Vegas Magazine - Niche Media - There is a place beyond the crowds, beyond the ropes, where dreams are realized and success is celebrated. You are invited.
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POWER COUPLE Mandarin Oriental execs Cliff and Jennifer Atkinson are invested in Vegas. professional relationship T here is an inescapable symmetry to the verbal back-and-forth of Cliff and Jennifer Atkinson. "We have a 5-year-old son, Will," says Jennifer. "Our daughter, Elizabeth, is 2." "Three on October 4," finishes Cliff. "Good job, Dad!" says Jennifer, laughing. "He knows the birthdays." In this exchange they are parents, but they're also top executives at one of the world's elite resort companies, Mandarin Oriental. Cliff has held several positions with the firm; currently he is general manager of its resort on the Strip, directing all day-to-day operations. Jennifer is the consumer marketing director for Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, overseeing its brand partnerships, events, and customer relationship management. "What is different about this hotel is the market," Cliff says. "In a city like San Francisco, for example, there's the St. Regis, Four Seasons, RitzCarlton. Here, we are competing against the entire town." It's a town the Atkinsons have grown to appreciate in swift style. They moved to Las Vegas last August, and while the scenery is new, the jobs are less so: Jennifer has been with Mandarin Oriental for a decade, and Cliff has worked for the company since 1998. Fittingly, they met at the opening of Mandarin Oriental, New York in—when was it? "I think 2002," Cliff says. "It was 2003," Jennifer corrects. Invariably, their personal relationship is also intensely professional. The Atkinsons work 12-hour days and spend much of their personal time 48 BY JOHN KATSILOMETES talking about work and those they've met in their years with the company. "It's not like on Sundays in the backyard we're hanging out and doing marketing plans," Cliff says. "But it is, for both of us, more than a 9-to-5 job." In running Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas, Cliff has been charged with stabilizing the hotel's finances and making it profitable. The timing of its opening, in 2009, during one of the city's deepest recessions ever, has made that a challenge. It is now doing well financially, and the way the hotel has positioned itself in the market has played a significant role. Quality has never been a question for Mandarin Oriental, one of the more luxurious resorts in the city, but now the market understands what the hotel is about. "It's now just about the marketing, the telling of our story, and letting people know that we are here," Cliff says. "For a 400-room hotel, compared to 4,000, we're really trying to differentiate with the service." A chapter in that story is the arrival of the Atkinsons and their commitment to the city. "We are always thinking of how to make it about the people," says Jennifer, who works primarily from home but whose international responsibilities take her to New York and Hong Kong several times a year. "That was maybe not a focus before. Now we're really invested in being here, raising our kids here, being involved in the city." "We moved here," adds Cliff, who helps coach Will's T-ball team. "We plan on being here for a long time. We want to be the local face of Mandarin Oriental." V PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRIAN BROWN MANDARIN ORIENTAL'S CLIFF AND JENNIFER ATKINSON BRING HOME TO WORK. VEGASMAGAZINE.COM 048_V_SP_PowerCouple_Sum13.indd 48 6/17/13 12:05 PM