Features

Women of Intrigue: Cami Christensen

Image
Cami Christensen
Photo: Christopher DeVargas

When Westgate Vice President of Resort Operations & Assistant General Manager Cami Christensen speaks about building and maintaining a team, she isn’t just throwing out a management cliche. She’s been part of a team for most of her life, especially as a collegiate basketball player, learning how to lead from one particularly inspiring coach. “He instilled a lot in me. He’s in my head every day,” she says. “I’m a coach. I’m trying to get the team motivated so they give their best, and handle it when they’re not giving their best [while] not being a jerk about it.”

It’s a testament to that vision that Christensen has gone from being a hotel manager for the Strip-adjacent property in 2001 to running the entire resort. Her willingness to learn and ability to evolve has resulted in her overhauling departments in which she previously had little pedigree. The renovations she has overseen—and even helped design—have the Westgate looking better that it has in years. “We had duct tape holding the carpeting together,” she says. “But I was thinking, the heartbeat is still there, coming from the team members.”

That heartbeat was revived by Westgate’s purchase of the resort in 2014, but Christensen also nurtured the employees, including veterans whose stories of the glory days reinforce the property’s charm and legacy. “I’ve got cocktail waitresses that were here during Elvis’ time,” she says. “There’s history here.”

Christensen has her own celebrity tales, from working the red carpet at Barry Manilow’s residency to getting a late-night visit from drunken cast members of The Sopranos. “They’d gotten confused and ended up in my office,” she says. “That’s when I thought, this is a cool gig.”

Share
Top of Story