Podcasts about Virgin Hotels

We're coming at you from the 35th floor of the Virgin Hotel in NYC, and this episode is a wild ride! We are in the Big Apple for a Webby Awards event (spoiler: Erin didn't win, blame the bots), and it's been a rollercoaster of influencer overload. Erin braved the first day solo, navigating Penn Station all alone and struggling to find the hotel. "LA" type influencers were everywhere making Erin feel uncomfortable...Think prom dresses and 20 take photo shoots. Mike swooped in for day two, and we tackled Adobe Photoshop activations, ate a Flaming Hot Cheeto cupcake (it's… spicy?), and vibed with Jools LeBron ("very demure” queen) on turning her viral moment into a brand. We also ran into @effinbirds who snagged Erin's Webby. Erin rants about the Met Gala and is obsessed with the wheeled curtain that hides the celebrities outfits. On the train home, we bonded with Noah, an AI startup genius with a scooter and breakup stories that kept us hooked. Plus, a No Bad, No Sad moment: Noah says AI could lead to a utopia, not a dystopia.Listen now and leave a 5-star review!

 On May 8, the two were seen enjoying tacos and margaritas at Lucia, a restaurant in the Virgin Hotel, accompanied by another *Teen Mom* star, Ashley Jones, with whom Abraham had also shared a rocky history.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

It's the most wonderful time of the year on And Now We Drink! Host Matt Slayer brings the festive spirit in full swing with returning guests Anna de Ville and Peter Warren in a no-holds-barred episode that's as unpredictable as it is entertaining. Anna shares colorful anecdotes from her adventurous life, including intriguing, risqué tales from her travels and professional escapades, bringing a dose of humor and shock value that's bound to leave listeners both laughing and gasping. The episode dives into everything from the levels of Dante's Inferno to the intricacies of backdoor discussions, with Anna advocating for mutual exploration and understanding in relationships. Her candid approach likely challenges many societal norms, and she doesn't hold back when discussing her record-breaking achievements in the industry. Peter sheds light on the upcoming AVN Expo, providing insights into the organization's return to the Virgin Hotel and addressing the ongoing labor strikes surrounding the event. With his usual flair, he navigates the complexities of organizing one of the industry's biggest events while maintaining a sense of humor about the pressures and challenges involved. Amidst the laughter and unfiltered conversation, the trio manages to touch on serious topics, such as labor rights and industry norms, showcasing the multifaceted nature of  entertainment and the community involved. Whether you're a longstanding fan of the show or a new listener, this episode promises a wild ride with unexpected tangents, candid revelations, and perhaps a few too many drinks. Cheers to another unforgettable episode of And Now We Drink!       Cover your shame in our wares. New Merch! anwd.net/merch The Patreon is full of exclusive content and directly supports the show. patreon.com/mattslayer   Subscribe to the youtube youtube.com/andnowwedrink

DACAPO - Live in the Raw - Bernt, Johan, Marko och Roger Rock and roll-armén, gör er redo! KISS är tillbaka med en smäll, och vi kunde bara inte hålla oss. Vi var tvungna att gå live, direkt, för att prata om det här. 50 år av KISS Army, och nu... Las Vegas! Den 14-16 november 2025, Virgin Hotel förvandlas till det ultimata KISS-paradiset. Vi måste prata om 'KISS Army Storms Vegas', den hetaste fanfestivalen någonsin! Häng med oss när vi dyker ner i detaljerna om firandet av 50 år av den mest högljudda och stolta fanrörelsen i rockhistorien. Det här vill ni inte missa! Samt annat som hänt den sista tiden...

Backstage Pass host, Victoria Elizabeth, sits down with Pageant Planet founder, Steven Roddy onsite at the “Best in Pageantry” Awards and Gala at the beautiful Virgin Hotel in Nashville TN. Despite a few interruptions (the interview was being conducted while set up was taking place for the evening's event), the duo chatted about everything from Pageant Planet's humble origins (Roddy started the site with only $20 to his name on a lap top while using Starbuck's free WiFi) to now being celebrated as the top connectivity platform for some of the world's largest national and global pageant systems.Be sure to get connected by following “Pageant Planet” on all major social medias platforms and by visiting https://www.pageantplanet.com.

On this episode, we are joined by Jessica Williams. Jessica is the author of the award-winning Dachshund educational blog, YouDidWhatWithYourWeiner.com. She's been traveling, hiking, and camping with her dogs for over 20 years. She's taken her dogs on many extended road trips, covering up to 5,000 miles, and she's flown with them many times. Her two biggest dog-focused travel aspirations are living in Switzerland for a month to hike in the Alps and spending a year road-tripping around the US with her dogs to hike and camp. You can follow Jessica on Instagram @youdidwhatwithyourweiner, Facebook, or YouTube. Episode Highlights: Most airlines have pet policies that you should review before booking To travel in the cabin, the pet needs to fit in a carrier that goes under the seat The weight limit is generally 20-25 lbs (although Spirit is higher) You need to call the airline in advance to let them know you are bringing a dog on board as there is a limit to how many can go onboard You don't need to pay for a ticket but you do need to pay a pet fee (typically around $150 each way) According to the FAA, unless you have a true service pet, the pet must stay in the carrier for the duration of the flight Some flight attendants look the other way and you can take the carrier out from under the seat so the pet can see you but technically you can't even unzip the carrier Your pet carrier counts as your personal item so it helps to have a carrier with side pockets for things you need on the plane Aisle seats don't have as much space under the seat in front of you for a carrier. The middle seat has the most space In the airport, the dogs don't always want to use the pet relief area because it smells and is unusual In the airport, dogs should be in carriers but not many people are policing that because service dogs are allowed to be out To go through security, they come out of the carrier and you can walk through the metal detector but you need to take off the collar so they need to behave to not run away and walk through if they are too big to carry Bring along a small water dish, water, and a few treats Jessica recommends layering a potty pad in the bottom of the carrier under a blanket so it is easier to clean if there is an accident Otherwise, you need to potty pad train them before travel Don't feed them right before a flight. Usually, the last meal should be 2-3 hours before travel To find pet-friendly hotels, use bringfido.com Hotels usually have a pet fee, which is typically around $20 per dog per night, but it can also be extremely high Red Roof, Motel 6, Kimpton, and Virgin Hotels generally are pet-friendly without a pet fee but they are franchises and still can charge a fee There is usually a limit of two dogs per room and a combined weight limit of about 150 lbs. Some boutique hotels allow you to bring more than two dogs For international travel, you can get a pet passport for EU countries For Canada, you can drive across the border with your pets The United States changed requirements for dogs coming into the country (even by car) that dogs need to be at least 6 months old, they have to have internationally recognized microchips, and have vaccinations up to date particularly a recent rabies vaccine and health paperwork You need to fill out a CDC import form Some destinations have strict quarantine rules (especially Hawaii and other islands) of 10-30 days Visit AdventuresCats.org to learn more about traveling with cats. Note that many hotels don't allow cats. Tamara recommends TrustedHousesitters.com for free pet and house sitting from vetted sitters. Use her referral link for 25% off a membership!

Want more MTM Vegas? Check out our Patreon for access to our exclusive weekly aftershow! patreon.com/mtmvegas Episode Description: As a reminder you can watch this show as well at: http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories This week we learned about the timeline for the ouster of Mohegan Sun at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. Find out when the property will be brought back together and when a new loyalty program will launch. Will this be the rebirth that Virgin needs to be successful following the end of their recent strike? In other news there are some reports of a shakeup at MGM Resorts among managers. What exactly is happening and what do we know? We also discuss the soon to open expansion at El Cortez Las Vegas including some cool new neon. Other topics include: Dig This Vegas, the MGM valet "hack", gambler gift shaming, the new Raiders head coach, President Trump's visit to Vegas and when Netflix Bites is opening at MGM Grand.0:00 Gordon Ramsay actually shows his face in Vegas 0:00 Casino free gift shaming 0:54 President Trump visits Circa - No tax on tips 2:33 Netflix Bites opening date announced 4:08 Westgate Las Vegas joins Choice Hotels 5:48 Vegas Loop viral video - Stoplights underground 6:52 How far we've gotten with Vegas Loop in 4 years 8:30 Raiders hire 5th coach in 5 years 9:43 Mohegan Sun out at Virgin Hotels on March 4 11:05 The rebirth of Virgin Hotels 12:25 Dig This Vegas - Use real bulldozers 13:35 Caesars' tiny free comp drinks at Flamingo 15:10 Pet peeve - Casinos that charge for sparkling water & redbull 15:48 MGM Resorts “valet hack” 18:04 A big management shakeup happening at MGM Resorts? 19:26 El Cortez is very close to opening their big expansion Each week tens of thousands of people tune into our MtM Vegas news shows at http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories. We do two news shows weekly on YouTube with this being the audio version. Never miss out on the latest happenings in and around Las Vegas! Enjoying the podcast? Please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! You can also connect with us anytime at podcast@milestomemories.com.  You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or by searching "MtM Vegas" or "Miles to Memories" in your favorite podcast app. Don't forget to check out our travel/miles/points podcast as well!

Want more MTM Vegas? Check out our Patreon for access to our exclusive weekly aftershow! patreon.com/mtmvegas Episode Description: As a reminder you can watch this show as well at: http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories This week Circus Circus owner and longtime Vegas casino owner Phil Ruffin announced that he is looking to sell the aging property. He also wants to buy another Vegas casino, but will he be able to get someone to pay him $5 billion for Circus Circus? And what does it mean for the north end of the Strip? In other news the nasty Virgin Hotels culinary union strike has now officially ended. We also discuss MGM Grand's massive room renovations, Gordon Ramsay coming to Vegas, an insane Sphere drone show, more news on BLVD, Sahara's cool entrance conversion, a free observation deck coming to the Strip and the expansion of Vegas Loop. 0:00 Gordon Ramsay actually shows his face in Vegas 0:45 Virgin strike is over 2:40 World of Concrete's insane Sphere drone show 3:47 College Football National Championship coming in 2027 5:21 Vegas Loop opens its newest station 7:03 Sahara's cool entrance conversion 8:16 Very sad Mirage drone shot 9:36 BLVD new tenants & free Strip observation space 11:05 MGM Grand announces massive room renovations 12:30 MGM is adding 111 suites to their main tower 13:53 Circus Circus is for sale for an insane price 15:03 How Phil Ruffin has parlayed Vegas land plays into big wealth 16:44 Is the North Strip revolution really a thing? Each week tens of thousands of people tune into our MtM Vegas news shows at http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories. We do two news shows weekly on YouTube with this being the audio version. Never miss out on the latest happenings in and around Las Vegas! Enjoying the podcast? Please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! You can also connect with us anytime at podcast@milestomemories.com.  You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or by searching "MtM Vegas" or "Miles to Memories" in your favorite podcast app. Don't forget to check out our travel/miles/points podcast as well!

