The Palms Casino Resort has hired four veterans of the Las Vegas nightlife scene to head up plans for positioning the property as one of the city’s leading party destinations.
The off-Strip Palms, purchased by Station Casinos in 2016 and in the midst of a $690 million top-to-bottom remodeling, has brought in Ronn Nicolli and Ryan M. Craig to manage club operations in the wake of the departure of TAO Group, which was to have run a 100,000-square-foot night nightlife venue and restaurant slated to open at the property early next year.
The hiring of Nicolli and Craig signal management’s intention to run nightclub and dayclub operations in-house without outside partners.
Nicolli will serve as senior vice president of creative strategy, responsible for marketing and branding strategies for the clubs with input into hospitality initiatives property-wide. He comes from Wynn Resorts’ Wynn Nightlife division, operator of the renowned club XS.
Craig, who most recently served in senior nightlife roles at MGM Resorts International, has been named senior vice president of nightlife, day life and events. He also has experience with the Victor Drai companies and worked at XS and at Wynn’s Tryst.
The Palms remodeling is heavily geared to repositioning the Flamingo Road resort as a go-to spot for a younger, well-heeled clientele with an atmosphere, as its promotions put it, that “mixes classic Vegas hospitality and extraordinary new art, culinary, music and entertainment experiences featuring world-class partnerships”. Features include works of art by Basquiat, Warhol, Hirst, Murakami, KAWS and Revok and restaurant collaborations with Bobby Flay, Michael Symon and Marc Vetri.
General Manager Jon Gray said of Nicolli and Craig: “Each has made incredible contributions to best-in-class nightlife and hospitality venues and offerings in Las Vegas, and we are confident that their wealth of experience and dynamism will add significant value to the property going forward.”
