have a brand new spanking place in that place.

 

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But what we were presented in 2010 was the place was doing terribly. There was this horrible, horrible option. And there was a lot of questions about what we do with it. And I got a call from a call designer and she said, "Hey, I'm in the family in the blue, the old fountain blue, not the table blue today." Well, still the same family, the same location and building. It's just an open at the time. So I'm in the family blue there, getting ready to liquidate all the furniture. Well, I can't have bought it for very cheap out of bankruptcy, I guess. And he wanted to sell all the furniture.

 

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And I went there and I'm in the basement and I see all nice tile, carpet, pen, boards, beds, everything.

 

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So I called Paul Yuzav, Paul Yuzav, which is the chairman. And I'm 20,(...) 25 years old and there's only six. And I'm like, "Hey, I'm in the basement and the fountain blue and stuff is for sale for 10 cents on the..." It was like 10 cents on the dollar. Brand new. And he never touched. Packages, slacks, packages. And he says, "I couldn't believe I couldn't buy it."(...) So we split, right? For a thousand and thousand hell, we bought all this FF and FF.(...) And what happened was we had this team at the time who I was on the real estate side. I wasn't in the operation. I wasn't licensed yet. I was just helping help work for Paul Yuz on the team on his side on the real estate. And we had the team that was doing the operations and the management.(...) And as you went through the building and you did all these brand new rooms, they're like, "Well, what about the hallways? What about the elevators? What about the mining? What about the lobby? What about escalators?" And all of a sudden, all of this project that started as just a room room turned into a much bigger project where we ended up shutting down the pen dazza to open to an entire remodel of the party. How long was it closed down for? For months. Oh, wow. Okay.(...) Which was a great experience. Learning how to do that and the procedures behind it.

 

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Where the real learning came from me was reopening it and seeing how how organized the reopening was and how poorly planned it was. Were you on the operation side at this time? No, no. I'm so still. I was on the real estate side still.

 

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What happened was it was reopened. And like every opening, it was packed, packed. It was weak. Everyone wanted to see the new plaza. And they came in and they're like, "Oh, yeah, it's nice." But when you went into it, there was a sentiment of the kind of pig, which you've heard before.

 

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And every week, there's like a little less people in the place. So finally, I remember we opened in August until Giddeside, but late November, December, we were losing more money than we were losing before the remodel. Oh, wow. Now some of that was just the recession because you were still in this tough time, 2008, 9, 10, 11. 11, Vegas was struggling. You had all the issues at the issue center.

 

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So it was the economy. And then some of it was the community of downtown, the community of fact, where it needed to be. The key was the experience. You were seeing these reviews online.

 

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And I never forget it stuck with me. It was actually Tony Shea who kind of made me think this way. But he was like, "But you guys are spending all this money on marketing and this remodel. And look at your... Look at this online. They're terrible. Everyone's saying, "The elevators don't work. The keys don't. The service is bad. This bad. That's bad.(...) Smells. All these things." He's like, "What do you do? You need to fix these things before you spend the money on marketing to get people in there." And the number one issue came through to the service and the experience of the people, that our team was pretending.

 

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And called up this guy, Paul. You're in London. I know I'm only eight years old. But let me get the gaming license and let me take over. We take operations as the CEO.

 

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And if I said to her... Wow, you just listened to your boss and said,(...) "Me the keys." Yeah, basically. "Let me handle them." Yeah, I did.

 

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But you saw a vision for it. I saw a vision and I don't think I had any other choice. The place was totally...(...) You know, you got the... I'm going to try to do that. I'm going to try to do that. I got a diary. Let me take over. For our CEO. I'll be like, "Give me the keys. Come on." I know what I'm doing.

 

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You guys are pretty well-run. We were not doing what to.

 

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And opportunity presented itself where I guess whatever... Maybe he's a genius. Maybe he's crazy. Crazy backed me to get the gaming license at the time, which... I mean, the youngest licensee in the state.(...) And I took over about a decade ago. How is that? I mean, being so young...

 

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I know, but being so young... Because it just kind of struck me that when you talk about your age and where you were, you were very young. And then taking these big advances, but you ultimately knew that you were the best person for the job. What was that like?