This week in extremely Vegas news: The country's biggest adult entertainment convention, AVN's Adult Entertainment Expo, kicked off at Virgin Hotels while the Culinary Union continued its strike at the property. As a growing number of adult entertainers vowed to boycott the convention and the awards ceremony (considered the “Oscars of porn”), Culinary announced that they had at last reached a deal with Virgin this Wednesday. So how much of a role did the AEE play in helping the strike come to a close? Today, co-hosts Sarah Lohman and Dayvid Figler, along with journalist Michael MJ Lyle, discuss the 69-day strike, plus: how deportation rhetoric is heating up in Nevada, and some messy accusations of infidelity coming out of the Henderson City Council. We're doing a survey to learn more about our listeners. We'd be grateful if you took the survey at citycast.fm/survey—it's only 7 minutes long. You'll be doing us a big favor. Plus, anyone who takes the survey will be eligible to win a $250 Visa gift card–and City Cast City swag. Learn more about the sponsors of this January 24th episode: Black Mountain Institute Want to get in touch? Follow us @CityCastVegas on Instagram, or email us at lasvegas@citycast.fm. You can also call or text us at 702-514-0719. For more Las Vegas news, make sure to sign up for our morning newsletter, Hey Las Vegas. Looking to advertise on City Cast Las Vegas? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads at citycast.fm/advertise. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A landlord spends more than $100M for two Las Vegas properties, Virgin Hotels reach a deal with Culinary Local 226 ending a nearly 10 week strike, Raiders hire John Spytek as their new General Manager and more on 7@7.

Brandon Zech and Gabriel Martinez discuss memorable art events, exhibitions, and changes in the Texas art scene from 2024. "When budgets need to be cut the arts are always seen as expendable and even though the money that's funding the arts both locally in different cities across Texas and nationally through the National Endowment for the Arts is pennies compared to the overall budget, to the public it sounds like a lot." See related readings here: https://glasstire.com/2024/12/29/art-dirt-looking-back-at-2024/ This week's podcast is sponsored in part by Prospect New Orleans and the closing weekend of Prospect.6:The Future Is Present, The Harbinger Is Home, which is taking place January 30 through February 2, 2025. Programming and events include the U.S. debut of On Flashing Lights, a light and sound installation by Brendan Fernandes; musical activations by Deborah Jack and the Diaphanous Ensemble; and Stephanie Syjuco's exploration of St. Malo, the first Filipino settlement in the U.S. Also, New Orleans-based artist Christian Việt Ðinh will present Reverence to the Refugee, a royal banquet honoring New Orleans East community leaders, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Fall of Saigon, and celebrating resilience in the Vietnamese community. Visitors can stay at hotels throughout the city like The Virgin Hotel, New Orleans for special rates through the closing. For more information visit www.prospect6.org/visit.

Rani says the hospitality industry needs disruption. He describes CitizenM's efficient use of space, a community-driven environment, and integration of technology with a human touch.Welcome to Elevating Brick and Mortar. A podcast about how operations and facilities drive brand performance.On today's episode, we talk with Rani Gharbie, Managing Director of Investment & Development at CitizenM Hotels. CitizenM is a fully integrated owner-operator hotel brand, with over 30 hotels in 18 cities.Guest Bio:Rani currently oversees investment and development in the Americas at citizenM, an asset heavy owner-operator hotel group backed by GIC, APG and KRC. Before joining citizenM, he founded New York-based real estate investment firm Cedar Funds and held senior roles with major hotel groups globally such as Virgin Hotels, IHG, Hyatt and BD / Pod Hotels. Rani also teaches “Private Equity Hotel Development” at his Alma Mater, Columbia University's real estate development Master program. He has lived on three continents and speaks three languages. He's an avid traveler, runner, cyclist and swimmer. Guest Quote:We're able to build a really, really efficient product. An efficient product that delivers exceptional return per square foot. And that's why we stand behind the real estate of our brand. Timestamps:00:20 - About CitizenM01:27 - Rani's Role06:39 - Developing a brand promise10:44 - Building the ideal consumer relationship23:01 - Keeping the loop closed27:46 - What did COVID change?37:08 - Future thinking44:28 - Where to find RaniSponsor:ServiceChannel brings you peace of mind through peak facilities performance.Rest easy knowing your locations are:Offering the best possible guest experienceLiving up to brand standardsOperating with minimal downtimeServiceChannel partners with more than 500 leading brands globally to provide visibility across operations, the flexibility to grow and adapt to consumer expectations, and accelerated performance from their asset fleet and service providers.Links:Connect with Rani on LinkedInConnect with Sid Shetty on LinkedinCheck out the ServiceChannel Website

Episode Description: As a reminder you can watch this show as well at: http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories This week Las Vegas is rolling towards the second Formula 1 GP with some mixed news. As the streets are now fully converted for the race, some tourists are complaining about blocked views and a diminished experience. Will 2024's race be a success and how is demand going into race week? In other news the holidays have arrived in Vegas with Bellagio's holiday display and more. We also discuss the perfect Vegas meme, the Strip in 1988 vs. 2024, insane UNLV football suite prices, the Virgin Hotels strike, Caesars' new speakeasy and flashmobbing Elvis style! Episode Guide: 0:00 The perfect Vegas meme 0:37 Elvis flash mob at Westgate Las Vegas 1:30 Las Vegas GP soft ticket sales & lower hotel prices 3:20 F1 lessons learned & terrible pedestrian bridge blockage 5:43 Virgin Las Vegas culinary union strike 7:20 Is now a great time to gamble at Virgin? 9:07 Bellagio's holiday display is here 10:47 Cleopatra's Barge replacement opening date 12:42 Fallout Celebration at Pioneer Saloon outside Vegas 14:45 Insane UNLV football suite food prices! 17:13 Las Vegas in 1988 vs. 2024 video 19:05 Which is better Vegas in 1988 or Vegas today? About the Show: Each week tens of thousands of people tune into our MtM Vegas news shows at http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories. We do two news shows weekly on YouTube with this being the audio version. Never miss out on the latest happenings in and around Las Vegas! Enjoying the podcast? Please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! You can also connect with us anytime at podcast@milestomemories.com.  You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or by searching "MtM Vegas" or "Miles to Memories" in your favorite podcast app. Don't forget to check out our travel/miles/points podcast as well!

On today's Friday News Roundup, host Marie Cecile Anderson and executive producer Whitney Pastorek are joined by Nashville Banner Metro reporter Stephen Elliott. He's catching us up on the happenings at Metro Council — where recent focus has been on MNPD funding — and giving us a preview of next week's meeting, where they'll be considering the reinstatement of a contract for the surveillance tech company FUSUS. We're also flabbergasted at the prices for Personal Seat Licenses in the new Titans stadium, and excited about the Mariah Carey Christmas pop-up bar that opens at the Virgin Hotel tonight. And stick around after the roundup for our Don't Go Gently tip for the weekend, presented by Tecovas. The Frist Arts Fest is happening this Sunday from 1 to 5:30pm! Head downtown to enjoy a day of art-making, music, and more. They'll have glass-blowing demonstrations, a scavenger hunt, lawn games, and performances from the Sunrise Latin Band and Nashville TIE-ko. You can even make your own koi fish windsock. It's $15 for adults, but kids get in free, and be sure to check out the museum's great exhibitions while you're there. Don't go gently, go in Tecovas! Want some more City Cast Nashville news? Then make sure to sign up for our Hey Nashville newsletter.  Follow us @citycastnashville You can also text us or leave a voicemail at: 615-200-6392⁩ Interested in advertising with City Cast? Find more info HERE.

Callum McPherson reveals how AI is ushering in the next generation of hotel guidebooks, providing tailored and localized experiences. Callum is the founder and CEO of Obvlo, an AI platform used by hotel and travel brands like Virgin Hotels to produce, maintain and personalize local area content for any destination on Earth. An avid traveller, following university Callum spent 4 months driving overland from Scotland to South Africa before crewing a yacht across the Atlantic. This passion took him into hotels, initially working as the night manager for what was at the time the 3rd highest-rated luxury hotel on TripAdvisor in Europe. The last decade has seen Callum following another passion into the technology world, first in fintech using bank data for credit risk and identity and now applying data to personalisation and travel. Travel is one of the last major sectors of the economy to be disrupted by data in the way that finance and banking has been.

It's the newest edition of our recap show as host T.J. Rives and insider Dan Rafael of his Fight Freaks Unite Substack are back to go over the action, Dan has a one on one interview with a rising star lightweight and we have some great nostalgia. It's al on the "Fight Freaks Unite Recap Podcast!"The guys recap the Top Rank/ESPN+ card from Saturday at Turning Stone in Verona, NY, as  O'Shaquie Foster regained his WBC 130 lb. title with a split decision over Robson Conceicao. This avenged Foster's controversial loss earlier this Summer. And, also rising lightweight star Raymond Muratalla demolishes Jesus Perez in just two rounds in the co-feature.Next is the Golden Boy/DAZN card from Saturday at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, where lightweight Floyd Schofield won but had problems late with veteran Rene Tellez Giron. And, Gabriela Fundora scored a TKO over Gabriela Celeste Alanizs, retaining the IBF, and winning the WBC/WBO/WBA women's flyweight world titles. Fundora has huge upside, obviously.Then, Dan talks with Keyshawn Davis who will have his first hometown fight in Norfolk, Virginia, and his first main event on Friday night's Top Rank ESPN+ card. They go over the Olympian's progress and goals.There's fight news on DAZN and Queensberry announcing Sunday they have joined forces in a deal that will put all of Queensberry's events exclusively on DAZN. And, Gustavo Olivieri, the longtime WBO attorney, was elected president of the sanctioning body on Thursday during its annual convention in Puerto Rico, replacing the retiring Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel, who led the WBO for 30 years.Finally, there's nostalgia for Nov. 3, 2001 – 23 years ago – as future hall of famer Kostya Tszyu scored a wild KO in the 2nd over Zab Judah to become undisputed junior welterweight champion.30 years ago on Tuesday – George Foreman's historic 10th round KO Michael Moorer to regain the heavyweight title in one of the most memorable moments in heavyweight history. And, also, Sunday, November 3rd is the great Larry Holmes' 75th birthday. We reminisce on him, as well.It's all part of the "Fight Freaks Unite Recap Podcast" and make sure to follow/subscribe on Apple/Spreaker/Spotify, etc.

