COVER STORY: RWNYC Head Discusses New Hotel

COVER STORY ALL ‘INN’: RWNYC ADDS 400-ROOM HOTEL

When Resorts World New York City opened its doors in 2011, a full-service hotel was always part of the plan. A decade later, that vision will become a reality when the 400-room Hyatt Regency JFK opens its doors later this month.

“We have wanted to bring a hotel to the property for so long because we’ve seen how popular our integrated resorts have been in places like Las Vegas and Singapore,” said Bob DeSalvio, who as president of Genting New York State oversees operations at the Queens casino, as well as Resorts World Catskills. “Working with an iconic brand like Hyatt with global recognition will allow us to tap into the travel and tourism market on a broader scale.”

DeSalvio believes the hotel will attract a broader clientele to RWNYC, including tourists flying in and out of JFK looking for a quicker commute to the airport, international travelers with overnight layovers, and New York City residents looking for a local getaway.

“By showcasing our unparalleled hospitality, gaming, dining and entertainment offerings, we think guests of all interests will make their way to Queens,” he told This Is Queensborough.

The $400 million project includes 8,000 square feet of conference rooms and meeting spaces, retail options, restaurants, and new gaming areas. The four-star, eightstory hotel will also feature nongaming amenities to attract visitors of all sorts.

When it opens, the hotel is expected to create 500 jobs, and if the past is prologue, many of those jobs will go to Queens residents.

“Resorts World New York City employs an all-union workforce of nearly 1,000 people,” DeSalvio said. “Eighty-three percent of those employees are people of color and nearly 50 percent are women. Eighty percent of those workers are from New York City and more than half are from Queens.”

Since it opened ten years ago, RWNYC has contributed more than $3 billion to New York’s public schools, and the new hotel will provide even more revenue to the state’s Lottery Education Fund. But RWNYC’s commitment to giving back goes far beyond simply paying taxes.

RWNYC has donated millions to local charities since it opened, but the casino’s promise to be part of the local community was never more evident after Hurricane Sandy devastated communities in south Queens, especially the Rockaways, less than a year after RWNYC opened its doors.

“We provided hot meals to displaced residents and hosted a staging area for emergency vehicles,” said DeSalvio. “We even temporarily stored on casino property some of the 7,000 tress that came down during the storm.”

So it was no surprise when the COVID pandemic hit Queens especially hard during the first few weeks of the outbreak that RWNYC would play a role in helping the borough cope and eventually recover.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 12

COVER STORY FOCUS NOW ON FULL GAMING AT RWNYC

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10

“The pandemic was a challenge for us all,” DeSalvio said. “After we were forced to close, we hosted a mass COVID-19 testing and vaccination center. We donated to Fuel the Frontlines and Jamaica Hospital Medical Center.”

With pandemic restrictions lifted, RWNYC is still helping local small businesses rebound. Its Community Partner Program offers free advertising and exposure to hundreds of local small businesses.

And RWNYC recently joined the Queens Chamber’s “Adopt a Small Business” program. The casino is sponsoring one-year Chamber memberships for 40 small businesses, many of them restaurants in surrounding neighborhoods.

“We saw first-hand what it was like to be a business that had to close during the pandemic and how challenging it was,” DeSalvio said. “By sponsoring some of the businesses that were hardest hit during COVID, like restaurants, we hope it will give them some of what they need to get back on track.”

With the hotel finished, the focus is now on getting state approval for full gaming. Currently, RWNYC offers slots and electronic games, but hopes to offer live table game dealers, a move that DeSalvio said would create thousands of more jobs at the casino.

“We remain hopeful lawmakers can expedite the RFI [request for information] process, which is the first step in getting the three unawarded downstate casino resort licenses issued,” he said. “We’re ready to start the bidding process sooner than 2023, and know that if we were awarded a commercial gaming license we could quickly get people back to work.”

An artist’s rendering of the lobby of the Hyatt Regency JFK and the photos of the nearly completed lobby under construction last month.

BOB DESALVIO

Bob DeSalvio has over 40 years of experience in the gaming and hospitality industries. As president of Genting New York State, he is responsible for overseeing all operations at Resorts World Catskills and Resorts World Casino New York City.

Prior to his current post, DeSalvio served as president of Encore Boston Harbor, where he led the design, development, and opening of the largest development project in Massachusetts history with a total project cost of $2.6 billion.

Previously, DeSalvio spent eight years as president of Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem. He joined the Las Vegas Sands Corporation team in 2006 when the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board awarded the license for the property and led the design, development, opening and growth of this highly profitable $840 million project.

In 2019, the Las Vegas Sands Corporation sold the property for $1.3 billion.

DeSalvio also spent nearly 10 years at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket, Connecticut, where he was responsible for all aspects of marketing the resort destination with revenue exceeding $1 billion.

Prior to joining Foxwoods, DeSalvio worked in various roles at Sands Atlantic City for 14 years, where he implemented marketing strategies that resulted in the highest return on invested capital for Atlantic City properties at that time.

COVER STORY

ABOVE: An artist’s rendering of the new hotel from the air. BELOW: The team at Resorts World New York City that has been prepping the Hyatt Regency JFK for its grand opening.