 

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Well, I don't know that I was the best person for the job, but I at least believed it. Had a commitment to that.(...) I was going to work as hard as anybody to make it work. That was in my mind. I don't know that there's other people that have more experienced me. But it's true. But it's true that one, to answer your question, it was very difficult because a lot of the people that worked there... There was a friend that had worked at the time that he's no longer there, but he had worked on opening night in 1991.

 

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There was a management that had been here 20 years, 30 years, 25 years. And then I was like, "What does this kid know about anything? Why would I listen to him?" There was an element of... Element to earn that respect, right? A respect is not given, a respect is earned. And I knew that go and I had to convince people that I have a plan, you're going to be better off with me, which was not easy because the people that had been running it prior to me had all tremendous experience. The strip had run casinos, on the strip had run other casinos downtown. And here's this kid coming in and being like, "Here's what we're going to do." So there was a dramatic element of earning respect, which took a long time. And not just respect, but earning... Why would you stick with me? Just quit and quit. People did leave. There's no way this is... No way you can walk out with this kid.

 

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So there was a part of the part... And probably the support I had from the ownership group was what allowed me to be successful and cause for these people that stick through the dick is going to be okay.

 

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And then the other part of it was where I think I was lucky. I'm not lucky, but I think it helped being so young was not knowing what was possible. Because it was a seriously constrained project and building. So not knowing that we had all these problems, but just being sort of naive to it actually made me open to a lot more ideas and trying trunks. It was this process of time over time, just converting into something that could work. I think the team believed leaving me there every single night with them and every single day and coming in the weekends and random and gave them confidence and confidence in the trenches with them. And that helped to turn the morale and the culture in the clowns. So that was a big part of it. Was that different with leadership before you came in where they were somewhat absentee from really being in the trenches with the people? They didn't have a lot of exposure?

 

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I think so, yeah. I think people,(...) especially because they came from the k-trip and they had different layers of management and people assumed would do it. But be on the ground learning from the team members who ultimately know this business as well as anybody.

 

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And learning from the guests, talking to the guests, getting to know them, it's just a competitive advantage. You can do those two things, you're going to be in the competition because most places aren't doing that. And yeah, they weren't doing that prior. Some of them had some of the ideas of this place, but at the Plaza, but at the other properties. We at the time had Las Vegas Club in Weston. That was a distraction almost once we took over. We sold the Las Vegas, Las Vegas. So we could really focus on the Plaza and we sold the Weston to Tony Shay. So yeah, because we focused on that and definitely committed myself to being on the property and that's what I did. I would watch by the entry door some days and just watch when people came in. What was the first thing that they saw in terms of what was the first thing that they saw in sort of slot machines? What was the smell? What was the first experience?(...) That's actually where I learned the idea of putting in walkways because you want a control control. You put in walkways quick. People don't think about it, but they will subconsciously follow those pathways. So you actually can, you can journey. You just don't know that yet. So I watched, I was like, oh my God, I can't. So you start putting in walkways. It's like, look at this, this, like lemmings. I would make them walk and they would, and they put another pathway. It's great.

 

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How did you learn that details, the small little details that kind of really overall over against that client experience? You talked, you know, what was it and what was the go? And you said really at the end of the day, what we're doing is we're just taking, take people. That's ultimately what we're doing. Now there's layers of complications and things that kind of come kind of to that. But what, what did, was there a mentor or one that kind of taught you that aspect of the business, the small details, making a difference? No,(...) no, I never, I never, the guys that were running the place before me, definitely people that I looked up to and would learn from.

 

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Part of it though is the fact is I am a gambler and I understand stuff. I'm not a gambler, like a big guy, big. I just enjoy the industry. I enjoy the entertainment.(...) So I understand a part of what people want to experience or people they want to feel.

 

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And I guess not to direct, I don't have a mentor, but I read a lot of books about it. I listened to a lot of podcasts, podcasts, podcasts, I think about you, about stories.(...) I was lucky enough that our owner had a relationship with Sean and Adelson, Steve, Steve. I got to see meetings and here, because one of the smart things Steve Winhead was a genius. He knows about everything. And he had said one, I can't remember if it was to me directly or directly, but he asked, but what stuck with me was a quick idea that gambling is not, is cause and effect. The gambling is the effect.

