TRIFECTA HOSPITALITY

The Partners

The partners founded Travelscape.com in 1998, which created the “merchant model” for hotel and vacation package reservations. The company was sold to Expedia in March 2000 in a deal valued at more than $100 million, and became the platform on which the Expedia hotel business was built.

In 2004, Breitling and Poster acquired the Golden Nugget hotel-casino properties in Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nevada, for $215 million and became the youngest casino owners in the state. Their unique style of operation later became the subject of the Fox TV reality show, “The Casino.”  In September 2005, the pair sold the Golden Nugget to Landry’s Restaurants Inc. for approximately $340 million.

Both partners held executive roles for Wynn Resorts from 2008-2013.  They were responsible for corporate strategy, gaming operations and resort marketing for the Forbes Five-Star resort, and developed the strategies that helped the company survive, and thrive, in a very challenging economic period.

The Partners

 
Tom Breitling

Tom Breitling

Tim Poster

Tim Poster

 
 

The journey began in 1990, when Poster founded a small travel company, and in 1993 Breitling moved to Las Vegas with $100 in his pocket and joined his business partner, Tim Poster, to help run the startup company Las Vegas Reservation Systems, Inc. (LVRS), the precursor of Travelscape.com.  Together, Breitling and Poster revolutionized the travel industry by creating the “merchant model” for hotel and vacation package reservations.  They turned the company into one of the world’s largest consumer-direct hotel room distribution systems.

In 1998, Breitling and Poster co-founded Travelscape.com.  They capitalized on the growth of Las Vegas, the overall hospitality industry, and of the Internet, propelling sales to $104 million in 1999. A year later, the partners oversaw the acquisition of Travelscape by Expedia, Inc., in a deal valued at more than $100 million.  Breitling was a member of the board of directors of Expedia in 2002 and 2003, and Poster has served as a member of the Board of Directors of publicly traded hospitality company Station Casinos (now called Red Rock Resorts (NYSE: RRR). 

In 2004, with their first venture into the gaming business, Breitling and Poster acquired the Golden Nugget hotel-casino properties in Las Vegas and Laughlin, Nevada, for $215 million and became the youngest casino owners in the state.  They successfully brought back personalized service and “Vintage Vegas” glamour back to downtown.  Their unique style of operation later became the subject of the Fox TV reality show, “The Casino.”  In September 2005, the pair sold the Golden Nugget to Landry’s Restaurants Inc. for approximately $340 million.

Both partners held executive roles for Wynn Resorts from 2008-2013.  They were responsible for corporate strategy, gaming operations and resort marketing for the Forbes Five-Star resort and were responsible for the strategies that helped the company navigate an unprecedented economic downturn while opening a $2.3 billion Las Vegas property (Encore Las Vegas).