I ’ VE TOLD OUR TEAMS TO FIGURE OUT WHAT MORE WE CAN GIVE THE CUSTOMER AND CHARGE DOUBLE . DON ’ T WORRY ABOUT THE PRICE . GIVE THEM THE BEST EXPERIENCE ON THE PLANET AND THERE WILL BE NO COMPETITIONS .
– BRIAN GULLBRANTS
In fact , Gullbrants estimates he has now written some 5,000 notes , usually two or three or four paragraphs recognizing excellence or reinforcing the passion for which the brand stands . “ Talk about alignment ,” he says . “ I continuously get great feedback both in writing and verbally as I walk around the resort .”
To take it even one step further , Wynn Resorts has just developed a series of leadership classes and the in fatigable Gullbrants is teaching the first class to all 1,380 leaders and was already on his 16th or 17th lesson because he is limiting class sizes to 50 or so to create intimacy and stimulate dialogue . Again , he loves to tell stories about great leaders and the notso-great managers he has worked for , analyzing the traits and talking about what matters . “ It ’ s sharing those experiences and those stories , getting them to participate in the education process that develops them as better leaders for the future ,” he says .
By having that daily communication , Gullbrants believes it helps people understand the brand and even build self-esteem where needed . “ There ’ s nothing more valuable , right ? So , when I can tell a story about one of our employees , and it pumps them up , that person ’ s walking on cloud nine for the next 30 , 60 , 90 days ,” he adds . “ And we try to do that as much as we can here . But it really is impactful when all 12,000 people are hearing about it that morning .”
A little bit of craziness with a habit that engrained . “ Yeah . This is what I do . It ’ s what I signed up for and I love what I do ,” Gullbrants says . “ And I hope people can sense that . I think they do .”
What makes this impactful is the consistency . “ They think they know me better than they do because they hear from me every day .”
PROOF IN THE PUDDING Perhaps there is a method to Gullbrants ’ madness . The Wynn Las Vegas hit 91 % hotel occupancy in March , which contributed to a record EBITDA result . March strength continued into Q2 with forward bookings showing no signs of a slowdown . Booking pace in April was at pre-COVID levels on substantially higher ADRs , the company reported .
“ We have taken incredible price hikes and seem to not feel any softening of demand . It ’ s insane ,” Gullbrants told HOTELS in July . “ We are now pacing slightly ahead of 2019 and 2023 is pacing even farther ahead than that . We are on pace to have tied or slightly better than any year we ’ ve ever had . I would have thought that we would see some softening but leads that are coming through are still beyond our 2019 rates .”
While encouraged , Gullbrants also says he anticipates softening at some point soon . “ The party ’ s not going
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