It's the newest edition of our recap show as host T.J. Rives and insider Dan Rafael of his Fight Freaks Unite Substack are back to go over the action, Dan has a one on one interview with a rising star lightweight and we haves some great nostalgia. It's al on the "Fight Freaks Unite Recap Podcast!"The guys recap the Top Rank/ESPN+ card from Saturday at Turning Stone in Verona, NY, as  O'Shaquie Foster regained his WBC 130 lb. title with a split decision over Robson Conceicao. This avenged Foster's controversial loss earlier this Summer. And, also rising lightweight star Raymond Muratalla demolishes Jesus Perez in just two rounds in the co-feature.Next is the Golden Boy/DAZN card from Saturday at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas, where lightweight Floyd Schofield won but had problems late with veteran Rene Tellez Giron. And, Gabriela Fundora scored a TKO over Gabriela Celeste Alanizs, retaining the IBF, and winning the WBC/WBO/WBA women's flyweight world titles. Fundora has huge upside, obviously.Then, Dan talks with Keyshawn Davis who will have his first hometown fight in Norfolk, Virginia, and his first main event on Friday night's Top Rank ESPN+ card. They go over the Olympian's progress and goals.There's fight news on DAZN and Queensberry announcing Sunday they have joined forces in a deal that will put all of Queensberry's events exclusively on DAZN. And, Gustavo Olivieri, the longtime WBO attorney, was elected president of the sanctioning body on Thursday during its annual convention in Puerto Rico, replacing the retiring Francisco “Paco” Valcarcel, who led the WBO for 30 years.Finally, there's nostalgia for Nov. 3, 2001 – 23 years ago – as future hall of famer Kostya Tszyu scored a wild KO in the 2nd over Zab Judah to become undisputed junior welterweight champion.30 years ago on Tuesday – George Foreman's historic 10th round KO Michael Moorer to regain the heavyweight title in one of the most memorable moments in heavyweight history. And, also, Sunday, November 3rd is the great Larry Holmes' 75th birthday. We reminisce on him, as well.It's all part of the "Fight Freaks Unite Recap Podcast" and make sure to follow/subscribe on Apple/Spreaker/Spotify, etc.

In the course of childhood, we have innumerable experiences. We spend a portion of our adult lives trying to recover from the ones that scar us. But there are also positive experiences. Joyful times and meaningful relationships stay with us. They come to define happiness. For Brittney Hawkins Dobard, one of her happy-place emotional touchstones was with her grandmother in her kitchen, baking cookies. As a kid, Brittney called her grandmother, “MoMo Gerald.” As an adult, Brittney was in car sales. When you're a car salesperson, your customer spends a bunch of time waiting around. To make the wait less painful, Brittney started bringing her customers homemade cookies. Like MoMo Gerald used to bake. In 2019, Brittney realized her cookies were so popular - and she enjoyed making them so much - that she quit selling cars and started up NOLA Cookie Co. Today NOLA Cookie Co cranks out up to 800 cookies a week. They sell them from their website, ship them across the country, and supply the Virgin Hotel with 300 cookies a month. Margie Tillman Ayres called her grandmother, “Granny.”  But she started out following her in grandfather's footsteps, as a jewelry designer. It was only when Margie was struggling and out of necessity took a job in the art department at Jazz Fest that she discovered how much she enjoyed recreating her childhood days with Granny, painting, making sculptures and puppets. In 2014 Margie made it official – she become an artist, muralist and illustrator, starting up her own company, Margie and The Moon. You'll see Margie's work all over New Orleans – from murals at places like the restaurant Mr. Mao and music venue The Broadside – to her scenic work in movies and TV shows that are shot here. You've probably also seen her commercial work as an illustrator and her graphic designs for companies as diverse as Pyrex and Trader Joe's. Margie's style is immediately recognizable. It's a unique whimsicality executed with realist perfection. Margie is currently committing this style to canvases as she moves away from illustration and toward selling her pieces as fine art. When you're a parent or grandparent, you know that your kids or grandkids are constantly observing you. And absorbing everything. At least until they're teenagers, when that totally flips. But when they're young kids you never know what seemingly inconsequential thing you say or do is going to stick with them and resonate through their lives. And maybe even form the basis of an entire career. Brittney and Margie's grandmothers, MoMo Gerald and Granny, might be  surprised at the influence they've had on their grandaughter's lives and careers, but they'd certainly be proud.  Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans. You can find photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at itsneworleans.com.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Description: As a reminder you can watch this show as well at: http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories This week Noche UFC took over the Vegas Sphere with incredible visuals and more as it was the first sports event held in the venue. While it wasn't without controversy, the event seemed like a success and the visuals were so good that you have to see them! In other news Caesars is moving in a new General Manager for three of their Vegas properties. We also discuss the beginning of F1 construction, the A's stadium meeting, Virgin's union struggles, USA Today's 10Best casinos, Rebel Football being nationally ranked, Aces killing it again and how you can save money on your next stay at Wynn Las Vegas. Episode Guide: 0:00 Forum Shops “creepy heads” 0:48 Bellagio removing trees, more construction for F1 beginning 2:28 Has F1 delivered on their shorter construction timeline? 3:09 New Amex Offer for Wynn Las Vegas 4:49 A's meet with contractors and provide update on stadium project 6:03 Keeping it real - Is this project actually going to happen? 7:12 USA Today's 10Best Casino Hotels in the world - Huge shocks 9:27 New GM for Horseshoe/Paris/Planet Hollywood 10:42 One General Manager for three Vegas megaproperties? 11:39 A look at Buffalo Bill's reopened buffet 13:42 Virgin Hotels still has Culinary Union drama 15:45 Las Vegas Aces' A'ja Wilson breaks WNBA scoring record 16:34 UNLV Rebels Football is nationally ranked! 18:22 Noche UFC quirks & complaints 19:48 The Noche UFC visuals were impressive 20:50 Will there be another UFC event at the Sphere? About the Show: Each week tens of thousands of people tune into our MtM Vegas news shows at http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories. We do two news shows weekly on YouTube with this being the audio version. Never miss out on the latest happenings in and around Las Vegas! Enjoying the podcast? Please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! You can also connect with us anytime at podcast@milestomemories.com.  You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or by searching "MtM Vegas" or "Miles to Memories" in your favorite podcast app. Don't forget to check out our travel/miles/points podcast as well!

The Virgin Red Rewards Mastercard is a new card that's coming out soon to replace the old Bank of America Virgin Atlantic Flying Club credit card. In this episode, we'll discuss more about this upcoming credit card. (00:10) - The Virgin Red Rewards Mastercard replaces the old Virgin Atlantic Flying Club credit card Learn more about the Virgin Red Rewards Mastercard here. (02:10) - Earning rate: 3X Virgin Atlantic, Virgin Hotels and Virgin Voyages ✦ 2X dining, at grocery stores, on select streaming services and for EV charging ✦ 1X everywhere else (03:03) - Virgin Red Rewards Mastercard Perks (05:46) - Is this card worth it? Visit frequentmiler.com/subscribe to get updated on in-depth points and miles content like this, and don't forget to like and follow us on social media. Music Credit – Beach Walk by Unicorn Heads

Charles Joly (website, Instagram) is a renowned mixologist, media personality, and innovative bartending entrepreneur. We met to discuss his latest collaborative venture The Riff Raff Club (website, Instagram) with Virgin Hotels.Do you know someone who might like this? Feel free to share it.Charles says if you want to see more pictures of his dog Jackson, follow him on Instagram. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit decodingcocktails.substack.com

Check out our new sister channel/show called 20 Minute Travel! - https://www.youtube.com/@20minutetravel You can also listen to 20 Minute Travel as a podcast: Spotify Apple Podcasts Episode Description: As a reminder you can watch this show as well at: http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories This week finally saw the closure of the Mirage Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas as it gets ready to transition into Hard Rock. The casino closed its doors, the volcano erupted for the last time and many were left with nostalgia for the first megaresort in Las Vegas. Another era has ended. In other news Shawn stayed at Virgin Hotels recently and discusses the rooms and why the property continues to grow on him. We also discuss Eataly's popup, EDM at the Sphere, a mystery at Palazzo, the latest on Vegas Loop, a better look at the new Four Queens rooms and where the Neon Museum is moving to. Episode Guide: 0:00 Mirage 1995 odds on Who Shot Mr. Burns 0:52 Mirage officially closes after 35 years 2:06 Steve Wynn's thoughts on Mirage 3:10 The evolution of the land where Mirage stood 4:19 Treasure Island is targeting Mirage guests with a new offer 5:09 Palazzo construction update - St. Regis Tower 6:05 Bally's gets a Chicago bailout 8:06 Will the Athletics stadium actually get built on the Trop site 9:34 Sphere announces EDM New Year's Eve show 11:00 More looks at renovated Four Queens rooms 12:45 Big Binion's change - All dealers keep their own tips 14:19 Eataly's new popup 14:53 Neon Museum is officially moving to the Arts District 17:18 Wynn & Westgate Vegas Loop update - No opening date? 18:24 Staying at Virgin Hotels Las Vegas 20:01 My biggest complaints about Virgin's rooms 21:38 Why Virgin Las Vegas has grown on us About the Show: Each week tens of thousands of people tune into our MtM Vegas news shows at http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories. We do two news shows weekly on YouTube with this being the audio version. Never miss out on the latest happenings in and around Las Vegas! Enjoying the podcast? Please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! You can also connect with us anytime at podcast@milestomemories.com.  You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or by searching "MtM Vegas" or "Miles to Memories" in your favorite podcast app. Don't forget to check out our travel/miles/points podcast as well!

https://www.kylejgilbert.com/ kyle@kylejgilbert.com https://www.instagram.com/_kylegilbert/ Meet Kyle, an accomplished and award-winning photographer whose work has garnered recognition in platforms such as the American Advertising Awards, Emmy Awards, and Popular Photography Magazine. With a wide range of experience spanning various industries, Kyle's true passion lies in storytelling alongside his trusted partners and collaborators. Kyle's passion for photography blossomed from his early days of documenting the vibrant skateboarding culture that surrounded him while growing up in San Diego. This experience served as a transformative foundation as he transitioned into becoming a skilled lifestyle and brand photographer. Today, Kyle is celebrated for his ability to consistently deliver high-quality content while maintaining a strong emphasis on versatility. His impressive portfolio boasts collaborations with esteemed brands such as Chosen Foods, Virgin Hotels, and National Geographic, showcasing his ability to bring a well-rounded perspective to every project. With an unwavering dedication to his craft, Kyle excels in crafting visually compelling and cohesive campaigns that leave a lasting impact.    

Check out our new sister channel/show called 20 Minute Travel! - https://www.youtube.com/@20minutetravel You can also listen to 20 Minute Travel as a podcast: Spotify Apple Podcasts Episode Description: As a reminder you can watch this show as well at: http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories This week Virgin Hotels took another move towards unifying the property under one leadership group. This time they took back management of the hotel from Hilton, but this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Will all of these changes including the ouster of Mohegan Sun mean a brighter future for this property? In other news the Sphere announced their next act and it is a big one. We also update you on Mirage and Tropicana demolition and discuss a new speakeasy magic show, Tuscany's great free play offer, a crazy $1.2 billion sports complex, ice bars, rats and Strat's insane failed coaster project that we all wish would have been built. Episode Guide: 0:00 Strat's crazy failed coaster project 1:41 Apparently there are a lot of rats in Vegas 2:39 Tuscany's very good free play offer 4:28 Ri Ra's viral video - Marrying out their employees? 6:10 1923 Prohibition Bar's new speakeasy magic show 6:51 Have ice bars jumped the shark in Vegas? 8:13 Laughlin's brand new bridge is now open 9:59 Hilton out at Virgin….sort of 12:36 Update on demolition at Mirage - Goodbye Secret Garden 14:31 Tropicana demolition update - Huge progress 16:25 Z Athlete Village announced - $1.2 billion sports complex for Vegas 18:32 Eagles at the Sphere - New act announced! About the Show: Each week tens of thousands of people tune into our MtM Vegas news shows at http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories. We do two news shows weekly on YouTube with this being the audio version. Never miss out on the latest happenings in and around Las Vegas! Enjoying the podcast? Please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! You can also connect with us anytime at podcast@milestomemories.com.  You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or by searching "MtM Vegas" or "Miles to Memories" in your favorite podcast app. Don't forget to check out our travel/miles/points podcast as well!