 

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The cause is everything else. It's the music, it's the cocktail service, it's the rest, the entertainment, it's the way you make people feel. They will spend longer with you and the longer people spend with you spend the biggest share of their wallet, they're going to get in and the more you're going to hold, hold them in their specific games that they're playing.(...) So the idea of cause and effect really stuck with me and understanding as again, as the things people want to experience with spirit, good cocktail service, whether it's good gaming stations, whether it's good music, you need good chat, good slot machines and the tables to keep people sitting. People who had all these old chairs, like one on one, right? But you don't necessarily know that you just got to do the process of, well, what would I want to want to do? And if I was sitting here and doing that and it just sort of started to come to me over time. And I'm also constrained by capex, right? We didn't have unlimited budgets to do everything, but we both plan as we started starting all the additional profits, prom making reinvest, we could really, because that's again, thanks to our ownership, ownership. What about motivating your team? How many employees does the Plaza have?

 

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Uh, full time, part time, part blended about 750. So 750 employees that are all very, very into that client experience. What are some of the things that you do, you as a leader or to try to motivate them and make sure that he's working towards that common goal?(...) I'd be lying. I said that everybody's motivated, right? It's not everyone is motivated. People have bad days.(...) And some people, especially since the pandemic, you're getting a lot of getting people that are short term, um, for the long term, they just, it's a job and they're moving on. Um, but, but I think what I stuck with me early on was the site, it was almost embarrassing back at the Plaza in 2000, 2008, 2010, 2005, these euros were just difficult. I think a lot of them thought it can close any day. It could have closed any day.

 

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And the job was to convince them that we're actually going to be a part of something that could be so difficult. And the ones that have been with me since, since that, I see it and see, I see that pride of being a part of something that's cool and exciting, I did changing and they've been a baby that turnaround and it's convincing people that they'll be part of something that's bigger than the bigger.

 

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And people want people pride that they're a part of something. No one wants to know a place where you're embarrassed to go to work. I mean, that's what the place was and myself included. So to them to see this environment where it's become something that they're actually proud to be there, those ones are easy. Today it's much tougher with to turn to advise people that if it's a pizza maker or barista read, there's a lot less loyalty to healthy people are the next couple bucks per hour increase its piece. It's much tougher than it's it's our job again to make a feel like they're a part of something that's interesting. They're changing the face of downtown and we make this the best place to walk in one town. We're an HR team that teaches incentives and other things, but really those early years you're just convincing people that you can be a part of a thing now that's going to be basically go zero to 100. We're not at 100 yet, but that's where we're going to get working.

 

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Tell me about some of the marketing ideas and just is that you've made like super bingo for one doing something like that where you're bringing in 700 plus people and then and so the fireworks, which is kind of bringing a branch into your hotel. One thing that I noted that you did were the murals outside that were really unique to downtown and honestly just really just amazing project. What were some of the decisions or choices that you made there? It couldn't have all been like ROI like the mural pure. Right?(...) There's no, no murals. I think the first thing that you're touching a touch, we're willing to try anything doesn't work out, but we try everything or everything, but we try different things and pickleball(...) was it. You're crazy in 2016 to be being to pickleball to look at it today. It's the biggest sport, biggest basketball sports in America.

 

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The rodeo arena was nuts in downtown. The mural, very, how can you take a classic building and put that there and change it? The donut in the front, but we try and I think that's why people love us. I love working there is this idea that it's not like MGM where, where, uh, I should say MGM, but any big corporation where there's multiple legs and you can't get stuff getting stuff done. Like we're pretty nimble. We can try something, do something. It's me and a team that are discussing these things. And so that's, that's one of our, about strategic advantages. And that's, I would say some of the things we do, whether it's, um, the firework, fire murals, we've become big adopters of social media and influences and partnering with people and giving people content. And the fireworks is just basically a billboard on top of, on top of doing every single night. So we did fireworks every Friday, started with a, uh,(...) it started with not always even the July 4th and it just being that I fell in love with fireworks makes because seeing the way people eat back to fireworks is pretty amazing. Like it's one of the things like everyone stops and looks up and then up filming it. And I don't know what they do with the video when they get home. I'm not sure what the point is, but they love it. And I have a saying that nothing works like fireworks work because it just gets people to come there. And I think that I, part of it was this idea that human street experience and I said, had some issues. I mean, the early 2000s and 2010 ish and they'd built this line and it kind of blocked the view of the view of the, so we,(...) once we started doing these fireworks, I would hear some of the other casinos like, Oh, they're going to the plaza, making noise again, letting it, and, and it was my way of letting everybody know, Hey, the play is still here. Don't forget about us. And there was the firework fires, the murals, there was the ball, the rodeo, Bingo, the only one's downtown doing Bingo. It's it's trying things that no one else is doing. It's giving people a reason to come there. And in terms of marketing, it's amazing. What's happened with social media. I mean, you talked about Gareth Leonard video. That cost me zero time. So my time costs, but really, uh, it costs zero to have a guy follow me around for a day.(...) Truly just automatically follow me around. There was nothing scripted there to implant any of that. Can I follow you around? They said, sure. As long as I can edit for gaming requirements.

