When you think of Las Vegas, you might picture the entertainment and the constant buzz of the Strip. But when it comes to hosting events, Vegas offers much more than meets the eye.
In fact, your event could be more successful and attract more attendees simply by choosing this city as your destination.
In this episode, our President, Dave Wagner, sits down with Gary McCreary, GoGather’s Executive VP of Operations and Strategy to discuss how Las Vegas is a place that constantly reinvents itself. With world-class venues, unbeatable infrastructure, and a hospitality industry like no other, Vegas is more than just a fun backdrop—it's a strategic choice for your next conference.
So, if you think you know what Vegas is all about, think again. Your event might just be more successful than you anticipated.
Gary McCreary, cmp fellow, cpce, csep, is the Executive VP of GoGather where he helps the GoGather team drive operational efficiencies and enhance the client experience.
Gary has received numerous awards and accolades, including 10 Gala Awards and 31 Gala Award Nominations from Special Events Magazine. He is also the recipient of Six ONE Awards from the National Association of Catering & Events and was named the 2009 Caterer of the Year by the National Association of Catering & Events (Las Vegas Chapter). Additionally, Gary has been featured on the Food Network Program "Behind the Bash."
Dave Wagner: How have you seen Las Vegas evolve over the years?
Gary McCreary: Wow. I first came to Las Vegas on a handshake, almost kind of sight unseen, a leap of faith, it was one of the best decisions I ever made in my life. When I got here, my former employer, the Venetian, wasn't open. Bellagio wasn't open. Mandalay Bay was not open. Resorts World was a different property. Fontainebleau wasn't open.
It's transformed so much and that's the thing about Vegas, is it has always reinvented itself. And it is a city really like no other. The political will here to advance and change and grow and adapt is really like no other city I've ever been in in my life.
It's exciting. Just absolutely amazing. I mean, here we have literally the largest hotels in the world. When I first moved here back in 98, the saying was that the crossroads of Tropicana and Las Vegas Boulevard in those quadrants were right in there with MGM Grand, which was the largest hotel in the world at the time, New York, New York, Excalibur, Tropicana, there were more hotel rooms than the entire state of California had, which was just mind-blowing.
And I don't know if that statistic is true or not, but that was the urban legend at the time. Maybe
But honestly, though, the scale that this city can do and the infrastructure that's built here, with the airport so close, it's just, that's what this place is built for.
Dave Wagner: Yeah, I love what you said there about Las Vegas just continuing to reinvent itself. I think that that relates really well to us and to GoGather, because we're constantly reinventing ourselves and trying to reinvent our customer's experience and the attendee experience, especially in a time when people are so distracted and attention spans aren't the same.
So to have that same philosophy as you've had in Las Vegas throughout the years. As you built and grew the largest convention hotel in the world?
Gary McCreary: Yes, the largest convention hotel in the world.
Dave Wagner: So, talk to us a little bit about navigating hotels specifically in Vegas, right? Because as you said, you're dealing with a completely different size and scale of, hotel of operations, frankly, of a lot of groups that come in and out of here. So are there specific things that we can think about and talk about that will help us navigate if we go to the Venetian Mandalay Bay or Bellagio, Wynn, Blue, or any of these?
Gary McCreary: I mean, Vegas really works where you've got, of course, what everybody thinks of is the gambling, the casino, and that's a very important engine. When the Venetian was first founded, Mr. Adelson's whole philosophy was that the Venetian would be a twin-engine jet. Groups with one engine and the casino with the other engine.
And it was a pretty good philosophy given how everything's turned out. But that's the thing of this, is that really looking at arrival, and departure patterns and what Vegas is trying to do is really kind of marry those two major groups together. Where the casino group typically comes in on Friday and departs on Sunday.
The ideal pattern at the time was groups would arrive on Sunday and fill the midweek. And that was the formula of how really Vegas worked. Now, everything I'm saying, though, here changes, because that's the only constant in the universe, is change. As Vegas has really gotten into, really, the sports market, that's causing a whole change in how philosophies are going about rooms.
There are different demands, and it's a mixture of all that. But really going back specifically to the group piece, you know, after the success of the Venetian, every hotel in Las Vegas put in major amounts of space. When I first came here, if one property had a fight come in, all of a sudden, the group that had, like, the ballroom is like, oh, well, we're going to exercise our contract. So, I mean, nothing illegal. Everybody agreed to this, but the group had to be moved. That doesn't happen at all anymore. Because group business is incredibly respected in the city.
The city understands the importance of group business. It values it. The amount of infrastructure that's been built in the city for groups is absolutely enormous. You won't find it anywhere else in the United States. The capabilities that exist in this city.
Dave Wagner: Yeah, you won't find it anywhere in the world.
Gary McCreary: Yeah.
Dave Wagner: So what are some of the biggest mistakes that groups can sometimes make in coming to Vegas or booking in Vegas? Is it not being open and looking for the pattern that stays away from the casino guests? Is it taking a 15-person meeting to a space that has 2 million square feet and getting lost? What would you say?
Gary McCreary: That Is kind of the trick, too, because each of the major properties here has their inherent strengths, and they have areas that, you know, they haven't really focused on in terms of those markets. And I think that's what's amazing about this place. At my former property's (the largest) our bread and butter business was grouped under 300 rooms, surprisingly enough.
The real trick of this city is those hotels that are out there that can take and make a small group in an enormous ocean feel important and valued. And a lot of that has to do with, like, picking the right space. Most of the time, the sales manager, they're going to go through and they're going to do that because they're not going to want to book a small group in an enormous space and have it not work out right because that's not good.
