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Hard Rock Targets Casino Expansion

by Liz Benston

LAS VEGAS -- The Orlando, Fla.-based owner of the Hard Rock restaurant chain and Hard Rock Hotel and Casino resorts in Florida has hired away a Caesars Entertainment executive to serve in the company's first casino development position.

Michael Soll, former vice president of planning and development for Caesars Entertainment Inc., has joined Hard Rock Cafe International as vice president of casinos this week and will direct the worldwide casino expansion of the Hard Rock brand.

At Caesars, Soll implemented new development opportunities for Caesars in the United States and abroad, including the management of tribal casinos. Prior to joining Caesars, Soll worked in senior positions at Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Bear, Stearns & Co. and Innovation Group, a casino consultant.

Soll said the position suited his entrepreneurial style and that he did not leave Caesars because of the company's pending buyout by Harrah's Entertainment Inc. -- a deal expected to close by the end of June.

"I would have considered this an attractive opportunity regardless of the events surrounding the merger," he said.

Harrah's spokesman Gary Thompson declined to comment on whether the company has or would offer Soll a development position.

Hard Rock Cafe International is owned by Rank Group Plc and is not affiliated with the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.

The Las Vegas property is owned by Peter Morton, the co-founder of the restaurant chain who later sold his interest to Rank Group. Morton has retained the right to develop the Hard Rock resort brand in certain areas including Nevada and California. Rank Group maintains rights to develop the Hard Rock brand in the eastern United States and abroad.

Soll said Hard Rock Cafe International works with Morton to make sure the company's Hard Rock hotels and casinos live up to a certain image and sell similar products.

"If (customers) like what they see in Las Vegas they are going to like what they see when we expand throughout the world," Soll said.

"This is a powerful brand with powerful name recognition that up until mid-90s was viewed as a tourist cafe destination," he said. "The fact that Hard Rock has persevered through rise and fall of many themed restaurants is a testament to its connection to all kinds of people through music."

Likewise, he said, casino resorts are moving away from heavy themes based on geographic locations and trying to impart a lifestyle or mood.

Soll declined to say where the Hard Rock brand might appear next but said the company is "open-minded" and "flexible."

Rank Group has licensed rights to the Hard Rock brand to ten full-service hotels including two Hard Rock hotel and casinos in Tampa and Hollywood, Fla., that are owned by the Seminole tribe. The company will open a Hard Rock brand in Biloxi, Miss., later this year.

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