While the pressures of being the son of a well-known nightclub and restaurant mogul might get to some, that doesn’t seem to be the case with Dustin Drai.
At 26, Drai seems perfectly at home following in the footsteps of his father, Victor Drai, in the club business in Las Vegas as vice president of entertainment for Drai’s Beachclub, Nightclub and Afterhours at Cromwell.
Handsome and well-dressed, Drai looks the part of a successful young businessman, but he wants to make sure people know he’s his own man, not just his visionary father’s son.
Vegas Inc recently visited with Drai inside his multi-level club inside the Cromwell.
What was it like growing up around the nightclub business?
From the very beginning, I was around all of it. My dad started in the restaurant business and then it became the nightlife business, so I’ve always been around the hospitality business. Growing up, I didn’t think I’d actually go into this business, but that’s the path my life ended up taking. It’s a fast-paced lifestyle and it’s a lot of work. I’ve seen my dad work extremely hard my entire life, so I’ve always understood the value of hard work.
Being a young guy in the club business, some people probably assume you’re partying all the time, but you say that’s not who you are.
When I moved out here after college, almost four years ago now, it wasn’t something where I was just out here to party. For me, it was time to get to work. It’s become a passion of mine to take the brand from what my dad was able to create and to continue to evolve it with this new generation. It’s been a lot of fun. The past four years have been really exciting for me, but I also started from the bottom in the business. I was an operations manager when I first moved here and I learned every aspect of running the day-to-day operation.
Is there pressure being Victor Drai’s son?
He never pressured me. I think I put pressure on myself to follow in his footsteps. He’s such a big character and so well-known in this city, I wanted to find a way to not just be Victor Drai’s son, but to be Dustin Drai. I put pressure on myself and that pushed me to work harder and to be as successful as I can be. I always wanted to make sure I had good standing in Vegas, too. I wanted people to know that I’m not this crazy party kid that people might assume I am.
Some people were pretty surprised to hear about the closing of Kaos Nightclub this year. Is the nightlife business tough to be in right now?
Here in Vegas, I think it’s really tough right now if you don’t know what you’re doing. Kaos is a perfect example — the new kids in town tried to make a lot of noise and blow everybody out of the water, but it didn’t work out that way. They realized quickly that the nightclub business is a real business. You can’t just throw a bunch of money at something and expect it to be successful. I think the dynamic in Vegas has shifted to being talent-driven. The difference is you have to know what talent that is. A couple of years ago, it was all EDM (electronic dance music) and we were kind of the only people doing live hip hop on the Strip. Today, hip hop is the No. 1 genre in the world.
I think, even though there’s been slow growth the past couple of years, the nightlife business is going to keep growing. As long as we stay in front of what’s popular and cool in entertainment, I don’t see it ever stopping.
Overall, Las Vegas certainly seems more focused on entertainment and experience lately. Have you seen that as well?
Entertainment, that’s where Vegas is headed. Especially with the Raiders coming and the Golden Knights being here, entertainment is really driving the city more than gaming. The Raiders being here will definitely help our business. Every Raiders game here will be almost like a holiday weekend. I think the nightclubs are a big part of the entertainment conversation. We’re partners with Caesars and we talk about that in our meetings. I think they’re seeing that and they’re putting a lot more money into entertainment and experiences. The younger customers aren’t sitting at slot machines for five hours like people used to do.
New Year’s is coming up. Is there still that same buzz about New Year’s Eve in Las Vegas?
We’re about to have probably our biggest New Year’s ever. We see that continuing to trend upward every year. This is a destination city and there are so many hotels here, you can get a cheaper vacation than going to New York or someplace like that. We’re doing extremely well on New Year’s from a business standpoint and, at Drai’s, we’re the only venue where you’ll be able to see the fireworks on the Strip. It’s a cool experience.
How much of your job is just keeping up with what’s trending and what’s new and hip?
It’s difficult because you have to think about six months from now, not just about today. What’s going to be popular tomorrow? What type of music will people be listening to? When Drai’s first opened, we were EDM and we were trying to compete, but we had to switch and become our own thing. That’s when hip hop was coming back and on the verge of becoming one of the top genres. Now, there’s this Latin music craze that happened in 2019 and it’s supposed to continue to grow (in 2020). That’s something that we’re keeping an eye on.
Victor is your father, but he’s also your business partner now. Is the plan for him to continue to step back as you establish yourself?
I don’t think he’ll ever retire. That’s not his nature. I think he will definitely take some steps back and not be as involved in the day-to-day operations, though. Maybe, down the line, there will be an opportunity for me to take over, but the team we have right now, we do a great job running the venue. I don’t think it will ever be where one day he’s the boss and the next day I’m the boss. He’ll always be there. He’s never going to stop working.