Behind the Scenes at Cosmopolitan Las Vegas

I had the unique opportunity to tour the new Cosmopolitan Las Vegas hotel and meet with members of their marketing team.

Hotel Background/General Info

• Before opening, they kept a relatively low profile, leaving a lot of speculation in the marketplace.
• The hotel is built vertically (Manhattan style) rather than horizontally (Vegas style), meaning a person can access their room, the pool, meeting space, etc., all from the same elevator.
• The property took five years to build from original construction to completion. It was originally intended to be condos.
• Despite hiccups in management, etc., during the erection process, the name remained the same, “Cosmopolitan,” which reflects “someone who’s at home anywhere, likes to travel, is socially aware, likes food and drink, etc.” It also signifies “the curious class” — digitally aware, fiscally aware, etc.
• On March 15, 2010, they launched their website. In mid-June, they launched Twitter, then layered in Facebook, Foursquare and Flickr.
• They never drove for numbers on these sites. Instead, they said, “let’s engage our audience and tell them about us, the world around us and what we’re interested in.” They talked about a lot of stuff happening in Vegas as well as art, technology, culture…
• There was no self-promotion, but instead giving people incite into the brand and what’s happening in town. They never mention rates. It’s not a sell.
• Free wifi everywhere.

Focus on Art

• They have an Art Director, Chris Burns, who directs the art in the elevators, pillars, etc.
• Each level of their parking structure features a different kind of graffiti art. There’s a plaque featuring each artist’s information on each level.
• Art-o-mat machines: five on property. Redid old cigarette machines to sell art from artists around the world. Within two weeks of being open, they’d sold more art than usually sold in a year, “making art accessible to the masses.”
• P3 art studio hosts an artist in house each month.

The Casino Floor

• As you’re walking through the casino, you hear the music and the people more than the machines. The machines are intentionally quiet, and automatically adjust based on how loud the room is.
• The Chandelier in the lobby is composed of two million crystals.
• The casino-level retail store, Droog, is extremely authentic and sells many unique items. They hosted their first tweetup there.
• They have gaming cabanas throughout the casino floor which can be rented out. They contain digital art, which gets changed based on what’s going on. It will never be an advertisement.
• They have a U tique vending machine (a “vending machine on crack”) that offers anything you may have forgotten.

Food, Beverage, Lounges, Entertainment

• They have three anchor bars, each with its own specific vibe. All three are independently managed and have individual mixologists – all three of which finished 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in a recent competition. Each bar has specific cocktails that are only available at that location. Fresh ingredients and hand-crafted detail go into each beverage. Many of the bartenders have unique stylings and visible tattoos – encouraged amongst the staff as a form of artistic and individual expressionism.
• Their Book and Stage area sets to “redefine the Vegas Lounge.” It regularly features great acts, some sort of entertainment seven days a week.
• One of their restaurants, Holstein, makes alcoholic milkshakes shakes!
• China Poblano restaurant, Mexican/Chinese fusion, has takeout windows, or they’ll bring to your room.
• They have a hidden, unadvertised New York-style, hole-in-the-wall pizza place down a New-York style hallway.
• Their buffet-style restaurant, Wicked Spoon, features individually-packaged items rather than everything clumped together.

Meeting Space

• Very artsy. Colorful. High heels. Owls. Art put together from junk.

Pools

• At the Blvd pool, bands perform. Cabanas have Play Station 3s, TVs, etc. Their other pool has an attached bar and lounge.

“A lot of times in Vegas, the question is ‘why?’ Here, it’s ‘why not?'”