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 So what really is happening in Las Vegas? No one is better
positioned to comment than Robinson graduate Chuck
Bowling (BBA ’85). As executive vice president for sales and
marketing for MGM Grand Resorts, Bowling has his fi nger on
the pulse of the city’s biggest businesses – leisure, gaming, and
conventions.
Chuck holds a BBA in hospitality. He worked part-time at
places such as the former Brandy House in Buckhead and the
Omni Hotel in downtown Atlanta, all while
attending classes at the Robinson College.
Upon graduation he worked for the Stouffer
Waverly Hotel in Marietta and then opened
Atlanta’s Westin Lenox (now the J.W. Marriott).
In 1997 he was transferred by Westin to Los
Angeles, which led to other positions in Palm
Springs, San Francisco, and now Las Vegas.
From his office on the fifth floor of Mandalay
Bay on the Vegas strip, Bowling is responsible
for overall marketing for MGM properties,
including the MGM Grand, the Mirage, Luxor,
Bellagio, and Mandalay Bay. Responsibilities cover
areas such as advertising, marketing, direct sales,
the internet, and market research among others – areas that
are both intense and constantly changing.
Said Bowling, "The biggest thing that’s happening in an
environment like this is that it’s very high growth, very fast
paced. It’s obviously a 24/7 business that requires keeping
priorities straight every day of the week, every week of the
month for each business unit."
 That is particularly important because of the level of competition
that has emerged for most of MGM’s lines of business. In
the gaming area, there are casinos, many owned by
American Indian tribes, that have popped up all over the
United States Then there is the Las Vegas convention
business, which is constantly being challenged by cities like
Atlanta, Chicago, and Orlando. The leisure market is about
the only area where there is
little competition, because, according to Bowling, Vegas has "a
very unique product – the top entertainment city in the world,
great golf courses, great restaurants, and, of course, gaming. It
is a destination unlike any other."
But despite its distinctive nature, even Vegas went through an
identity crisis a few years ago. Research indicated that more
and more people were traveling with their children, and Vegas
tried to reposition itself as a family stop – "Disneyland in the
desert." Some of the hotels even built family amusement
centers. But the generic research that indicated more
people were traveling with their families was soon offset by
more specific information that said people came to Vegas to
indulge and reenergize. Vegas’s focus shifted back to that of an
adult playland and out of that came one of the world’s most
recognizable slogans, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."
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