 

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And now you've got, you've got, I don't know, 1.5 million views on YouTube.

 

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What's more powerful than that? People that keep engaging with you organically and the same thing's happening with the influences. I mean, these guys playing slot machines for a team and half a million, half a million(...) of views on each video.(...) It's like, it's like, what could be better than people getting to know? And that's where I see a lot of marketing going, especially with like foodies and foodie restaurants.

 

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So our big focus for the last few years is your influences and creating content. And now we're going to now down there. Do you see, how do you measure that? I guess as a guest mess, how do you measure that intangible effect of the views and the downloads and all the, all the words is coming in and kind of filming and film posting about your hotel. I'll answer that question in a second, but let me answer it. How do you measure somebody putting up a billboard? How do you, how do you somebody reading a magazine? That's true. It's true. Some visibility and it's just a sort of traffic. No one's reading, no one's watching your billboard on the freeway. They're all looking at their phones while they're driving, driving at your videos. That's the problem is the people are texting and driving. I'm not advocating, but that's unfortunately what people are doing.

 

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So I mean, a lot of media that you're, that you're not what you're talking about. Media is hard as much anyway. Advertising is hard to judge. What I see is a couple of things.

 

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I was in the staycast the other night and a lady who knew my kids was there and it was there. What are you doing here? She's like, what are you doing here? You do? I walk here. Well, we had a date night and I was on Instagram and I grabbed somebody putting lobster, lobster butter, and it looked amazing. And I came here, became there. I was like, okay. I go to the casino, I see someone wearing a shirt. And I see someone wearing a t-shirt of some of the influences that we partner with. What are you doing here? Oh, I watched my favorite slot influence down here. So I came and played their favorite theme or came to meet them. Oh, okay.(...) Um, every day I meet somebody that either listens to our podcast or watch the guys like that video on YouTube. I mean, we just talk to just your podcast. Yeah. So clearly clear. It's, it's, it's the way people are consuming it. And it's very powerful. It's more powerful than seeing a brand on a static stage somewhere.(...) So I, so I know just from talking to people to see the results of the areas that we're spending this money on. But there is an element of you also know, although you can see if a video goes viral on Instagram, you can see it. You can 10 million views or 15 million views. Um, there's gotta be some value to that. What about the choices that you've made with some of the different businesses that you've kind of partnered with at the Plaza? Tell me about the decisions for like, I mean, the pink thing is brilliant. That is like, it's like, it's now a new landmark of downtown Vegas and same with the Sand Dollar. That's some of those secret, I would say kind of secret, but just locals know the Sand Dollar and like bringing it to the Plaza. What were some of the choices that you made? Cause those are brilliant, really fit the brand. Right. Well, um, thank you very much. I appreciate that. The first, that was one of the first things they did was looking at look hands to partner with. And I remember we did five did lie in Oscar and asked before it was Oscars. We had five flight, the play through.

 

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We had an omni at an house at the Plaza.

