CMW’s Iain Stirling caught up in Las Vegas recently with Mike Massari, chief sales officer, Caesars Entertainment, who shares insights into getting to grips with issues ranging from sustainability to staffing and believes that a great revival rather than a post-Covid ‘revamp’ in the way we meet is underway:
First of all, how is Caesar’s standing out from the crowd there in Vegas?
“Pure purpose. We want to be the best in the meetings and events industry. We want to be great at what we do. We try to get a little bit better every day and we’ve done that for decades,” says Mike Massari, chief sales officer at Caesar’s Entertainment, who spoke to CMW’s Iain Stirling during the recent IMEX America show in Las Vegas.
So, what is special about IMEX and what does it bring to you as a brand?
“Ray and Carina run a good organisation. It’s tight it’s crisp, they are visible, they understand all the customers and the industry. I always leave IMEX taking notes. It really is a well run show. I hope it stays here forever. It’s the most important trade show in the meetings and events business.”
Massari says his team is also “working really hard and want to be the best. The meetings and events business has been slower to recover because it’s slower to be reopened. IMEX is the first show that feels 100%”.
Q2 was an all time record for business and events for Caesar’s, he notes, adding that the broader business has been very busy in Las Vegas.
“Caesars Forum is a big part of why we set a record in Q2. It is booked solid and exceeding all of our expectation,” he says. Success stories include hosting FBI, PCMA, NHL draft several other high profile events during the opening roll out.
How is Caesars looking at sustainability?
“It’s a big part of the conversation,” says Massari. “Companies are working to find partners they share values with. ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) is one of them. We work hard to understand who our customers are and share who we are so we can match those values up.
“In the casino business you have to work really hard to put back into the communities in which you live and operate. We have licences to work in these places and we have to earn them and give back to the community.
“It’s not only the right thing to do for the world, as a business but as people. We just realised our ESG report and all the details are in there. I would put our company’s stuff up against anybody’s. Also we have a $400m property opening in Atlantic City.”
Massari believes people’s desire to meet, “has never been higher and reasons why to meet have never been better. People have to gather”.
And he is adamant that the in-person meeting format is not broken and remains a winning formula, despite the ravages of Covid. And the Caesars head of sales seems to chime in with the words of Julius Caesar himself, ‘As a rule, men worry more about what they can’t see than about what they can’.
“There’s a lot more that stays the same than changes. Everything needs to be revived but not necessarily revamped. Technology supporting how we meet and interact is great,” Massari says, adding: “I don’t think anything is fundamentally broken. I don’t think we will see in two years anything that is totally different. Our set up today is fundamentally what was in Constantinople hundreds of years ago.”
Massari is clear on the priority of customer service and delivering for clients. “Clients ask – here is what I want to accomplish – launch a product, launch an education platform – how can you help us achieve it? None of the questions and answers around those things have changed,” he says.
Staffing
Recruitment is another topic top of mind for Massari. “Not one time has finding and recruiting people not been top of my priority list. It is hard right now. We were shut down for a long time.
“We don’t just reopen and everyone comes flocking back. Some people say ‘it is a great environment and they are going back’ – but that’s nonsense. There are still gaps but we’re working on it.”
He identifies housekeeping and catering as challenging issues and says his teams are directing more effort into those areas than ever. He remains optimistic, however, saying: “It is way better today than a year ago.”
What advice would he have given himself in early 2020?
“Read the serenity prayer every day. There were things I couldn’t change that I kept trying to change. I should have been in the moment more, not to be too melancholy or introspective,” Massari says.
“During Covid, on the operations side we went down from several thousand to 14. They were people we cared about and knew well. Those were tough things to go through. We were unable to help them. We never stopped trying. We didn’t get the government support we would have liked,” he adds.
He says that a big challenge during the pandemic was seeing other industries and sectors able to start up again, albeit with restrictions, but hospitality and meetings weren’t allowed “even though,” Massari says, “we felt we had the safety procedures in place. We felt discriminated against because we knew we could do it well.
“There were times when I’d fly somewhere with around 6,000 people in airports. I knew we could provide a more controlled environment than those environments, but that’s all behind us now. Now we’re working to ensure we’re better understood.
“We’re going to do well in future. There will be lots of meetings and the pace is good. And outside of US we have a Dubai property and the outlook there is good, too.”