In this explosive episode of Wise Kracks, Bill and Jon delve into the high-stakes world of professional sports betting and the precarious day-to-day that comes with it. They explore how losing just a few hours in the morning can drastically affect a bettor's profit margin due to the shifting dynamics of closing line values. The discussion also turns to the Las Vegas casino landscape, praising those that play fair while condemning those that unjustly target advantage gamblers, treating them as if they've broken the law. Moreover, Jon boasts about the substantial closing value of his MLB future bets, and the conversation shifts to a lighter note with talks about their favorite spots, including the Virgin Hotel and top dining experiences in Vegas. This episode is a must-listen for anyone involved in or interested in the complexities and ethical dilemmas faced by professional gamblers today. 04:45 Luck in Betting06:00 Life of a Pro Sports Bettor13:00 Casino 23:00 Cash Businesses26:00 Advantage Slots29:00 MLB Futures32:00 Virgin Hotel33:30 Food --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/action-junkeez/support

Maggie is sitting at the kitchen table solo this week for this new episode of Metaphysical AF. You may have noticed a few things: new artworknew namesame directionThis week we are talking about:Getting married, going on my honeymoonWhat I ate and where I won't eat againParanormal experiences I had while thereHaunted history tour with ThornThe live music I saw at Jazz Fest including The Rolling Stones, Lettuce, and New Orleans legendsThe upcoming festivals I'll be at including Lightning in a BottleWhy you want to be on Jam CruiseMy second release of my book debuting at #1Planning a super secret celebration party at a 21+ locationGetting a million on TikTok, all of this and what's next for the show & more!**Haunted History tour section addresses themes not suitable for childrenCall, leave a message, and tell us if you have a  story about when you didn't listen to your intuition and what happened (310) 800-1857‬Check out my latest book debuted at No. 1 on Amazon's BEST SELLER Metaphysical AF Book Club ApplicationFor more information on Maggie find her at www.beacons.ai/maggiedorskyElle named my Metaphysical Cannabis Oracle Deck one of the Top 10 Best Oracle DecksCheck out our friends that keep us on task and productive AF & get  10% off Intelligent Change with code Maggie10Listen to the Course Mastery Episode to get started and grab your FREE Masterclass + WorksheetGrab the Sound Healing Guide and increase your productivity with daily prompts and action steps with matching Chakras and  frequency.Produced by: Maggie Dorksy Audio Mix: Maggie Dorsky Links Mentioned in Show:Virgin Hotel Haunted History Tour Jam Cruise Public Sale Tacos Para La Vida International House Hotel Limited Edition Signed Copies of My #1 Book  Grab the Collector's Edition Hardcover of Metaphysical AF: Harness Your Dreams in the Ethereal Realm while supplies last

700 culinary workers go on strike at Virgin Hotels, WeWork is staying in Las Vegas despite filing for bankruptcy, power outages in North Las Vegas being blamed on balloons and more on 7@7.

Check out our new sister channel/show called 20 Minute Travel! - https://www.youtube.com/@20minutetravel The fun side of miles, points & travel hosted by Shawn & Mark! If you're interested please watch the first episode and subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWSfPUms7A0&t=3s You can also listen to 20 Minute Travel as a podcast: Spotify Apple Podcasts Episode Description: As a reminder you can watch this show as well at: http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories This week Virgin Hotels Las Vegas dominated the news when the Culinary Union announced a weekend strike that began this morning. At the same time we learned the casino operator since opening Mohegan Sun will be leaving the property by the end of the year. Virgin Hotels will move to a unified operation model bringing the casino in-house. Is this exactly what the struggling property needs? In other news we now probably know who will be the next big act in the Sphere as the venue gets ready to host the NHL Draft. We also learned that Wrestlemania is coming to town and Fontainebleau scored a big musical name as well. We also discuss negative comments about Caesars, a crazy million dollar reward, an epic disaster at Circus Circus that has garnered international attention and how the crane atop the stalled Venetian tower has come to life. Episode Guide: 0:00 All of the boats in Lake Mead 0:54 Circus Circus international coverage - Epic disaster? 2:54 The next big Sphere act announced…sort of 4:26 NHL Draft at Sphere tickets on sale now 5:24 Mirage sign damaged or being torn out? 6:06 Venetian's stalled St. Regis Tower sees some crane activity! 7:25 Introducing 20 Minute Travel - our new sister show 8:15 Pinkbox expands to Boulder City & Pahrump 8:57 Wrestlemania coming to Las Vegas in 2025 10:21 Keith Urban's unresidency at Fontainebleau 11:10 Negative sentiments about Caesars 11:50 Million dollar reward offered in gambler drugging case 13:29 Scott Sibella sentenced in casino financial crimes case 15:00 Culinary Union striking at Virgin Hotels 16:16 Mohegan Sun out - Big breakup at Virgin 17:20 How can Virgin improve the casino experience under unified operations? About the Show: Each week tens of thousands of people tune into our MtM Vegas news shows at http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories. We do two news shows weekly on YouTube with this being the audio version. Never miss out on the latest happenings in and around Las Vegas! Enjoying the podcast? Please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! You can also connect with us anytime at podcast@milestomemories.com.  You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or by searching "MtM Vegas" or "Miles to Memories" in your favorite podcast app. Don't forget to check out our travel/miles/points podcast as well!

Send us a Text Message.Sean has a gripe about kids on the strip after dark! We want to know your thoughts. Plus, we get our first podcast text message! There's a new beach club to go to Virgin Hotels. Sean rides the Boulder Rail Bikes and tells us what it is like. Mentalist, Colin Cloud is heading down the strip to debut his first solo show. Financial Analyst, Steve Budin has a summer outlook for us. We chat with him about why Las Vegas isn't slowing down and what we can expect this summer. Need an attorney? Call LevelUp Law at 855-LevelUp or visit  LevelUpLaw.comVegasNearMe App If it's fun to do or see, it's on VegasNearMe. The only app you'll need to navigate Las Vegas. It's FREE!Support the Show.Follow us on Instagram: @vegas.revealedFollow us on Twitter: @vegasrevealedFollow us on TikTok: @vegas.revealedWebsite: Vegas-Revealed.com

Here we are with Rachel Rose. Connecticut-born, Austin-launched, and Brooklyn-based indie folk/rock singer/songwriter Rachel Rose, known for her rich, nostalgic sound blending soul, folk, rock, and pop. Her debut EP "100/10/1" dropped in 2020, followed by the second EP "And One More Thing," produced by Charles Myers. Collaborations with industry heavyweights like John Alagia and Tyler Chester underscore her rising prominence. With sold-out shows at Rockwood Music Hall and Babys All Right, Rachel's career soared when she opened the Hootenanny Sessions at Cafe Wha? post a 50-year hiatus. A recent 3-month residency at The Bitter End and a slot as a featured artist at SXSW 2024 cement her status. She's shared stages with Juliet Ivy, Theo Kandel, and more, even gracing The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Her original track "Back To The Beginning" made waves, landing in NPR Tiny Desk's Top Shelf Segment. Rachel's brand partnerships, including AEA Microphones and Virgin Hotels, showcase her versatility, while her performance of the national anthem at a Rangers MSG game underscored her impact beyond music. We will get to hear about one of the biggest risks--quitting her full-time job to pursue a full-time career in music. She will be performing at the Brooklyn Bowl on May 9th.

In this episode, Sarah Dandashy & Steve Turk delve into the travel industry's strides toward inclusivity and change, highlighting Virgin Hotels' initiative with Autism Double-Checked for neurodiverse traveler accessibility, the upcoming transformation of Miami's Shore Club by Auberge Resorts, and the closure of Las Vegas' Tropicana for a new baseball stadium. They also cover the TSA PreCheck expansion and United Airlines' launch of a digital tool for wheelchair accommodation, showcasing efforts to improve travel experiences for all. The discussion reflects on the importance of industry collaboration for continued success and progress in making travel more accessible and efficient. — Good Morning Hospitality is part of the Hospitality.FM podcast network and a Hospitality.FM Original. If you like this podcast, then you'll also love Behind The Stays with Zach Busekrus, which comes out every Tuesday & Friday, wherever you get your podcasts! This show is structured to cover industry news in travel and hospitality and is recorded live every Monday morning at 7 a.m. PST/10 a.m. EST. So make sure you tune in during our live show on our social media channels or YouTube and join the conversation live! Thank you to all of the Hospitality.FM Partners who help make this show possible. If you have any press you want covered during the show, fill out this form! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All you need to know in order to traverse AI implementation, including who is responsible for the implementation of AI technology within an organization, how to determine which AI technologies to implement and where, how to "sell" AI within an organization and as a B2B solution and the importance of tracking KPIs and iteration for future road mapping. David Chestler - President, ProVision Partners International [Linkedin Link] David Chestler is recognized as an icon of the global hospitality and travel industry, having forged a successful career in hotel technology that spans over three decades. He currently serves as President of ProVision Partners International, Inc, a hotel and travel consultancy and marketing firm that he co-founded in 2019. Since beginning his career in hospitality in 1989 with Utell International, Chestler has held leadership roles with some of the industry's most prominent organizations, where he consistently delivered global scale and growth by developing high performance teams focused on complex technology solutions. Sally Kelly - SVP Advisory Services, ProVision Partners International [Linkedin Link] Sally has 15 years of experience and expertise in the development and execution of strategic communications, consulting, product development and deployment for the hospitality and travel industry. Prior to joining ProVision Partners, she held a leadership role at KPMG, and spent six years working with the Amadeus IT Group. She also served in a strategy and consulting role for Accenture, a global professional services company, before opening her own consulting firm in 2020. Martin Chevalley - CEO & Co-founder, InnSpire [Linkedin Link] Martin Chevalley serves as CEO of InnSpire – the Digital Guest Journey, a global hotel technology company he co-founded in 2012 that is dedicated to developing and delivering hospitality-specific technology systems and integrated solutions for streamlining the guest journey and creating maximum efficiency for hotel operations. With a comprehensive suite of intelligent solutions, InnSpire helps hotels around the world to sell more, entertain better, analyze data and optimize results, with a prestigious clientele that includes such brands as Hilton Grand Vacations, Virgin Hotels, LVMH Cheval Blanc, LUX Hotels and many others. In addition to his role at InnSpire, Chevalley is a global business catalyst with over 10 years of experience in successfully conceptualizing, launching and commercializing electronics and software-oriented brands, products and companies in multiple business sectors worldwide. He holds a Master's in Business Administration from Stockholm University‘s School of Business, as well as Harvard University. Jorge Hernandez - Principal ML Research Engineer @ Encora [Linkedin Link] Jorge Hernandez is a Principal ML Research Engineer at Encora with over 23 years of experience in software. He has led cross functional, distributed teams as both Tech Lead and CTO to deliver solutions in projects for millions of users across local and federal governments, academia and industry. As an ML Research Engineer, he led clients' machine learning teams in delivering SOTA results in data and text extraction from scanned documents, using a novel machine learning algorithm developed in-house, which allows Low Shot and Zero Shot training without sacrificing accuracy or recall, as well as facilitating transparency in the trained models. Jorge's research interests include Deep Learning, Quantum Computing, Quantum Machine Learning and Fair, Safe and Transparent AI, as well as the applications of both standard and Quantum Machine Learning to Genomics, Proteomics, Synthetic Biology and Materials Science. His other interests include classical music, neuroscience, philosophy of science, physics and role-playing games. Jorge majored in Computer Science at the Faculty of Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