 

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This was before we shut down for the new model, but it gave me the idea of partnering with hardcore brands and good operators and is, um,(...) box. I knew I wanted a dessert sweet on that corner to go with the carrot. I had no idea what great operators the owners of pink bucks are. A shout out to Steve and Judy Eagle.(...) They don't know me. I feel like they're popping up every, but they got great donuts and they got nuts in the brand. So they deserve it. Um,(...) and then mine was really aggressive. If everyone said you're crazy, you can't do that. And I was like, no, we're going to do that. It's going to be, it's going to be people are going to see it. And it's been just incredible success for us. Um, um, it's been a great partnership ship Sand Dollar again, again, um, great partners,(...) like music. It's something it's Plaza was lacking. So when I took over, obviously we had all these different elements that we fixed from the pool to the cold engine space, some of the dining option. We didn't have good entertainment, which is even built the carousel bar and we built the Sand Dollar for like music.(...) We needed some places for people to figure out after 10 PM. That's what those of us. And now we have a new ship and opening. It's called Mavericks misbehaving. They used to be in downtown at a, uh, our court. We all scream cheap shop. Most of we all screw. We all had pot on the same building builder.(...) And uh, it's a great, it's a kind of Amy, Amy saunters is sort of putting it up and it's going to be a great show. It's a very artsy show. Uh, uh, kind of like the absence of downtown, I guess you'd like it. And I'm really looking forward to having a show. So then I was saying it's giving us all the tools to be successful, whether it's whether ours, it's you can go to Oscars and have business and then go see the show, then go to the Sand Dollar and listen to live music. So we're, we're slowly, but slowly getting to where we need to be. Of course, at the end of this month, we have the life is beautiful music festival. Moving to the Plaza Plaza. Um, I hope you're coming. Come at the block party. I saw that, which is fun. Tell me it's because when I look at it, I'm like, do you got a strategy that you kind of put on paper and pay planned out every little thing and the thing phases of it? Or was there one thing where it was just opportunity came to you and you just decided to see for what, for which part, for any of it. It's interesting because you talk about talk first, you looked at what we're looking at when they first came into the. So you kind of paid attention to some chin details and just understanding how, you know, other people playing, playing games or gambling would want to experience it. And then working on that, then starting to partner with different businesses did was that like a methodical plan for you? Or was that something that all of a sudden you had introduced to that particular individual? And then you just started working with them when like, you know what, that actually sounds like, sometimes I could fit here. Let me talk to that guy about it. It's a little bit of both clarifying the question. It's a little bit of little bit. I mean, we have got a master plan and then a year of where we want to take the property. The growth is so, so what's the right word? It's been so exciting and fun in the last couple of years that now it's like, what more can we do? What can we do? And then it's like, well, hold on, we're doing, let's not ruin what we're doing. Let's keep this kind of building. And so I kind of have a year of like, I want to do something to make the to make it better every day. And that can be a small tweak to a slot team layout. And it could be something as be something as a new bar or new effort. So we are working on now we've established a couple of areas that we want to majorly focus on, which is from which more room remodels upgrade more rooms.

 

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And then a couple of new food and beverage concepts. I would say many food that we're working on.(...) And then there is a master plan. We have 17 acres of land, the plan sits on of which seven acres is a existing building, 10 acres is big as land. And that vacant land has spent a huge potential that we are working on as well. So to answer your question, it's a mix. If something interesting lands and it happens, life is beautiful, wasn't always in our cards, but somebody said, this is the situation that you met with them. And they're like, we could do this, this, sure, we'll make it work. And the fact that this is going to happen to be pulled together, it's really amazing.

 

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We're pretty nimble and can adapt quickly to ideas if they come along. Is that one thing when you've instilled with your management and the other leaders within your organization, we talked about that, about I want you to share a little bit a little about that beginner's mindset and set that you talk about with your team and team day one energy, day one energy, energy, say that now you said that to me and for my husband's company, he has a tattoo supply business and they go do a lot of conventions and they want energy people. I need that. I need that from you. I love it. Thank you. I don't know where it came from. I probably stole it from someone else as well, but day one energy is energy. You got to stay humble. You got to stay ambitious. You got to be excited.

