Man who put a shine on Sin City

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

By Matthew Garrahan in Los Angeles

Andrew Sasson is talking about how to serve ice in a drink. "If it's frozen properly, then it takes longer to melt," explains the Las Vegas bar and restaurant magnate. "So in a restaurant you have to use cubed ice. But in a bar, we would serve flat ice to keep the drink at the right temperature."

The ice in their drinks may be an afterthought to most bar and restaurant patrons. But to the fastidious Mr Sasson the shape of ice is one of many small but important ingredients that go into running a successful nightspot.

The 38-year-old founder and partner in the Light Group has 16 properties in Las Vegas that he runs through a partnership with MGM Mirage, the world's largest gaming group. From Fix, an upmarket restaurant at the Bellagio casino, to Jet, a 2,000-person nightclub at the Mirage, he has built a small but fast-growing empire that has played a role in changing the city's image and reputation.

In the 1950s and 1960s organised crime maintained a tight grip on Las Vegas casinos. The city attracted gamblers and their spouses, who were so focused on the gaming tables that they put up with sub-standard buffet food and entertainment from past-their-prime lounge singers.

But in recent years, as quoted companies have taken over the city, Las Vegas has become a culinary and nightlife hotspot, attracting hordes of young, affluent people eager to eat, drink and party. Gambling remains popular but to many younger Sin City visitors it is now a secondary pursuit, overtaken in revenue terms by food, beverage and entertainment sales.

Luring the new generation of Hollywood screen stars and tourists to Las Vegas are the properties operated by Mr Sasson. Thanks to the agreement with MGM Mirage he operates venues in several casinos, running them in line with a precise set of measurements and principles. Seats must be 18 inches from each table. Coffee tables have to be 21 inches in height, while there must be eight feet of clearance space around the bar.

To keep his managers on their toes he sometimes sticks chewing gum under the tables before his venues open. If the managers fail to spot the gum at opening time, they can expect an ear-bashing from the boss.

A Briton who hails from Walton-on-Thames, Mr Sasson has lived in the US for more than 20 years and speaks with a mid-Atlantic accent. His relationship with MGM Mirage and the presence of Light Group venues across Las Vegas give him unique influence that is set to increase next year, when his company opens its first hotel - The Harmon - as part of the new $8bn City Center development.

City Center, which is being financed by MGM Mirage, will also include a Mandarin Oriental hotel, a casino and a shopping mall. It is the highest-profile project to hit Las Vegas in years - which means Mr Sasson, who has never operated a hotel before, will face a new level of scrutiny.

He says he is up to the challenge, adding that The Harmon will blend high-quality service with the design standards that are sought after by younger, style-conscious travellers. "Customers don't expect to have to wait 40 minutes for their room service to arrive, or to have to stand in line when they want to check in. Yet that's what happens everywhere else. I want a guy opening the door saying 'good morning', 'good afternoon' and 'good evening'. The customer experience has to be compelling from A to Z."

Mr Sasson started his career as a bar entrepreneur in Miami after what he admits was a misspent youth in England. He moved to Miami in 1991 and first worked as a doorman, but with the city's party scene exploding he picked up plenty of knowledge. After moving to New York and borrowing money from his father, he opened his first venue, Jet Lounge.

When it took off he visited Las Vegas and realised the city was "there for the taking . . . there wasn't anything to do after 10pm apart from gambling or going to a strip club".

He found a partner in MGM Mirage, which was willing to take a chance on the brash, bigdreaming Brit and agreed to let him open Light, the first club at the Bellagio.

That the company was prepared to back him speaks volumes about the culture of entrepreneurship in the US, he says.

"This is a country where people are prepared to take a risk on you because of your character, rather than reputation. They liked what they saw and said: 'Go ahead and try.'"

To the relationship with MGM Mirage, he says, he brought know-ledge and insight about what younger people were looking for in a nightspot, while MGM Mirage taught him about customer service. "Before I came to Las Vegas I thought I knew about service, but I was very naive."

His move into hotel operation comes at a tricky time. Las Vegas is entering an economic slump: airlines are cutting flights to the city, room occupancy rates are in steep decline and gaming revenues at casinos on the city's famous Strip were down 19 per cent in May. But Mr Sasson is bullish and says his venues have yet to feel the pinch. The 160-seat Fix will exceed $14m in sales this year while Bank, a 6,000-sq-ft club at the Bellagio, will generate $25m.

The success of his properties has not gone unnoticed internationally. In February this year he sold 50 per cent of Light Group to Zabeel Investments, a Dubai-based property and private equity investor.

Mohammed Ali Al Hashimi, Zabeel's 35-year-old chairman, tells the Financial Times he plans to take the Light brand into international markets and is already working on a hotel project in Dubai: "I want to do things that target our generation," he says. "I can't think of any hotel that does that. Hotels are either trendy, with horrible service, or they are the complete opposite."

For Mr Sasson, the opening of The Harmon is the next logical step in what he says is the younger generation exerting its influence over an industry that has traditionally been controlled by babyboomers.

"The people in my company are part of the developing market - they're young, they go out - whereas most of the people that operate hotels in Las Vegas are older," he says. MGM Mirage recognised that it could connect with younger consumers if it brought him on board, he adds.

But most other operators continue to be run by "50 and 60-year-olds, who are making decisions for 30 and 40-year-olds . . . and they really don't know what our needs are".

Hotel partners make light work of new markets

Mohammed Ali Al Hashimi and Andrew Sasson have only been in business together for a few months but say they are already learning from each other as they prepare to take the Light brand into new markets.

"[Mr Sasson] grabbed my attention," says Mr Hashimi, whose Dubai-based Zabeel Investments acquired 50 per cent of Mr Sasson's Light Group in February.

"Every trip that I come out to see him in Las Vegas, I pick up something from him.

"He was choosing the towels that will be in the rooms of The Harmon two years before the hotel opened. I'm opening a hotel in Dubai in six months and we hadn't even started looking at that yet."

Zabeel's capital will help fund the expansion of the Light Group. But Mr Sasson says the Dubai-based company and Mr Hashimi, a former Barclays banker, have more to offer than just money. "It's capital and it's education as well . . . they bring a hell of a lot to the table," he says.

"They're not just a financial partner. I don't have a lot of experience of big deals but they do and they have a deep understanding of capital markets."

The two men plan to use this combined knowledge as they expand.

They are working together on the Dubai property and have plans for hotels in Abu Dhabi, New York, Los Angeles and Miami.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008