In this episode, guest Diane Osgood, discusses the topic of business sustainability and its importance. She defines business sustainability as the impact a company has on the environment and society through its modes of production and the impact of the products it makes. She also highlights the importance of managing the risks of climate and environmental impact on the company, its employees, and its customers. Diane emphasises the role of internal communication in helping employees understand the company's sustainability goals and progress, facilitating dialogue and action, and bridging generational perspectives. She recommends that internal communicators focus on educating employees about the company's sustainability challenges and progress.   Takeaways Business sustainability encompasses the impact of a company's production processes and the nature of its products on the environment and society. Internal communication plays a crucial role in helping employees understand the company's sustainability goals, progress, and the broader context of sustainability. Effective internal communication can facilitate dialogue and action, bridge generational perspectives, and empower employees to contribute to sustainability efforts. Educating employees about sustainability challenges and progress is essential for creating a shared understanding and fostering a sense of purpose and responsibility.   About Diane Osgood  Diane Osgood, US/France, is a pioneer in corporate sustainability and human rights. She has over 30 years of helping companies innovate and grow with purpose.  She focuses on the power of consumers to influence brands and shape the economy. Diane served as a senior advisor to President Clinton for the Clinton Global Initiative and on the Vatican Arts and Technology Council.  Diane has run her boutique consulting business since 2019. Prior to that, she was a Director of Sustainability and Innovation for Richard Branson's Virgin Group and VP of Strategy at Business for Social Responsibility (BSR). Her consulting clients include Meta, Virgin Hotels, Addison/Sia-Partners, Avnet, Waters, Pega Systems, DuPont, Monsanto, P&G, Aventis Pharma, and social enterprises. She was a senior advisor to President Clinton for the Clinton Global Initiative and served on the Vatican Arts and Technology Council. She earned her Ph.D. in Environmental Economics and Development Studies at the London School of Economics. She's a co-author and co-editor of the award-winning The Carbon Almanac (Penguin, 2022) and of the forthcoming Your Shopping Superpower. She contributes to Fast Company and GreenBiz.

Co-founder and CEO of Tailgreeter, Nick Akrap joins Dane Neal on WGN Radio. Hear as Nick shares the work behind the tailgate takeover happening all over Las Vegas. Nick fills us in on signature events happening across the city and the huge all-day tailgate and watch party taking place on Sunday at the Virgin Hotel. […]

After the worthwhile process of empathizing, defining the problem, ideating, and prototyping it's time to implement your AI solution. Should you build or buy? What implementation challenges can you expect and how can you overcome them? What are some real-world examples of AI implementation in the hospitality industry? David Chestler - President, ProVision Partners International [Linkedin Link] David Chestler is recognized as an icon of the global hospitality and travel industry, having forged a successful career in hotel technology that spans over three decades. He currently serves as President of ProVision Partners International, Inc, a hotel and travel consultancy and marketing firm that he co-founded in 2019. Since beginning his career in hospitality in 1989 with Utell International, Chestler has held leadership roles with some of the industry's most prominent organizations, where he consistently delivered global scale and growth by developing high performance teams focused on complex technology solutions. Martin Chevalley - CEO & Co-founder, InnSpire [Linkedin Link] Martin Chevalley serves as CEO of InnSpire – the Digital Guest Journey, a global hotel technology company he co-founded in 2012 that is dedicated to developing and delivering hospitality-specific technology systems and integrated solutions for streamlining the guest journey and creating maximum efficiency for hotel operations. With a comprehensive suite of intelligent solutions, InnSpire helps hotels around the world to sell more, entertain better, analyze data and optimize results, with a prestigious clientele that includes such brands as Hilton Grand Vacations, Virgin Hotels, LVMH Cheval Blanc, LUX Hotels and many others. In addition to his role at InnSpire, Chevalley is a global business catalyst with over 10 years of experience in successfully conceptualizing, launching and commercializing electronics and software-oriented brands, products and companies in multiple business sectors worldwide. He holds a Master's in Business Administration from Stockholm University‘s School of Business, as well as Harvard University.

Join our Patreon for the exclusive MtM Vegas Aftershow! More info at: https://www.patreon.com/MtMVegas Episode Description: As a reminder you can watch this show as well at: http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories This week we learned about an even bigger executive shakeup at Fontainebleau as chatter continues to spread about the property's struggles since opening. What will they have to do to turn things around and could a tier match be in the new casino's future? In other news the Rio Food Hall is coming closer and closer to opening. The first major interior project of the new owners, this will show us the direction the property will take in the next few years. We also discuss the Maloofs selling, what will happen at the Fiesta Henderson site, Ole Red's opening and how Ellis Island continues to have some of the best food deals near the Las Vegas Strip. About the Show Each week tens of thousands of people tune into our MtM Vegas news shows at http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories. We do two news shows weekly on YouTube with the audio being combined into this podcast. Never miss out on the latest happenings in and around Las Vegas! Enjoying the podcast? Please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! You can also connect with us anytime at podcast@milestomemories.com.  You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or by searching "MtM Vegas" or "Miles to Memories" in your favorite podcast app. Don't forget to check out our travel/miles/points podcast as well!

Join our Patreon for the exclusive MtM Vegas Aftershow! More info at: https://www.patreon.com/MtMVegas Episode Description: As a reminder you can watch this show as well at: http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories Virgin Hotels and the Mohegan Sun casino have been open for a few years now, but the property has seemingly been struggling since the beginning. Mohegan Sun just released earnings numbers for the casino and with gaming revenues hitting a new floor, what can they do to save this property from devastation? In other news the NFL has released details of their takeover for the Superbowl. Are they ruining Las Vegas again? We also discuss I-11's expansion through Las Vegas, Christmas time in Sin City, MGM delaying Cosmo again while raising parking fees and how casinos just seem to be getting louder and louder. About the Show Each week tens of thousands of people tune into our MtM Vegas news shows at http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories. We do two news shows weekly on YouTube with the audio being combined into this podcast. Never miss out on the latest happenings in and around Las Vegas! Enjoying the podcast? Please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! You can also connect with us anytime at podcast@milestomemories.com.  You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or by searching "MtM Vegas" or "Miles to Memories" in your favorite podcast app. Don't forget to check out our travel/miles/points podcast as well!

It is Hump Day on The Rickey Smiley Morning Show Podcast. In this episode of RSMS, the crew speaks about Wu-Tang Clan announcing their Las Vegas residency for next year. Wu-Tang Clan, The Saga Continues will premiere at the theater of Virgin Hotels on Super Bowl weekend. It will also continue in the following weeks. Also, Gary talks about Eddie Murphy and Mel B's daughter having issues at home. She has sent a video online where she threatened to do harm at her school in England. They identify as a female to male child and refer to themselves as he. The child did not have a great relationship with her father like her other siblings due to questioning the paternity. Gary also speaks about Megan Thee Stallion's ex-boyfriend, rapper and writer Pardison Fontaine. He said that he did not physically cheat on Megan but he did send text messages that could be considered cheating. All of this and more on The Rickey Smiley Morning Show Podcast.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week's Eye on Travel Podcast with Peter Greenberg -- from The Virgin Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Peter dives deep into the airlines with Gary Leff - Founder of ViewFromtheWing.com - on diminishing customer service. Then, Professor Ganesh Sitaraman stops by to discuss his new perfectly timed book - Why Flying is Miserable: And How to Fix it.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

This week's Eye on Travel Podcast with Peter Greenberg -- from The Virgin Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Peter dives deep into the airlines with Gary Leff - Founder of ViewFromtheWing.com - on diminishing customer service. Then, Professor Ganesh Sitaraman stops by to discuss his new perfectly timed book - Why Flying is Miserable: And How to Fix it.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Human-Animal Bond. We've all seen it, even if we haven't realized it yet. Look around you, and in the course of a given day, I would bet that it's impossible not to see evidence of it somewhere. It's there in the gentle nudge of a dog waiting patiently for its owner outside a store, in the contented purr of a cat curled up on a sunny windowsill, and in the quiet companionship of a horse and rider silhouetted against the setting sun. It's power is felt in the shared happiness both that both dogs and pet owners derive from going on walks, or hikes, or ski adventures together. This bond transcends the simple acts of care and companionship; it's a profound connection that speaks to something deep within us all. It's a shared look of understanding, a comfort that needs no words, a mutual respect that grows over time. The human-animal bond is a testament to the empathy and kinship we are capable of, a reminder of our intrinsic need to connect with living beings, to give and receive affection, and to find joy in the presence of creatures different from ourselves. Describing the Human-Animal Bond in words is difficult, and that is why visual storytelling in Pet Care Marketing is so important. On the latest episode of Petworking, I was fortunate enough to host Mindy Dutka, Founder & Chief Storyteller at DogsIMeet.com. Mindy specializes in pet photography, especially dogs, and she estimates that she photographs thousands of dogs each year. Mindy and I talked about her work, and the emotional resonance that visuals can create. This can be leveraged by both animal advocacy organizations, e.g., shelters, pet brands, and other non-pet-related brands that recognize the power of the Human-Animal Bond, and incorporate it in their advertising. Mindy estimates that 50-60% of her work is brand-focused, 20-25% pro bono work for shelters, and 15-20% private photo shoots. However, Mindy likes to say that bridges the gap between professional dog photography and advocacy, and she is very adept at finding ways to incorporate adoption awareness in her work for brands. Mindy discussed how she leverages her photography as a medium to bring awareness to shelter dogs, and cited a specific example of a brand shoot she had done for a collaboration between Shameless Pets and Virgin Hotels. Virgin has pet-friendly rooms, and had partnered with Shameless Pets to provide a package of treats for all guests that checked in with a dog. However, instead of using of dog models for the shoot, Mindy suggested finding long-term shelter dogs and using them as the models. This initiative not only provided the dogs with much-needed exposure, but also played a role in their eventual adoption, showcasing the power of photography in advocacy. Because of visual storytelling's relevance to all aspects of the Pet Care ecosystem, Mindy and I had quite the far reaching conversation. Tune in to the full episode to hear us discuss: The mental and physical health benefits that both pets and pet parents derive from the Human-Animal Bond Use of the Human-Animal Bond in marketing by brands such as Subaru and Hyundai, and how non-pet-related brands leverage the human-animal bond to drive engagement and sales Senior dog adoptions, Mindy's work with shelters, and how pet brands are working with shelters to acquire new customers, while simultaneously supporting adoption Black Dog Syndrome - did you know that it's harder for black dogs to get adopted from shelters because they don't photograph well? Mindy's work with private clients, and her most memorable private photoshoot Bringing KONG Company cat toys to a shelter in Playa del Carmen, Mexico Enjoy the episode, and please share your thoughts in the comments!

