Johnny Vegas strolls along the balcony of a suite at the Five Palm resort, gazing across the bay at the glittering Dubai Marina, and sizes up the potential he sees in the Emirati city.
«I can find New York in Dubai,» he says. «I can find Miami and Los Angeles in Dubai. I can find Ibiza and Marbella right here in Dubai. It’s a melting pot, and everyone’s here. This is the center.»
As CEO of Kloudout, a luxury concierge service, Vegas is a travel agent for sporting celebrities.
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He works with football stars like Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku and the United States’ Weston McKennie, aiming to take away any stress his clients might feel by planning their entire holiday, from where they stay to their day-by-day itineraries.
Already established in parts of the United States and Spain, Vegas is eager to expand his concierge empire into Dubai.
He sees the most visited city in the Middle East as the perfect destination. The climate in the United Arab Emirates is ideal for athletes chasing winter sun, since temperatures rarely dip below 25 degrees Celsius (77 F). American and British paparazzi are few and far between, giving his clients some much-needed privacy.
And while the Emirate’s hospitality industry is still bouncing back from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the city is starting to come alive again. Occupancy hit 90% in October 2021, when Dubai hosted international events such as Expo 2020 and the T20 Cricket World Cup.
Sure enough, at the five-star hotel where Vegas is staying, the party is already in full swing by the pool, and the latest hits drift up to the balcony.
«[Covid] was a reset button, a chance to take stock of who we are as a business, of me as a person, and to come back and somehow deal with what was in front of us,» Vegas says. «Let’s study the market, let’s study the culture, let’s understand how business works here.»
And since most of Kloudout’s clients are world-class footballers, the company’s biggest event of 2022 will be one in the Middle East. The World Cup in Qatar promises to bring players from 32 countries into the region, and some will want to enjoy some luxurious time in the sun.
For Vegas, it’s a potential gold mine.
From Addis Ababa to Las Vegas
Vegas, not to be confused with the British comedian who also goes by Johnny Vegas, grew up a world away from his new life of glitz and glamour, in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa. His real name is Yohannes Zewdu, and he lived in a home «the size of a closet» with his two sisters, his mother, and his grandmother.
«You don’t have the luxury of eating every day,» he explains. «I grew up on the street, walking around barefoot.»
He always loved football, playing with a homemade ball made from plastic bags stuffed with newspaper. Although he left at the age of 10, his Ethiopian roots still matter deeply to him.
«Ethiopia is my blood, it’s who I am,» he says. «I cherish it. I own it.»
After moving to the United States, his first-ever time on a plane, he took the name Johnny, because kids in his new hometown of Las Vegas found Yohannes hard to pronounce.
Later, in an earlier job as a valet at the Bellagio casino, guests would save his contact in their phones as «Johnny Vegas,» and the name stuck.
Among the customers of his valet service, he says, were boxer Floyd Mayweather, former basketball player Michael Jordan, and actor Leonardo DiCaprio. The job was his first taste of showbiz and glamour.
«You see things you can’t even imagine,» he recalls, his eyes wide with wonder.
Vegas earned the trust of high-profile celebrities while they waited for their cars. He made friends and traded favors, and before long he found himself in the concierge business with a priceless list of contacts.
Friend to the Stars
Kloudout’s clients can be very specific and demanding in their requests, Vegas says. The company’s 10 staff members even take care of any fitness requirements the athletes might have while they’re away, paying special attention to the specialized training each sport calls for.
Vegas takes his clients to a members-only fitness club not far from Dubai, where former Arsenal and Manchester City player Bacary Sagna is lifting weights and stretching.
«This is the best way to stay on top: train seriously, eat right,» Sagna says. «Johnny is my brother, and I’m fully with him. Not just here in Dubai, but when I go to Marbella, when I go to the United States. He’s always right there with me.»
Vegas’s life seems just as glamorous as those of some of his clients. He shows off videos of himself on a jet ski at Jumeirah Beach in Dubai and partying on a boat at the Formula 1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with American singer Ne-Yo.
Driving flashy cars like a Lamborghini, a Mercedes G Wagon, a Ferrari, and a Bentley is all part of the package when it comes to being a prestigious concierge in Dubai.
One of the best clips he keeps on his phone shows him touring estates and restaurants on the Spanish island of Ibiza with former Manchester United player Adnan Januzaj. In another, he brings football striker Ivan Toney, of English Premier League club Brentford, to a villa on the Marbella coast complete with a pool, an aquarium, a home cinema, and a grand piano.
The players he works with seem to genuinely consider him a friend, and in one video Newcastle United’s Jamaal Lascelles pranks him at Wet Deck Dubai, an adults-only poolside bar.
He plans to entertain more than just football stars in the Middle East. Lando Norris, the McLaren Formula 1 driver, is a client too. Vegas prefers to rely on word of mouth rather than Instagram or Google as a marketing tool. He sees social media more as a resume, a proof of concept for a new client.
«It’s like a tree. A tree has a branch, a branch has a leaf. I want to build that trust with you,» he says.
Vegas says he knows he hasn’t yet reached the top of his industry, and he keeps looking for new opportunities.
«It’s a ruthless business,» he says. «You have to be able to set your ego aside and adapt to whatever’s around you.»
With major global sporting events like the World Cup turning attention toward the Middle East, 2022 could well turn out to be a big year for Johnny and the region’s travel and hospitality industry.
