The growth of the Las Vegas Valley didn’t always progress step by step and block by block. It often leapfrogged large parts of the valley to establish a community in what seemed like a remote area at that time. For example, Howard Hughes’ Summerlin development was, at the time of its inception, considered to be in the hinterlands of Las Vegas.

Today, most of the valley has been developed, with the land in between the developments filled in. The lone remaining large tract of vacant land is located in the northern part of the valley, in the city of North Las Vegas. Like other communities, it begins with a master plan, which includes homes, retail, restaurants and, of course, casinos.

But the difference between the early developments and the more recent ones, particularly in North Las Vegas, is a closer scrutiny on casino development. Gaming-eligible sites are closely held by the city of North Las Vegas, with only four sites currently approved for casinos.

Northern Exposure

When the community of Aliante was started, Station Casinos partnered with the developers to create an appropriate gaming property that fit the development. Aliante Station, a $662 million project, will have 2,550 slot machines, 40 table games and a 202-room hotel, along with 5,000 parking spaces, 3,500 of them in a garage. There will be a 16-screen movie theater and a 1,200-seat showroom.

Like Green Valley Ranch, Aliante Station is a joint venture between Station Casinos and the Greenspun family, the owners of the Las Vegas Sun and other media outlets in the valley.

Joe Hasson, vice president and general manager of Aliante Station, says his property is a combination of the best of the previous Station developments, with a personality of its own.

“We’ve put together a terrific locals resort with all the amenities and all the bells and whistles that our neighbors have asked for as part of the build-out of their community. We’re excited to be able to fulfill that expectation,” he says.

Carol Thompson, assistant general manager at Aliante, believes 30 percent of the more than 1,000 Aliante employees who came from other Station properties will bring the corporate culture with them.

“We’ve done a good job here in terms of our leadership team,” she says. “They’re all people that have worked for our company for a period of time. You transplant the culture through your leadership experience, which has been really helpful. This includes people in our managerial positions as well as our frontline team members. So we’ve definitely injected the property with enough current team members that we feel the culture will be alive and well when we open the doors, and that’s important to our business model.”

Hasson and Thompson understand that it takes more than just a great facility to create an experience that players will enjoy and come back to time and time again.

“We’ve created a program called Aliante DNA,” Thompson says. “It’s a two-hour training program that really injects the team member with everything we’re about in terms of image and first impression, the quality of the service and our core values as a team and making sure everybody’s on board with that. It’s kind of a high-energy process; it’s less academic and a little more high-energy. Team members come out of there feeling good, high-fiving and getting into the mood.

“We realize that the ability to translate the culture along with gaining momentum before we open will be critical, because that momentum will translate to the guests and create a more exciting experience for everyone. So we’ve created our experience for the team members here, and they’re taking a lot of pride in it.”

Hasson believes that repeat business is the key to a successful locals operation in Las Vegas. He says he has communicated that to his employees.

“We need to take great care of guests so that they have a reason to come back to us over and over again, because they appreciate that we take great care of them,” he says. “So first and foremost, whether the economy is good or bad, that is a standard and it is something that is unchanging in terms of how we think about the business.

“So we’ll use that as a starting point today, regardless of whether the economy is good, bad or in-between. We’ll offer great service, and we will grow a terrific business in the medium and the long term and make a terrific success of it.”

The local community is important to every Station Casino property. And it may be even more important to Aliante Station, becaues it is the Aliante development that surrounds the new property.

Hasson says the operation is truly a partnership with the Aliante community.

“We’ve spent a good amount of time getting to know our neighbors, meeting with them one-on-one, meeting with them in small groups and in large groups and talking to them about the project,” he says. “We truly view ourselves as a neighbor in the community, and so far, we’ve been warmly welcomed with terrific enthusiasm. We want to extend that same warmth to those who are our neighbors and will become our guests. You want to start on the right foot, and you want to do that with hospitality. You want to do it with a warmth and a sincerity that allows the people to understand that we’re part of this neighborhood as well. What can we do both to help and what can we do to be of service? What can we do to be a good contributing member of the community?”

Full-Service Resort

The Aliante property is designed to blend into the neighborhood, as well as serve its needs.

A small hotel—in comparison to other Station casinos—will become a welcoming home-away-from-home for visitors to the area, whether it is a one-night getaway for locals or a comfortable space for their friends and family.

