Edward Pitoniak, CEO of VICI Properties Inc. (NYSE: VICI), participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITworld: 2018 Annual Conference in San Francisco.
Pitoniak said that VICI’s trademark phrase “Invest in the Experience” refers to the end user experience. The REIT specializes in casino properties.
“The importance of experience is that it is protection against the disruption or the obsolescence of the real estate,” Pitoniak said. “If it’s a great place-based experience, it is something that Amazon, at least yet, has not figured out how to put in a box [and] ship to your house, such that it dislocates the real estate literally and figuratively.”
Pitoniak said VICI is excited to continue telling the gaming real estate story, a year after the company emerged from its spin-off.
“We think we are the next really good institutionalization story in American commercial real estate,” he said.
Heading into 2019, Pitoniak said experiential real estate will continue to embrace the shared experience and the desire of its guests to “gather together in one place at one time to share momentous experiences.”