William J. "Bill" Hornbuckle, CEO and president of MGM Resorts International, was the featured guest at the NYU School of Professional Studies Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality’s 30th Annual Stephen W. Brener Lecture earlier this month.
Talking with Jonathan Tisch, CEO of Loews Hotels, Hornbuckle told a room of hospitality students about his career, his views on leadership and what makes hospitality a unique industry.
Leadership and Challenges
Hornbuckle was appointed interim CEO of MGM just as the COVID-19 pandemic began, and had to oversee the company as travel ground to a halt and hotels—those that remained open—struggled with low occupancy and limited resources. Las Vegas was particularly hard hit, and with no revenue coming in, Hornbuckle had to lay off 62,000 employees across the company in 10 days.
The city—and the industry as a whole, regained its proverbial feet fairly quickly, but still faces challenges. Today, with 55,000 employees in Las Vegas alone, MGM still has about 1,000 roles to fill. “We want—and need—to retain great people,” Hornbuckle said. To that end, the company is prioritizing diversity in its leadership ranks, with women making up 45 percent of its management-level employees. The vice-president level, he added, has more women than men. Ultimately, he said, 64 percent of MGM’s workforce would qualify as “diverse.”
Entertainment and Hospitality
Hornbuckle emphasized that MGM Resorts is not a gaming business, but rather an entertainment company. At the Bellagio in Las Vegas, he noted, only 30 percent of the revenue comes from gaming.
“Hospitality, rooms, entertainment, convention business (in a massive way), food and beverage all participate in a meaningful way to the overall picture,” Hornbuckle said, noting that this applies to all of the company’s resorts both domestically and internationally. “Originally, Las Vegas was a place entertainers went to die. No more. There's not anyone we haven't hosted,” he said.
Beyond performers, Las Vegas is becoming a sports destination in its own right—and Hornbuckle is working to bring sports teams to his venues. Through a joint venture with Anschutz Entertainment Group, MGM opened the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas in 2016. The venue is the home stadium for the Vegas Golden Knights of the National Hockey League, and Hornbuckle recalled naysayers arguing that sports—especially hockey—would never work in Vegas. “You couldn't get enough corporate sponsorship,” he remembered hearing at the time. “It's all worked—and amazingly well.” The fact that Las Vegas is a tourist destination has helped, he added, estimating that 65 percent of attendees at Allegiant Stadium, adjacent to MGM’s Mandalay Bay Resort, are from out of town.
Growth Plans
MGM has 31 hotels that open worldwide with approximately 83,000 team members—and more on the way.
A year ago, a joint venture affiliated with MGM Resorts signed an implementation agreement for a resort in Osaka, Japan. When the property opens in 2030, the Osaka integrated resort will include Japan’s only legal casino, 2,500 hotel rooms across three hotel brands and 730,000 square feet of meetings and event space. “It's a massive opportunity,” Hornbuckle told the students, noting that one of the properties on the resort is projected to bring in about $1.5 billion per year in cash flow.
MGM was the only company to win a license for this type of development, Hornbuckle added.
The United Arab Emirates also is a key focus for MGM. A $2.2 billion project underway in Dubai will include a Mirage, an MGM, an Aria and a Bellagio hotel. While the company initially declined to pursue a gaming license for the development, they did add a floor with 200,000 square feet of space that could be used for conventions or gaming, if the Emirate decides to grant a license.