World title fights and a former world champ joins us to talk about his return to the ring soon after a brief "retirement" on the newest "Big Fight Weekend Preview" Podcast.Host T.J. Rives is back with insider Dan Rafael of his Fight Freaks Unite substack and BigFightWeekend.com to cover it all from: The Matchroom DAZN card Saturday, 3 pm ET in Monte Carlo , as Joe Cordina meets Edward Vazquez, for Cordina's IBF junior lightweight title. Plus: Sivenathi Nontshinga battles Adrian Curiel, for Nontshinga's IBF junior flyweight title. The boys discuss both.Later Saturday evening U.S. Time it's the Top Rank ESPN card Saturday, 11 pm ET in Reno, NV, as heavyweight contendter Efe Ajagba takes on Australian Joe Goodall in the main event and lightweight rising prospect Raymond Muratalla is in action as well. Dan gives his thoughts on the bouts and the futures for Ajagba and MuratailaThere's also a WBC vacant crusierweight title bout in Miami with Noel Mikaelian meeting former champ Ilunga "Junior" Makabu, for vacant WBC cruiserweight title to go over.Then, T.J. talks with former world champ Jamel Herring one on one, as he returns to the ring after a year and a half to resume his career at 38 years of age. Why and why now for Herring, who's been doing some succesful commentary work for Top Rank/ESPN international broadcasts, as well? Next, is fight news for the Benavidez-Andrade Showtime PPV undercard announced, including Jermall Charlo's return for non-title bout and also, Dan has more on the final Showtime card apparently for December 16th in Minneapolis headlined by David Morrell.And, Golden Boy confirms the return of unbeaten Vergil Ortiz Jr., moving up to junior middleweight to fight Fredrick Lawson Jan. 6 on DAZN at Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas,There's some Nostalgia from 10 years ago on GGG scoring a devastating KO against Curtis Stevens at MSG Theater and terrible situation of Mike Perez's 10-round decision win over Magomed Abdusalamov, who suffered a life-altering brain injury. Dan was ringside.And 4 years ago on Thursday – Canelo Alvarez drilled Sergey Kovalev in round 12 to win the WBO light heavyweight title and win a title in a fourth division. Dan was also there in Vegas.Hear it all on the "Big Fight Weekend Preview Podcast" and make sure to follow/subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spreaker, Spofity, Google, etc.!!

In the heart of the Lone Star State, Dallas, one of its major cities, is a vibrant blend of rich Texas history and modern charm. From the iconic skyline to the rich cultural culinary scene, Dallas promises an unforgettable adventure for every traveler.We ended our Dallas trip in big ole Dallas. We kicked off Sunday with an outstanding church service at Park Cities PCPC church in downtown Dallas, then changed in the car (yes, we did that) and sped over to our JFK Assassination and Museum Tour. We met at the JKF memorial, which was ugly, isolating, and empty. A solitary place for thinking and apparently singing, this spot was supposed to be ugly, a prominent reminder of the tragedy that occurred on November 22, 1963. We booked this trip through TripAdvisor, and we were taken on a full walking and driving tour around the city. Our fantastic tour guide gave us the history and background of Lee Harvey Oswald, a tour of JFK's exact assignations spots, and the conspiracy (or truth) behind the horrific events. We even explored the Lee Harvey Oswald Rooming House, where Lee resided. The tour was terrific and quite informative; however, make sure you get to the Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza on time! We arrived 5 minutes late to our scheduled time, and the grumpy employees would not let us in! Apparently, it was the first time this had occurred. The tour started at 1:40 p.m. and lasted about 4 hours. Mid-tour, our guide took us to the Dallas Farmers Market, where I had the best brisket I have ever had at Beyond the Butchers Homestead Grille. If you don't like BBQ, the market had everything from sushi to Jamaican food and cute boutiques and shops. Here, I discovered the best-smelling soaps and lotions at Abundantly Aromatic and bought way too many of them!If you are a foodie looking for the best eats around town, try Hudson House. If you are more of a coffee person, try LaLa Land in lower Greenville, where you can order breakfast but focus on the excellent coffee. For an elegant French-inspired brunch spot, try Toulouse Cafe.Try these Tex Mex. spots for lunch or dinner: Mesero in Klyde Warren Park, Las Palmas and Gloria's in Uptown, Meso Maya in Downtown Dallas, Javier's, Casa Mama's, and Gloria's. The Velvet Taco is a great fast-food taco spot. My fave late-night downtown taquito spot was Uno Mas. They are open till 11:00 p.m. and are perfect for any late-night cravings! Their tacos and queso fundido were terrific, and our waitress was super cool and friendly. For the best Margarita in Dallas (called the Mambo Taxi), try Mi Cocina in Highland Park Village. For excellent rooftop drinks, try HG Supply Co. For a Casual New American kitchen & wine bar, try Sixty Vines. For the best pizza in Dallas, try Cane Rosso. For fresh seafood, try TJ's Seafood Market. Uchi has incredible sushi, and Bob's Steak & Chop House is an A+ steakhouse. The Honor Bar has shareable snacks and delectable sandwiches, and Pecan Lodge is a phenomenal BBQ joint. For a casual burger restaurant, try Rodeo Goat.Other unique spots for tasty lunch, dinner, and drinks are The Henry in Uptown, Dolce Rivera in Uptown, and Casablanca in the Bishop Arts District. If you are looking for other activities to do in Dallas, the Fort Worth Water Gardens are a different sight. The Dallas Arboretum is gorgeous in the Spring or Autumn. We also saw the Rocky Horror Show at the Majestic Theater. It was a bit crazy for my speed but very interactive, and the regular playgoers loved it. Other fun areas in and around Dallas to explore include Highland Park Village, West Village, Deep Ellum Dallas, Trinity Groves, John F. Kennedy Memorial Plaza, Northpark Center, and Klyde Warren Park. The homes in Highland Park are spectacularly enormous. West Village is perfect for people-watching while you eat. Deep Ellum Dallas has fun restaurants, breweries, and bars. Northpark Center is a local favorite mall, and Highland Park is a great shopping spot for all your luxury needs. We stayed in the Magnolia Hotel while we were in downtown Dallas. It was beautiful on the outside and a little dusty on the inside, but I loved the view of downtown Dallas, the full-length vintage mirror, the large bathtub, and the cute coffee shop attached to the Hotel. I found the Magnolia on Expedia and would give it a B+.Some other Hot Hotel Recommendations are the Canvas Hotel, Crescent Court, The W, Virgin Hotel, and Canopy.

Episode Description: As a reminder you can watch this show as well at: http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories This week the Las Vegas Sphere finally opened with a landmark show from U2. We will discuss the opening top to bottom including the many looks inside the Sphere during the show, how the experience was for most people and why this will become an iconic venue for visitors to Las Vegas. Did the vision actually become a reality? In other news after almost 30 years an arrest has been made in the legendary Tupac murder. We also discuss the WNBA Aces going back to the Finals, the $1,400 Tomahawk Feast at Virgin Hotels, jail time for the guy who threw furniture out of Caesars Palace and why Cosmo is bringing back their Marquee Dome for the winter. About the Show Each week tens of thousands of people tune into our MtM Vegas news shows at http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories. We do two news shows weekly on YouTube with the audio being combined into this podcast. Never miss out on the latest happenings in and around Las Vegas! Enjoying the podcast? Please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! You can also connect with us anytime at podcast@milestomemories.com.  You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or by searching "MtM Vegas" or "Miles to Memories" in your favorite podcast app. Don't forget to check out our travel/miles/points podcast as well!

Amy Colbourn, EVP of Insights and Brand Strategy at Harkey Group, talks about transformative strategies in Hospitality and aviation. Virgin is known for its innovative and disruptive approach across industries, often challenging established norms. When entering the Las Vegas hotel market, they upheld this tradition by introducing the 'Us Unstoppable' campaign, offering visitors a unique opportunity to experience Vegas differently. Today, Amy discusses launching Virgin Hotels in Las Vegas. Show NotesConnect With: Amy Colbourn: Website // LinkedIn Scott Harkey: Email // LinkedIn // TwitterI Hear Everything: IHearEverything.com // LinkedIn See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In this episode of the HR Leaders podcast I'm joined by Sarah Brown, Corporate Director of People at Virgin Hotels, to discuss the JEDI Initiative: a new standard of DE&I in hospitality.

This episode discusses Vell's experience with the new Virgin Hotel in Las Vegas.  Follow on ⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠ @VellsWorldPodcast. Email vellsworldpodcast@ldmonger.com with any comments, questions, or concerns you want to be mentioned in our upcoming episodes. To sponsor an episode, send us an email. Don't forget to subscribe, tell a friend, and follow on all social media platforms. You can leave a voice message and become a monetary supporter for as little as .99 cents on the anchor. Fm. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/vellsworldpodcast/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/vellsworldpodcast/support