 

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That's part of what I see going wrong in the old times. It was like, now we've been in town 30 years and this doesn't work or that doesn't work. And you don't know what's going to work. And downtown's different to the street and every property's different. And you know, being open minded and taking meetings and something. Someone said to me, I did like, why did you take these meetings? Like it's such a waste of your waste. And it's like, no, it's not. For every one out of 10, that 10 to something, it's so worth it. And it's that idea of stay hungry, staying ambitious,(...) staying humble. And yeah, I do shop, do one energy when I walk into the office. And I think a lot of it, people like working in a working room where you never know from day to day what's going to drop, what's going to lap. I mean, we do try some, some pretty outrageous things and things. And I love it now because some of my other leaders,(...) they'll do, not crazy things, but they'll like take interesting calls and listen to random emails and you know what's going to come out of them. And that's where a lot of our best ideas come from. So it's pretty, it's pretty, it's pretty important that we keep trying that and our other leaders at least jump on board and I get, I get upset if somebody shuts down an idea on my soon or doesn't explore it and give it a chance to grow.

 

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How did you create that call a little bit more about that?(...) That's not something that you do say. And then all of a sudden everybody and rebuts to it is one thing I find interesting in every interaction that I've seen when I spent a lot of time with you at the Plaza. And then even some even videos that I've watched is you are so humble, approachable and you can, can come and talk to you. So tell, tell me about that personality trait or trait that's important for a leader to have specifically for like a hotel downtown or town. I think that's just an important quality for a leader to have. dinner Winston, trying to say you're so humble, but you have a lot to be humble about. So to answer questions, I think that they've been with me a long time and they've seen the way that I treat people and I took it as something whereby it's an opportunity for me to look for me. So like getting to know the ladies that are on the slot floor that are talking to the customers every day that have been there 25, 21.(...) It's crazy not to be not to better relationships with them. And we, when we lunch together, we get to know things, they share information with me. I share with the shim that community and that feeling of family is something that is very important to people staying with the company, come on with the company. I came to work at the Plaza a couple of years ago and he said, it's an amazing, he said it's a blessing to have a family like this. Like Plaza, it's also a curse because it's like everyone knows, everyone knows, and everyone's coming to me. Typically they don't go to their super, super sets. It's just the way we run it though. And a very family orientated business isn't.(...) The people you're probably talking about that you've seen interacting with, it's not like I've been with those people a couple of weeks, couple of months. Like most of them have been with them for a decade now. So now I'm old,(...) but it's when I swerved, I was 29 now I'm 44. So a lot of those people have been with me from day one and understand that the things that I want, that's what I want for them is to be able to do, not that I'm perfect, that I know everything, but I want them to be able to assess things the way that I would assess them, through lens that I would see them through, so that we become one and eventually they can do the podcast and sound and talk about the plaza the same way that I'm talking about it.(...) And that's what I'm starting to see as people take that takeship. I told you when I was in London before I started, but like they call me, but I want them to make these, to make decisions. I want them to start taking the reins because that's how you grow and continue with more projects when you have more leaders and media people that become an extent and extent of yourself and the vision for the property. So it's not that I like drilled into people. I think it's leading to example. I said it in the studio, but I never asked someone to do something I wouldn't do myself. If it's cleaning up, cleaning trash in the property,(...) walk through, everyone should do that. And I, by example, in terms of the work ethic, doing things,(...) managing, paying attention, caring, and I expect everyone to do the same. What are, I mean, you talked about you have a plan for the plaza and the future for the acreage and everything that you have in you. What are some of the things that you can share with kids as far as the future? If I were to play this video back, let's say five years from now, what do you think the plaza will be?

 

(...)

 

I mean, I would like to think the plaza will be the gem of downtown.(...) It's already growing. I talk about that in a way of market share. So today, downtown is a clear winner. There's a clear one.(...) And it's not really even the really most. It's the Golden Nugget. They're the number one priority downtown. I would love the club that ultimately overtake that.

 

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There's a lot of work that needs to go into that and to happen. And with that, with that, it can be done. You need more hotel room, you need more entertainment, you need more FM or E, the parking garage of the plaza probably needs to be located.

 

(...)

 

That's not to take anything away from the Golden Nugget because they also reinvest and do more great more themselves, which is great for everyone. They're the downtown and they have done an amazing job in floating the boat into everyone downtown. Now everyone else needs to step up to that, which is what I would like to see happen and the plaza is a bit by bit. I keep chipping away at that and growing and growing and growing.