“Each room is about 400 square feet,” Thompson says, “which is close in size to the rooms at Green Valley Ranch. It is local in that it will be comfortable and appealing, but it is absolutely a place that you can feel you’re on vacation. We have great flat-screen TVs, mini-bars, 24-hour room service, beautiful furnishings. It’s appealing in a local sense, but it’s really more of a vacation feel when you walk into the room. We have nine suites; 202 rooms all together in the hotel tower. It’s very delightful. We don’t feel that it’s at all intimidating. It has a very warm feel to it overall in the hotel tower, but I do think that people will be very pleasantly surprised when they walk into the rooms for the first time.”

Hasson says the value will be notable for the locals.

“We have it priced in a manner that recognizes that the community will be lodgers in our hotel,” he explains. “Those of use who live here in Las Vegas understand that we get a lot of visits from friends and family. It’s easy to get to, nice to come to, good getaway. I always tell my friends and family, ‘You’re always welcome. That doesn’t mean I can leave work every day that you’re here, but you’re welcome to be in my home.’ They can wear that out. So I think we should feel free to say, ‘Can I make you a terrific hotel reservation somewhere in the community?’ I think that the people who live in the Aliante master-planned community and in the surrounding neighborhoods will find us a convenient inn in their community. And hopefully as they have friends and family members visit, they welcome them into their home, and then they can turn to a neighbor like me and say, ‘Can you really take good care of them with a room and a meal and an entertainment experience?’ And I’ll take care of all three of those, including the room.”

Food and beverage is another hallmark of all Station casinos, and Aliante is no different. It borrows from other properties, but has some unique twists of its own.

From the Station restaurant roster comes the Original Pancake House, Camacho’s Cantina, T.G.I. Friday’s and the Feast buffet, as well as a fast food court that includes such favorites as Villa Pizza, Panda Express, a Johnny Rocket burger stand and Dunkin’ Donuts.

New to Aliante is MRKT Sea & Land, a higher-end steak and seafood house, and Pips Cucina, the first restaurant operated by wine expert and former Southern Wine & Spirits executive Rino Armeni (see story on page 40).

“We think the community will really, really enjoy Pips,” Thompson says. “It’s a nice place for after work or even for family dining—very light, just light and fun environment, which should be fantastic.”

The engine of any gaming property is the casino. With 2,500 slots and 40 table games, Aliante will mirror most other locals casinos, with more than 1,000 video poker games and 1,500 multi-denom machines that start at pennies and top out at $25.

A 12-table poker room will complement the signature Station race and sports book, a tradition that began at Red Rock and now has spread to nearly all Station casinos. At Aliante, the 180 seats are only the start. A circular bar gives fans views of dozens of flat-panel televisions so they won’t miss a second of the action.

Like the hotel, the Aliante meeting space is designed to complement the community. In 14,000 square feet of meeting space, Aliante Station makes it easy for locals to get involved.

“Rather than describe it in terms of square footage, because I don’t know if that means anything to anyone, I like to describe it in terms of who we can take care of,” Hasson said. “We can take care of small groups, we can take care of medium-sized groups and perhaps even large groups. We have full-scale banquet and catering capabilities. We have private dining in some of our restaurants. If you’re a group of, let’s say, 20 or 30 people, I could take care of you in a private dining experience inside MRKT Sea and Land. I could take care of you in a private dining experience inside Pips Cucina. So we’re a full-service locals resort, up to and including terrific banquet and meeting space.”

Visitors can also expect the full range of entertainment at Aliante Station. In fact, the casino’s Access Showroom seats 650 people comfortably, with first-class sound and sight lines; all seats are within 75 feet of the stage. While Smokey Robinson will perform for the opening weekend, Hasson says don’t expect to pigeonhole Aliante Station into any one category of entertainment.

“We cover every genre, every style, every taste of music performances,” he says. “Our job there is to make sure that we try to make ourselves more aware and to let our guests know that we’re looking to satisfy them. So we’ll do some country, we’ll do some rock, we’ll do some contemporary. We’ll cover every base in that regard. We’ll do oldies, we’ll do current. We’ll find the sweet spot when it comes to entertainment.”

Thompson says the customers’ feedback will be an important gauge of what acts they book at Aliante. And they’ll try everything in the beginning.

“We’ll figure it out based on ticket sales and the response we get to the concerts,” she says. “But we’re also going to be offering some things in the afternoon mid-week for some of the people, the retirees who live out here in the community. We have a fabulous center bar. It’s absolutely beautiful. We’ll have a DJ in there on the weekends. We’re also doing some unique things at Aliante. We’re serving food in our lounge, so that’ll be kind of nice for after work, you can come have a cocktail, enjoy some appetizers, things like that. It’s pretty diverse.