Today's guest is Chris Okada. Chris is a prolific dealmaker, entrepreneur, and CEO of Okada & Company, a multifaceted commercial real estate development, management, and brokerage firm based in New York City. Christopher is an avid blogger, speaker, and thought leader relating to entrepreneurship and real estate subjects. Join Sam and Chris in today's episode. -------------------------------------------------------------- [0:00] Intro [1:17] The 3 Questions  [3:51] Investment opportunities in other asset classes  [7:36] Real estate prices, trends, and risks  [11:03] State of multifamily  [14:50] Chris' NYC office space strategy  [27:30] Closing -------------------------------------------------------------- Connect with Chris: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisokada/   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherokada/   Book: https://www.fromfeartofortune.net/   Connect with Sam: I love helping others place money outside of traditional investments that both diversify a strategy and provide solid predictable returns.   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HowtoscaleCRE/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samwilsonhowtoscalecre/ Email me → sam@brickeninvestmentgroup.com SUBSCRIBE and LEAVE A RATING. Listen to How To Scale Commercial Real Estate Investing with Sam Wilson Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-to-scale-commercial-real-estate/id1539979234 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4m0NWYzSvznEIjRBFtCgEL?si=e10d8e039b99475f -------------------------------------------------------------- Want to read the full show notes of the episode? Check it out below: 00:00:00:07 - 00:00:49:06 Chris Okada If you're meeting the market. If rents, for example, were $10,000 a month for for a 1500 square foot just regular office space, and today they're at 7000 or it's a 30% drop. You got to you got to be able to meet what the tenant wants with a 30% discount. You got to have it designed the way they want it now because of work from home and because of co-working and all that stuff, when if they're going to leave their couch, if they're going to leave their living room, if you're going to leave your beautiful podcast room. What can I as a landlord offer you that would be equivalent to that?    00:00:49:06 - 00:01:12:14 Intro Welcome to the How To Scale Commercial Real Estate Show. Whether you are an active or passive investor, we'll teach you how to scale your real estate investing business into something big.    Sam Wilson Chris Okada is a prolific dealmaker, entrepreneur and CEO of Okada and Company, a multifaceted commercial real estate development management and brokerage firm based in New York City. Chris, welcome to the show.   00:01:13:25 - 00:01:17:12 Chris Okada Thank you, Sam. I'm super excited. Thank you for having me.   00:01:17:13 - 00:01:26:11 Sam Wilson Absolutely. The pleasure's mine. Chris, there are three questions I ask every guest who comes on the show in 90 seconds or less. Can you tell me, where did you start? Where are you now and how did you get there?   00:01:27:23 - 00:02:13:11 Chris Okada Great. Starting with my father here in New York City, my family. This is our 54th year in commercial real estate in Manhattan, 1969. So it's a very different time. My father was very well known, and one of his key highlights was bringing over a Toyota motor company, Honda, Panasonic and Sony, and establishing their on US headquarters here in New York City as a commercial leasing broker representing, you know, the Fortune 500 of the Japanese manufacturers in the in the early stages of globalization in the seventies and eighties before it became what it is today. I started shortly after 911 and 12 and two, and I started as a leasing agent working for my father. And that's pretty much how it all started, you know, just started from the bottom. Now we're here.   00:02:31:27 - 00:02:37:07 Sam Wilson I love it. I absolutely love it. What is it that you focus on primarily today?   00:02:37:25 - 00:03:23:28 Chris Okada Great. So I am a very micro focused sandbox territorial person. That means that we focus on office leasing, investment sales and acquisition and development of properties in the Midtown Manhattan sandbox. Really, I would say from Soho to Rockefeller Center, right in the middle, mostly on the west side of Midtown, in midtown, south of Manhattan. So our portfolio of owned and third party at Avon Ivory is around 50 properties with total square footage about 2.6 2.7 million feet. So we eat, sleep, breathe New York City commercial, retail and New York City office. I would say that's 80%. However, in in markets like this and opportunistic times, we, of course, jump into multifamily and other sort of uses. But all in the sandbox, the midtown, midtown, south.   00:03:51:13 - 00:04:16:07 Sam Wilson I love it. I love it. Yeah. Being micro focused like that certainly allows you, I think probably, as you know, to get to know your investor or your investment profiles really, really well in what you know, what you guys focus on. It sounds like you get to know it intimately, but you do some opportunities that you're kind of seeing in some other maybe asset classes that haven't traditionally been what your core focus is. What do you see?    00:04:16:07 - 00:04:50:09 Chris Okada Yeah. All right. So in a post-pandemic world, we've seen so much sort of defaulting on mortgages, we've seen price prices come down 30 to 50% on on different asset classes. I have not and I was telling you briefly, I have not seen prices like this since 2009. I created a study called From Fear to Fortune Generational Opportunities in New York City Commercial Real Estate.   00:04:50:20 - 00:05:19:12 Chris Okada And it basically is a longitudinal study from 1993 to 2022 and a little bit, you know, a couple of months of 2023. And it basically outlines every decade New York City over the past 30 years and even further our 54 year history here in New York, prices really do come down every single decade, but you're only given two years in Manhattan.   00:05:19:20 - 00:05:50:24 Chris Okada On Manhattan Island, you're given two years where prices come down. And if you're able to acquire them and it really is timing. And, you know, there's two philosophies on now over time, the market or timing is everything. Right? So it's it's it's it's somewhere in there. But over the last 12 months, we've seen some real, real up price decline because of the interest rate environment.   00:05:51:07 - 00:06:30:28 Chris Okada And because of that, I think that people that are able to acquire at these 30, 40, 50% discounted price points, they're going to see some incredible ROI when the market recovers. And New York City, specifically every single decade from the past 100 years, has always rebounded and gotten more expensive than the last cycle. So, you know, the housing and real estate crisis of 2008 was supposed to be the worst crisis since 87 or 89, and if not that, then 1929, right?   00:06:31:06 - 00:07:08:28 Chris Okada So the financial crisis, but we're seeing pricing equivalent to 2009. And I do think that there is risk involved. I think that it is definitely a scary time for a lot of your listeners. If I were to zoom, you know, what about office? Would you jump into a 50% vacant office building work from home? But there's a reason it's priced 30, 40, 50% below 2019 levels, and that's because of that.   00:07:09:23 - 00:07:36:23 Chris Okada And for the very few that are able to jump in and seek, you know, these distressed assets and find a way to make them fully cash flowing at new risk at levels, I believe they're going to do extraordinarily, extraordinarily well this this decade towards when we're in a full recovery mode. So that's essentially the thesis.   00:07:36:28 - 00:07:55:16 Sam Wilson I love it. I love it. There's so many questions that come into that. One of one of the first ones, though, is when you say you've seen price levels reset for that 2008, 2009 time, is that is that an adjusted number based on inflation and other factors? Or is our straight dollar for dollar.   00:07:55:28 - 00:08:17:25 Chris Okada $3 per per square foot dollar? Wow. You know, so everything that I do in my world is on a price per foot because that's the only way I can assess a million square foot building in San Fran and a million square foot building in Dallas. And compare it to here in New York City is on a price per foot.   00:08:19:07 - 00:08:54:22 Chris Okada So looking at the price, the the price over the square foot of the property, we're seeing deals being done at $350 or $400 per square foot. The top was 1000, so or $900 per foot. So really we're seeing some, again, 50% discount. I mean, as a whole, our study shows that the peak of the market was broke, 900 to $950 per square foot in the last cycle in the 20 tens.   00:08:56:17 - 00:09:22:19 Chris Okada And if you're picking up a building, even if you got to do put $100 of putting construction and improvements or whatever it may be to improve it and rent it, and maybe another 50 to $100, if you're all in cost basis, is 40% below the last, you know, the heights of the market. And you have a fully cash flowing, turnkey, fully renovated property.   00:09:22:19 - 00:09:50:04 Chris Okada I believe the bet is that it's going to be a 2 to 3 x multiple by the end of the decade. Sure. And this is really based on on on just data. If New York recovers to anywhere in the 2013 to 2020 levels for pricing and you're buying at three, $400 a foot and it recovers back to five, six, $700, you know, you're doing all right.   00:09:50:04 - 00:10:25:11 Chris Okada If it hits the peaks of eight, $900 a foot and you're all in at 600 and you're at 5050, you know, 5050 on your LTV at two X, it breaks records like it does every single decade in history. The sky's the limit. Of course, it's scary. You know, you're borrowing it eight, nine, 10% money, you know. So interest rates are scary.   00:10:25:11 - 00:10:34:17 Chris Okada Vacancy and cash flow is scary. So there are risks in bonds and you have to sort of have a business plan around that.   00:10:35:19 - 00:11:02:16 Sam Wilson What you're doing, I feel like is is again, it's a it's a very local, I think, thing that you are able to see and capture maybe that the rest of us outside of the New York City markets don't necessarily see. Yes, we've seen, I think, you know, price levels in activity in other asset classes slowed down. I think we're like a 74% year over year decline in multifamily sales was a it was a statistic.   00:11:02:17 - 00:11:03:08 Chris Okada Yeah, we did.   00:11:03:08 - 00:11:17:19 Sam Wilson I had read yesterday we've also seen prices, you know, start to decline on the multifamily sale side. But I don't think we've come anywhere near on a national level from seeing them return to that 2829 pricing value.   00:11:17:21 - 00:11:58:14 Chris Okada Actually, I think inflation, I think multi-family is doing very, very well. It's sort of when you speak to we've probably spoken to 50 private equity real estate funds over the last couple of months. What are you asking them? What they're doing, what they're up to. Everyone wants multifamily, multifamily or fully leased. Industrial is the crown jewel. But then, you know, you're paying 5% yield and, you know, maybe even four or maybe maybe you can get to 6% cap on the capitalization rate, but you're at negative leverage, right?   00:11:58:17 - 00:12:36:07 Chris Okada So we're a contrarian investors. I do think that interest rates will come down. But for anyone and you and you saw there's a portfolio on the sun down in Texas, they had to give back the keys to 450 units. And that was I think that news broke yesterday. So it's not all Sunbelt, all multifamily. Lee is very strong, but for the most part, I do think that if you're cash flowing today and you don't have a refinance coming up in the next 12 to 24 months, you're doing really, really great.   00:12:36:07 - 00:13:02:29 Chris Okada If you if you locked in a ten year like mortgage at three and a half percent, you know, in 21 year you're the best. And it's multifamily. I mean, that at that point, you just, you know, clip coupons. And even if you bought a25 cap, you know, you're 150 basis points above your debt. You know, you can't go wrong.   00:13:03:06 - 00:13:48:01 Chris Okada It's really just the short term money that's causing all this agita, that's causing all the stress. And I think the best part and the best lesson for all of us in commercial real estate and in investing and people that want to grow regardless of where you are, is that you got to love the biz when it's good and you got to love the biz when it keeps you up at night and you know, this market, especially with with the interest rate environment, it really just weeds out people that may not, you know, that are in it just for the money and maybe not in it for the long haul, because it's hard.   00:13:48:06 - 00:14:19:27 Chris Okada It's tough. It's tough. And one one anecdote that I tell everyone is that a black swan event and New York City had many 911. I mean, you know, that's just one, you know, the Hurricane Sandy, that was a huge blow, the financial crisis and now the pandemic. We had a business plan that said if there is a million people outside in Times Square, our properties will never come down in value.   00:14:19:27 - 00:14:49:29 Chris Okada That was literally here. We, you know, three years ago. Exactly. In April of 2020, there was not a soul in sight. And everyone left Manhattan and everyone left the city. So, you know, you always have to try to prepare for the black one as best as possible. And really, that just means having a conservative savings for each one of your properties and having, you know, people say different things.   00:14:50:00 - 00:15:21:07 Chris Okada 12 months of mortgage and operating expenses in the bank account for the for the property. Some really conservative people say 24 months, but when times are good and the properties are well behaved, you're like, no, I'll keep two months, you know, two months in the end. And then that's when, you know, you need to be pretty conservative and have a strict cash flow policy and black swan policy of all the properties.   