That's not good for anyone. But I will say that when the city's very, very, very full and you start looking at this and this is what's left, and sometimes I think that's when you kind of need to really look at the space. Does it make sense?
Is it in an area of the meeting complex that is a little bit remote? Because a lot of these spaces will have enormous space blocks that layout, but then they'll have a section of the floor that has smaller rooms and things like that. And I tend to find that if you're a smaller group, if you can get that kind of space, it works out great because now you have just the enormous resources of this massive hotel really at your disposal on the floor.
And a lot of that goes to, you know, how your planners have set things up. Do they know the banquet manager? Do they know the captain? Do they know the servers that are out on the floor? It's just amazing how that all works. And the other thing that's really interesting, I think, here, from a labor perspective in a way, is that all the banquet servers work for different properties.
So you'll have a section of servers that are called the regular list. And these individuals only work for that property. And that can range from maybe a core staff of ten to a core staff of 48. Then the next list you'll have is like an upper b list, and then you have a call list.
Well, if you're not in that first core, you're literally putting your schedule together. One day you'll work at Wynn, the next day you might work at Resorts World, the next day you might work at Mandalay Bay. And it's the sharing of staff that are very well trained, very competent.
And I would say each, when they go to the different properties, there are different standards that these individuals have to remember and adhere to in each one. But what you end up with is an incredibly well-trained team of people that you can rely on.
Dave Wagner: Yeah, I have to say Las Vegas as a whole has to be the best place in the world for hospitality and labor on all levels, right? And our friends at the International School of Hospitality do a lot of training and really help develop that within some of the bigger resorts.
I think something you said there about finding the right fit of a smaller group at a larger hotel goes right back to what we started talking about today, which is partnerships, and making sure that we have the right partnerships and the right relationships to ensure our clients are feeling comfortable when they come into a site inspection and know that they're getting the right space for their specific group.
So just one last question about Las Vegas. And I think we kind of talked about it with these big hotels. But what are some common misconceptions that folks might have about coming to Vegas and bringing their group to Vegas?
Gary McCreary: Well, I think the biggest thing is if you come to Vegas, your attendees won't show up. They'll go out partying all night, they'll come in with hangovers and they'll be drunk, and you're not going to get anything done. That was certainly the storyline that I used when I was in Dallas saying, no, you want to come to Dallas, you don't want to go to Vegas, it's just not going to work out for you.
But in reality, nothing could be further from the truth. Statistically, Vegas proves that when Vegas is on the agenda, attendances go up. That's actually why Mr. Adelson decided he was going to build the Venetian. He was, he brought convicts around and came to Vegas and saw, all of a sudden there were spikes in the attendance.
That statistic still holds true today. The other thing that I found is that you know, yes, people go out and party at night afterward, but that will happen in any city, that segment of your population which is there, and God bless them. That's going to happen in Dallas, it'll happen in New York, it'll happen in Chicago.
Dave Wagner: We've had it happen in Virginia Beach.
Gary McCreary: Yeah, that happens. So one thing I will say about that is when you're planning events, really be smart about it. On opening night, people are excited to get in the city, and have your welcome reception, but don't have it all night.
A – it's more economical for you, and B– you're actually, you're harnessing the resources of this city, a city that is all built to entertain your guests. And I think that's one thing that I see a lot.
Another thing is, if it works into your schedule, have a free night as well.
But the whole adage that nobody's going to show up and all of that, it doesn't really hold true.
Dave Wagner: Yeah, there's so much to do in Las Vegas, and I love the idea of maybe hosting a brief welcome reception, but if networking is really part of what you want to do, maybe you arrange smaller groups at different restaurants for dinner or different activities.
Gary McCreary: The hotels here are incredible. You can put together dine-arounds and never leave the property that you're at because of what these complexes offer just within the four quarters.
Dave Wagner: And they could be in Michelin-starred restaurants.
Gary McCreary: Oh, that is one thing that's amazing. When I first came to Vegas, I would literally go to grocery stores. I couldn't find the produce. Nothing was very good. I'm like, what's going on? I was like well, maybe the hotels are all using all this, but the food scene here in Vegas is literally mind-blowing.
Today you can get so many Michelin five stars, everything out there, Michelin three-star, we still have one of those. Michelin one and two. And then, you know, Forbes five star, they're littered throughout this area. And then some really hidden gems that are a little bit off the Strip, too, which really can make for another interesting evening, you know, off-site.
Dave Wagner: Yeah. And I think that the misconception about losing attendees and losing people coming to Vegas, I think, for specific industries and types of events, especially franchisors, where they need an exciting destination for their attendees to want to be there and to want to learn and want to grow.
For associations that have members that maybe they wouldn't go if they were in some second-tier city in the middle of the United States. But coming to Las Vegas, they will, because there's so much to do, there's so much good food and external, client-facing events as well.
The draw of coming to Las Vegas and the ease of getting here.
Gary McCreary: Not to mention the airlift into the city, is really like no other. It is really impressive how much airlift this city has and how easy it is to actually get here.
Dave Wagner: Thank you so much, Gary. It's been a great conversation. Obviously, we have these conversations every day, but we're really excited about our Las Vegas base, and just really like the ability to grow our business in Las Vegas and utilize the minds and the resources of you and your network that you've grown for the last 25 years here in Las Vegas to really help take us to new heights and reinvent what our customers are doing.
Gary McCreary: It is an amazing city, an amazing city of caring professionals that are here that isn't part-time. Like when I was talking about banquet waiters, it's not a part-time job for them. It is literally a career. And that's what the city is all about. It's about hospitality and entertainment. So I'm excited.
Related: Top conference venues in Las Vegas.