“And then of course we have our movie theater, which is a great form of entertainment for some folks—16 screens, one of them being an IMAX, with our partners at Regal Cinemas.”

It’s the Economy, Stupid!

While you can’t predict the state of the economy two years down the road when you start building, it’s unlikely Station executives believed that the Las Vegas economy could have been hit as hard as it has. But both Hasson and Thompson believe that Aliante was built for the long term and will survive the current economic slump.

“It’s really about just building that loyalty with the community and with our guests, and providing a place where they want to come to repeatedly,” Thompson says. “Whether it’s good times or bad times, sometimes when times are tough, that’s when you need to get away and get out and go have a little dinner or have a cocktail or a cup of coffee and forget what you have going on. So again, although it’s a challenging time, we’re excited about having a place for people to get away to and start to build those relationships. We’re optimistic; we remain optimistic that things will get better, and we’re going to be in this for the long run.”

Hasson agrees.

“When it comes to the economy,” he says, “it’s very easy for me to define that we build our businesses for the long term. We have come to this neighborhood and built a house. We plan to live here for a long time. We want to create relationships. We want to become an integral part of this community. And we want to make this a great business that evolves, much like any other Station Casinos property that our company has operated in the Las Vegas Valley over the last 30 years.”

Even if it just served the Aliante neighborhood, Hasson says the market would be substantial.

“There will be about 20,000 people living here when the community is built out,” he explains. “That’s just what is immediately adjacent to us. There are plenty of other neighborhoods and other communities that are not immediately adjacent, but close by. Beyond that, that will ultimately be the guest that we take care of as well.”

Aliante Station’s market, however, will reach beyond the limits of the community of the same name. Hasson explains that the property’s marketing efforts reach across the valley and across the country.

“Like all of our business throughout the Las Vegas Valley,” he says, “guests have a propensity to go to the place where they find convenience. Convenience can be defined in a lot of ways. It can be a parking space that’s close to a door. It can be the ability to get into a show and know that there’s a seat waiting for you and a ticket waiting for you. It could be the connection with a manager or a host at a restaurant, and that becomes your place to go, both because you like the food, but also because you like the people. So on those dimensions, we’re limited only by our ability to craft relationships with great guests and to take good care of people.

“But when it comes to geographical distances, our business is in its natural sweet spot anywhere from five miles out and inward toward our street corner here at Aliante Parkway and the Clark County 215 loop.

“But we also have a terrific hotel which extends our reach. Whether we’re attracting guests from Southern California, whether we’re attracting guests from the other side of the valley, whether we’re attracting a guest who wants to play a round of golf at the great Aliante golf club and also stay overnight in the hotel, we can accommodate that. Our reach expands based on having the full array of abilities to take care of people, including to lodge them. So all of that helps to work as part of our formula for who will be our guest.”

Proximity to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway makes it a natural partner during races.

“We’ve been doing a lot of relationship building with the folks out at the racetrack,” says Thompson, “and we look forward to having the opportunity to house some people here. It just makes such great sense because we’re so close by; it’s very, very convenient. That gives us another way to kind of reach a little bit further.”

And Hasson believes that the travelers on I-15 could also stop by.

“We’re a company that never gets tired of outdoor advertising,” he laughs, “so of course we’ll have some messages on 15. We’ll have some messages on 95, as well, and we’ll dot the rest of the Las Vegas Valley so that people have a reason to know of us and have an ability to find us.

“Nellis Air Force Base is also not too far. As the crow flies, or perhaps as the jet flies, it’s very close. We see ourselves also as being a getaway and a place where people that live in the valley, work at Nellis, have an opportunity near to where they live and work to come join us to fulfill their entertainment expectations as well.”

By Roger Gros

Roger Gros is publisher of Casino Connection and editor and publisher of Global Gaming Business magazine, the industry’s leading gaming trade publication. Prior to joining Global Gaming Business, Gros was president of Inlet Communications, an independent consulting firm. He was vice president of Casino Journal Publishing Group from 1984-2000, and held virtually every editorial title during his tenure. Gros was editor of Casino Journal, the National Gaming Summary and the Atlantic City Insider, and was the founding editor of Casino Player magazine. He was a co-founder of the American Gaming Summit and the Southern Gaming Summit conferences and trade shows. He is the author of the best-selling book, How to Win at Casino Gambling (Carlton Books, 1995), now in its third edition. Gros was named “Businessman of the Year” for 1998 by the Greater Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce.

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