By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com)
The city of Las Vegas always presents an interesting picture
for the state of global hospitality. Often standing in contrast to the rest of
the world, this nexus of conventions and sometimes excessive leisure trips is
also a center of hotel innovation. Now with the sharp demand for contactless
experiences so as to prevent the spread of viruses through The Strip’s
innumerous corridors and grandiose lobby floors which can see tens of thousands
of visitors a day, we look once more to this city for how it is adapting to the
times.
We’ve known Shannon McCallum for well over a decade. And like the two of us, she’s a Canadian too! Formally a senior executive with MGM Resorts – where she played a leading role in guiding Mandalay Bay and ARIA, amongst others – she has recently joined Volan Technology, a real-time tracking software company, as its VP of Hospitality. Shannon offers some encouraging words for the post-pandemic future for hotels.
To start, tell us what attracts hoteliers to Las
Vegas.
Las Vegas is home to the largest resorts in the world. In fact, hotels like MGM
Grand are more than 5,000 rooms! This means that there is truly no better place
to gain vital hospitality experience and it attracts the best and the brightest
from all around the globe. Not only can hospitality professionals develop
skills they couldn’t get anywhere else, but it gives them an opportunity to
lead and develop large highly skilled teams and build a strong network of
connections that will help propel their careers forward for years to come. This
talent and the work they do in our large-scale hotels is how we can create
those best in class experiences for which Las Vegas is known.
While it’s common in the hotel industry to move from
property to another, you switched from managing one hotel to assisting many at
once. Was this a challenge?
It hasn’t been a challenge, but it has provided me with opportunities to expand
my skill set. For example, I was fortunate that in my ten years with MGM
Resorts I was involved with hotel technology, especially at ARIA and Vdara.
When I joined in 2010, they were both brand new properties and the technology
installed was not just best in class but the newest on the market. Both resorts
always stayed on the cutting edge of technology, which meant I had to be sure
to stay up to date on the industry trends. To that end, I became, and am still
a member of, the Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals
Association, and I sit on the Education Session Development Committee for
HITEC. That gave me connections in the hospitality vendor space which have
proven to be extremely helpful.
Given its dependence on hospitality, the coronavirus has probably impacted Las Vegas more than any city in the United State. Can you give us an update?
Of course, COVID-19 has impacted Nevada’s hospitality industry and properties
immensely. Before the virus hit, the city was seeing 42 million visitors coming
to town for meetings, conventions, business trips and leisure travel, so losing
that volume after the shut down in March had an enormous impact on the resorts
and the employees. As of now, volume without that MICE business is only back to
about 50%. But if Las Vegas has shown anything over the years, it’s that it is
an extremely resilient city. The world knows how much we have to offer, so I’m
confident it will only be a matter of time before we move back to pre-Covid
volumes. We’re all remaining optimistic and very much looking forward to that.
As we move towards a ‘Covid is normal’ scenario, what
changes do you foresee in hoteliers’ approaches to hospitality?
We all saw that 9/11 put into place many new technologies designed to increase
the safety of guests both moving through airports and staying in hotels.
Likewise, as we adapt to Covid, we have seen an effect where hoteliers have
been advancing innovation in their properties in order to provide a safer
environment. Volan Technology, for example, enables hospitality operators to
make dramatic improvements in virus prevention, not to mention saves millions
of dollars in manual tracing. As hotels and meeting spaces adopt services like
these, it will not only increase safety but also rebuild trust with guests and
encourage travel once again.
Have developers continued their commitment to add new
product? Are there parallels we can draw to the 2008 downturn with City Center
opening in that difficult time?
Hotels that have put off implementing innovation have had their hands forced
and are now playing catch up. There’s now a big drive to give guests options,
from touchless arrival experiences to concierge services and tech in the
guestrooms. I personally wasn’t in Vegas in 2008 but I definitely see
similarities in the downturn of the economy where businesses are having to
contract and find efficiencies to maintain operations in line with the money
coming in. And we did recover from that time. Business levels not only came
back but surpassed then set new records. I know Vegas, and the hospitality
industry in general will do it again.
Anything you want to add?
Safety and security are going to be vital on the path forward. We’ve learned so
much in the last six month and we’ve become better at weaving in tech to
support operations. We can only get stronger from here, with a safer stay and
work environment which will both be very attractive as we all start to travel
again.
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| Larry Mogelonsky |
One of the world’s most published writers in hospitality, Larry Mogelonsky is the principal of Hotel Mogel Consulting Limited, a Toronto-based consulting practice. His experience encompasses hotel properties around the world, both branded and independent, and ranging from luxury and boutique to select-service. Larry is also on several boards for companies focused on hotel technology. His work includes five books “Are You an Ostrich or a Llama?” (2012), “Llamas Rule” (2013), “Hotel Llama” (2015), “The Llama is Inn” (2017) and “The Hotel Mogel” (2018). You can reach Larry at larry@hotelmogel.com to discuss hotel business challenges or to book speaking engagements.
Media Contact:
Larry Mogelonsky
Email: larry@hotelmogel.com
Website: http://hotelmogel.com/
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