 

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I don't know that I can answer that question because there's a few things in the works in terms of the acreage. As it relates to the plaza, you'll probably see a couple of entertainment options. New food. Or the new show I already told you is coming next. But new food, good rooms,(...) maybe a configuration of a few major entry points.(...) And we'll see where that takes us. And then as we keep growing, we'll do the next thing.(...) Yep. Slow incremental growth. I think that approach, I think that that's better. It's being a comet or on a ship per se. But I'm a banker, banker, more conservative. Yeah, a banker. So why is a banker? Do you want to have a podcast?

 

(...)

 

Well I think I wanted to do more so because my passion is business. I've been in small business in the majority of my career. And one thing that I've seen through talking to top business owners is that there's this lack of network, network information for them to really be inspired or get somebody to get ideas on some problems challenges or things that they just necessarily have a business mentor for every single problem that would come across or every opportunity or how to tackle that. But that's really the goal of this podcast to bring individuals, your self, them get to really kind of pick your brain, if you will, through me and understand a little bit about your approach. I wrote some of the things that you've even shared with me. I've stolen to try to inspire and cultivate an energy level with employees that I really do think do the day one energy thing. One of my favorite takeaways is every day is day one. You don't think about yesterday, you don't think about tomorrow, you think about how about you can make today the best possible possibly for the people that you interact with and if you can do that then slowly, slow over time that's going to compound on pound of each other and you're going to have a success no matter what. By the way, I think F. Bezos, I think we stole this from Jeff Bezos. Day one energy.(...) Well I don't think it's day one energy but it's like the idea that I do day is day one. I think I don't know if I didn't think that day one energy but maybe he did, maybe he don't know but he does like his shareholder letters and he writes it up day one.

 

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So have you been a mentor? Do you have a mentor?(...) Me?(...) Most of my science are mentors. I think learning other business, learning about business owners and how they approach things and how they've kind of learned along the way like trials and tribulations of their own challenges or successes that they've had. I've been able to utilize that information and I try it in other ways. It doesn't have to be industry specific. That's what's so beautiful about business. Other things that are industry specific like some of the specific details that you talk about relative to hospitality or gaming industry. Overall,(...) the mentality and the way that you approach or problem solve, the way you empower people, the decisions that you make as you plateau and I wouldn't say plateau, go up and graduate up to a different levels. It takes different skills and it takes evolution and development of that.

 

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That's one thing that I think that's really interesting to start entrepreneurs is they're very resilient and very quick problem solver. The great ones are not afraid to lean on their people and have power in numbers and also share a vision to kind of rally everyone behind it. It's funny because even listening to the things that you've said, they're simple approaches to particular issues that you've seen. You can see how they go terribly when you just don't pay attention to small things.(...) When you know how right things can go and how you just kind of build upon that, it's pretty amazing. I mean, there's one thing. The last time I was there was for meeting you. Meeting was, I think it was around 2014.

 

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That's not good. That's terrible.(...) It was. It was an interesting time. I was like, I'm very scared to be over here.

 

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Now, walking into it and see everything on social media because I do see the plaza more than any other hotel.

 

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It might be because of my rhythm, but I do find it interesting how people are gravitating to the plaza. You're doing unique and interesting things. Not only that, you're paying homage and you're perfecting and redeveloping the G

 

(...)

 

that I think a lot of hotel properties just want to do something new. They don't really want to be reserved. Such a fine line between preserving and doing something interesting and doing something new. We try to differentiate ourselves. We did a smoke-free, kiss-free, no.

 

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The carousel bar, but again, the carousel was a carousel. You're like, wow, you're going to ruin the facade. You're going to ruin the entrance.

 

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How do you do these projects while preserving some of that history?

 

(...)

 

I like to say no light bulbs or hopes was processed. Yeah, it's beautiful. It actually is a vase of beauty. I haven't been there because small children and I don't get to do anything.(...) I do plan on taking my husband there and hanging out and seeing what it's all about. It's all there. Our mutual friend that we have, she tells me all the great things that you have going on at the plaza. She's a huge advocate for you. I tell her she should run for mayor. I feel like she knows everybody in town. She's a bastard. I thought I'd do Adair. Adair. Adair, no. Adair. Adair. Adair. Adair. Adair. Adair. Adair. Adair. Adair. Adair. Adair. Adair. Adair. Adair. Adair. Adair. Adair. Adair. Adair.

 

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