00:15:22:16 - 00:15:24:01 Chris Okada So for sure.   00:15:24:23 - 00:15:44:04 Sam Wilson Here is a question I want to we've got about 5 minutes left here on the show, and I really want to hear your kind of strategy that you guys are implementing behind this office space window that you're finding in New York City right now. How are you taking those down? I know you mentioned nine, 10% debt on them.   00:15:44:15 - 00:15:49:14 Sam Wilson How are you taking them down? How are you making them cash flow and how are you offsetting and or filling that vacancy?   00:15:51:07 - 00:16:18:18 Chris Okada That is the that's the big question, right? That's the big question, because the tenancy and the vacancy is the enemy along with it's a perfect storm. And but that's why the values are have been beaten up so much. So we are specialists in leasing. We lease we do corporate we've been doing corporate leasing and office leasing. We continue to do office leasing.   00:16:18:18 - 00:16:48:08 Chris Okada Our portfolio is 2.7 million feet. You know, when when times are good, there was less money to be made because there was less vacancy to be to be quite frank, year over year, office activity is up 76% as far as commission income and as far as square footage, I think it was I have to double check those numbers, Q1 23 versus Q1 22 and Q1 22.   00:16:48:08 - 00:17:08:11 Chris Okada We are coming out, I think December of 21 and January was all Micron and you know, we were not out of the woods in 21. So in 22 we were just starting. Now we're full blown. It's here in New York. It's 83 degrees. We're having a heat wave, you know, record highs of heat. You know, spring is in full swing.   00:17:08:17 - 00:17:36:23 Chris Okada And even though it's extremely challenging, if I turned off the news, I turned off CNBC. I didn't read Wall Street Journal. Our office leasing business is doing well, but we are super micro. We we, we have a, you know, an online strategy, social media strategy to really do whatever it takes to fill up our, our vacancies for our our own properties and others.   00:17:37:04 - 00:18:27:17 Chris Okada So it does take time if you're meeting the market. If rents, for example, were $10,000 a month for for a 1500 square foot just regular office space, and today they're at 7000 or it's a 30% drop. You got to you got to be able to meet what the tenant wants with a 30% discount. You got to have it designed the way they want it now because of work from home and because of co-working and all that stuff, when if they're going to leave their couch, if they're going to leave their living room, if you're going to leave your beautiful podcast room, what can I as a landlord offer you that would be equivalent to that?   00:18:27:17 - 00:18:52:12 Chris Okada And I have a we have a few ideas that were, number one, fully furnished, number two, fully designed, number three, turnkey. Like literally, I'm bringing your bringing your microphone in your laptop. If if that's what you've you're bringing a notepad, your phone and a laptop, and your eight employees will be there and the rest, the other ten will work from home.   00:18:53:15 - 00:19:19:09 Chris Okada And so we sort of have that down packed. It's it's not these large spaces it's no longer see is a great cubicles that's done. Everyone wants to feel comfortable. They they want a lounge sort of comfortable design, an upscale atmosphere. It doesn't have to be stuffy, but it does have to be thoughtful in design. That's what people want.   00:19:19:09 - 00:19:40:08 Chris Okada They like artwork. They they want to feel that it's that there's warm bodies and then they have to be well located. So they have to be in areas that it's it's kind of cool. You know, maybe there's a park a block away. I should go for a walk in the park. So the properties that are near the parks, they do better.   00:19:40:23 - 00:20:13:16 Chris Okada The properties that are near new, you know hotels we are just ad partners of ours are opening just open the Virgin Hotel with Richard Branson. That was last week and that was super fun and super cool. It was on the same day he opened a hotel. Now that he bankrupted one of his his space or subsidiaries, I'm not sure which one, but I do remember that.   00:20:13:16 - 00:20:44:00 Chris Okada Wow. This guy just read today breaking news that Richard Branson is be all one of his subsidiaries. And here he is laughing and smiling and cutting the ribbon for a $400 million hotel with his name on it. So, you know, I it's really about having a good plan, meeting the market and being a strong entrepreneur or to be able to take the pressure.   00:20:44:12 - 00:21:17:13 Chris Okada This whole education for me of this downturn, not even 21, was all right, 22 was scary. You know, the whole world was closed up, really. 23 And with the inflated interest rate environment, this is tested. Everything that I've been through and I and I believe that if and when you want to grow to the thousand dollar portfolio, ten that whatever ambitions you have as far as the real estate operator and owner, it will be tested.   00:21:17:22 - 00:21:41:28 Chris Okada And that's why I looked at Branson. I was like, Wow, how do you feel about having your New York? I interviewed him 2 seconds on the red carpet. How does it feel to have your own? And he's like sort of like giddy about it. But at the same time, he had a multi-hundred million, if not $1,000,000,000 venture, just go bankrupt.   00:21:42:09 - 00:22:17:28 Chris Okada And I and of course, I'm not going to ask him, oh, how did you know how to go with Virgin Galaxy or whatever, you know, whatever subsidiary it was. But that's it takes grit. It takes a lot of stress, it takes pressure. And being able to understand that pressure. And once you are put in that sort of situation where it's tough, you're not you're now ready for the next level, you will now be ready for the next level.   00:22:17:28 - 00:22:50:23 Chris Okada Whichever level that is. And for me, you know, working on and having, let's say, five, five properties here in midtown, of which maybe 75% are well-behaved, 25 are not well behaved, and the not well behaved ones are the ones that are keeping me up at night. The thought processes screw it. If, if, if, if a 30 of $30 million project could keep you up at night, why not just go for the gusto?   00:22:51:11 - 00:23:16:16 Chris Okada Go for it. Go for a hundred million? What does what difference does it make? Go for a billion? Because the amount of anxiety you get and if if worst case scenario, it all falls through, you fall flat on your face, you know, and it doesn't work out. It really just doesn't work out. And something happens. And now, you know, the Sun Belt is no longer interesting.   00:23:16:16 - 00:23:40:20 Chris Okada And, you know, rents are coming down and, you know, there's all kinds of, you know, interest rates are up and you're refinancing. You're at three and at 7%. Now you got to put up another $30 million. You don't have $30 million, whatever the story may be. And you come, you come and you and you come up and you survive that you're ready for the next level.   00:23:40:27 - 00:24:06:04 Chris Okada You've been you've you've been, you've walked the fire and now screw it. And I think Grant Cardone, who I'm sure you know, I think he is one guy and his story really that resonates with me is in oh eight, he owed $50 million to the bank. Now $50 million. That's a lot of pressure, you know, to personally have to cough up.   00:24:06:04 - 00:24:37:15 Chris Okada And if you don't have 50 mil in the bank, which most operators do not have. But let's just be clear then you got to liquidate everything. And if you don't got it past that, then, you know, Chapter 11 or Chapter seven, bankruptcy code. And so if he's going to go through all of that pain for 50 million bucks, why not just go for 500 million and then why not go for a billion?   00:24:37:20 - 00:25:03:18 Chris Okada And I think that that's that that resonates with me. But you got to walk that fire and you got to sort of feel that, you know, and all business plans are good. They are good. But you got a black swan event, No. One in 2020 because we are too busy worried about our toilet papers, you know, and, and, and the groceries and just survive in a pandemic.   00:25:04:15 - 00:25:50:23 Chris Okada No one thought about interest rates potentially growing 5% in 12 months. There's no way to have predicted in 2019 that in 2023 or 24 that the world was going to be the way it was. It's impossible to predict it. So all you can do is do your best with the information you have. And for us, we're pretty freaking good at leasing office space and we're doing whatever we can to buy low and get to cash flow as soon as as fast as humanly possible using all the the tools that we have, which is basically social media, networking, cold calls, you got to do whatever it takes to fill that tenant stack and fill that capital   00:25:50:23 - 00:26:09:25 Chris Okada stack, making. You got to reach out to you got to go on 50 podcasts. All right. You got to you got to go on 50 podcasts and let everyone know, hey, you know, like this is this is an incredible time. Maybe you're not maybe you're not there yet. Maybe you're not feeling it. But this is what we're doing.   00:26:10:12 - 00:26:32:08 Chris Okada And why don't you you know, come on our journey and say hello, and how do we make money together? That's essentially what we what we try to do. But the business plan is still the same. How many calls are you going to make today? How many presentations are you going to make to make this week or plan? How many luncheons do you have to go on?   00:26:32:08 - 00:27:07:20 Chris Okada How many email campaigns are you preparing? How many social media things are you, you know, is your social media calendar up? What is your PR up to? Have you been in the paper the same game in Brick, an investment group as Okada and Company? It's just the avatar. The target is different and that goes for any business, whether you're an insurance or an real estate or you're trying to raise $1,000,000,000 fund, you know.   00:27:08:13 - 00:27:09:19 Sam Wilson Indeed. I love.   00:27:09:19 - 00:27:10:07 Chris Okada It. That's it.   00:27:10:16 - 00:27:30:06 Sam Wilson I love it. Christopher, this has been a wealth of information. Thank you for taking the time here to come on the show today. I think what you're doing is really cool. I love the way you guys are taking down assets, how you are contrarian. I think that always speaks to me. Anybody who's looking look and laugh when everybody else is looking right is somebody that I want to get to know better.   00:27:30:06 - 00:27:45:26 Sam Wilson So thank you for taking the time to come on the show today and really share with us the opportunity that you guys are finding, especially in the office space, one that is, you know, kind of the estate is the dog. Everybody's kickin right now and you're going, hey, man, there's this. This is where you get paid. So I love I love how you're doing that.   00:27:45:26 - 00:27:50:09 Sam Wilson If our listeners want to get in touch with you and learn more about you, what is the best way to do that?   00:27:51:17 - 00:28:21:18 Chris Okada Oh yeah, for sure. Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn. I think those are the three most active social media platforms and it's at Chris Okada, if you want to look at the study, it's W WW from fair to fortune dot net and that has my investment thesis, it has my belief and it has the raw data and everything that we do is data based.   00:28:22:03 - 00:28:34:26 Chris Okada So, you know, it's really bets based on historical data and you know, so follow me at Chris Okada and would love to connect with any of you great.   00:28:34:26 - 00:28:48:25 Sam Wilson Or both of those there in the show. Notes from fear to fortune dot net and Chris Okada, for those of you who are listening a c h r i s okay a day. So Chris Okada, Chris, thank you for coming on the show today. I certainly appreciate it.   00:28:49:22 - 00:28:53:19 Chris Okada All right. Bye. Thank you so much for having me. Good luck out there.   00:28:54:02 - 00:29:15:16 Sam Wilson Hey, thanks for listening to the How to Scale Commercial Real Estate Podcast. If you can do me a favor and subscribe and leave us a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts or whatever platform it is you use to listen. If you can do that for us, that would be a fantastic help to the show. It helps us both attract new listeners as well as rank higher on those directories.   00:29:15:16 - 00:29:18:23 Sam Wilson So appreciate you listening. Thanks so much and hope to catch you on the next episode.

Learn to travel for "free" utilizing the best credit card welcome offers. Travel to Vegas and anywhere else! Check out this free tool that we highly recommend. Travel Freely (free sign-up) Episode Description: As a reminder you can watch this show as well at: http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories On this week's show there was a lot of big news including the departure of Virgin's visionary and CEO. We also learned that the Dream Hotel project is in trouble, the Vegas Loop is expanding and cutting the airport, NCAA had troubles at Luxor and Hard Rock's Guitar Hotel is approved. About the Show Each week tens of thousands of people tune into our MtM Vegas news shows at http://www.YouTube.com/milestomemories. We do two news shows weekly on YouTube with the audio being combined into this podcast. Never miss out on the latest happenings in and around Las Vegas! Enjoying the podcast? Please consider leaving us a positive review on your favorite podcast platform! You can also connect with us anytime at podcast@milestomemories.com.  You can subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or by searching "MtM Vegas" or "Miles to Memories" in your favorite podcast app. Don't forget to check out our travel/miles/points podcast as well!