AN INDEPENDENT LAS VEGAS JOURNALTHE PEOPLE FILES
ARGENT
TRAVEL & TECHNOLOGY

Tim Poster

A travel entrepreneur’s route into the casino business

Tim Poster founded the reservations business; with his partner Tom Breitling, he built Travelscape and later acquired the Golden Nugget.

Period explored: 1990s–2010sNext Generation4 reading-room sourcesReviewed October 2, 2026
01 / THE STORY

The business before the browser

Poster’s travel company began in 1990; Breitling joined in 1993. Their later Trifecta biography traces that business into Travelscape.com. The sequence matters: the partners brought a working reservations operation to the internet era. [1]

02 / THE STORY

Distribution becomes valuable

Expedia acquired Travelscape in March 2000. Its filing identifies discounted contracts with hotels and other travel suppliers. ARGENT reads the deal as a bridge between Las Vegas room distribution and the emerging scale of online travel. [2]

03 / THE STORY

A casino acquisition has a capital structure

The Golden Nugget deal closed in January 2004. Poster Financial’s report describes $155 million of senior secured notes issued to help finance it, alongside other funding. Following the debt and the operating companies gives a clearer account than a simple story of two men buying a casino with a windfall. [3]

04 / THE STORY

The next chapter after the sale

The Landry’s closing in September 2005 ended this ownership period. The partners’ biography also records later executive work at Wynn beginning in 2008. Their careers connect travel distribution, casino ownership and resort operations. [4] [1]

THE CHRONOLOGY

Key dates

  1. 1990

    Starts the travel business. [1]

  2. 1998

    The partnership launches Travelscape.com. [1]

  3. 2000

    Travelscape passes to Expedia. [2]

  4. 2004–2005

    The Golden Nugget ownership period. [3] [4]

  5. 2008

    Begins a later Wynn executive chapter. [1]

FOLLOW THE CONNECTIONS

People in the same story

FROM ARGENT’S COLLECTION

In the archive

45 entries about associated places, not necessarily this person in the saved collection.

THE READING ROOM

Go deeper into the record.

Sources for this profile and starting points for further research. Access notes mark links we could not open directly during the October 3–4, 2026 checks. Historical accounts describe their own period; they do not necessarily describe current operations.

  1. 1

    Trifecta Hospitality · First-party career account

    The Partners

    Use for their career sequence. Claims of inventing an entire business model and personal financial returns are not adopted as independent findings.

  2. 2

    Expedia · SEC EDGAR · Company filing

    2002 annual report: business model and acquisitions

    Dates the completed Travelscape acquisition to March 17, 2000 and values the exchanged securities at approximately $96 million. Describes the merchant model and negotiated supplier rates.

  3. 3

    Poster Financial Group · SEC EDGAR · Company filing · quarter ended September 30, 2004

    Quarterly report: Golden Nugget acquisition and financing

    Documents the January 23, 2004 closing and the financing structure. Acquisition price, equity contribution and debt are different measures.

    Publisher-page access is unconfirmed. Access check: Oct 4, 2026. Search for this source (search results)

  4. 4

    Landry’s · SEC EDGAR · Closing announcement · September 27, 2005

    Completion of the Golden Nugget acquisitions

    States $140 million cash plus assumed notes and other liabilities. The transaction total is not the sellers’ personal profit.