More information on Las Vegas Strip hotels.
More information on Las Vegas resorts.
Early yesterday morning (August 6), firefighters were called to the construction site of the future Fontainebleau Las Vegas due to a structure collapse.
Reports say part of the multi-level parking structure collapsed, causing three levels to pancake down upon each other. Thankfully no injuries were reported but following last week’s tragedy at the site, where one worker died in a fall and two others were hurt, all work has been suspended pending a thorough investigation.
The Fontainebleau Las Vegas is a $2.8 billion project scheduled to open in late 2009 just north …
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Even though the dust has barely settled on the 2005 opening of the Augustus Tower at Caesars Palace, the resort is about to expand again.
Parent company Harrah’s Entertainment announced plans this week for a $1 billion expansion of the property, which will include a new tower, a second meeting and convention center, a rebuilt pool area, a new poolside cafe, and a new wedding garden. As if that weren’t enough, plans also call for the complete remodel of both the Forum Tower and the Casino front entrance, as well as the buffet restaurant and the Race & Sports Book area. It will be the most expensive upgrade for the 41-year-old property.
The new tower will be named the Octavius, after the great-nephew of Julius Caesar, who later changed his name to Augustus. This 665-room tower will include 594 guest rooms and 71 suites in various sizes, including three pool villa suites. These expansive pool villas will reside on the tower’s second floor and will be more than 10,000-square-feet in size each. Luxury amenities planned for these suites include private butler service and private terraces overlooking the resort’s pool and garden area.
All of the new Octavius rooms will feature flat-panel TVs, clock radios with iPod docking stations, TVs embedded in bathroom mirrors and upscale linens. For extra privacy and security, floors 21 through 23 in the resort’s sixth tower will be comprised entirely of various-sized suites with special key card access required to visit these floors.
The $375 million Octavius Tower will adjoin the Augustus Tower, bordering Flamingo Road on the southeast corner of the property, and will raise the number of rooms and suites available at Caesars Palace from 3,348 to 4,013. It will also be adjacent to the new 263,000-square-foot meeting and convention center.
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Elite Traveler magazine caters to the luxury travel market and in the July/August issue, they feature their picks for the 101 most luxurious hotel suites in the world. Using a long list of criteria, such as privacy, location, amentities and one-of-a-kind designs, the magazine’s editors, along with a celebrity panel, narrowed down the choices and three Vegas suites made the final cut.
The Palms had two suites on the list. The first is the Hugh Hefner Sky Villa, which the panel said was chosen because it’s …
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Travel + Leisure Magazine released their 2007 “World’s Best Lists” this week and there’s good news and bad news for Las Vegas.
The good is that the city had three resorts place on the lists, which were determined by surveys mailed to subscribers of the upscale travel publication. The subscribers were asked to name and rate destinations and properties that they had visited and the results were tabulated and scores averaged for a rating out of 100 percent.
The Bellagio was the highest rated Las Vegas resort, with an 86.31 score. This placed the resort at #35 on the “Top 100 Hotels in Continental U.S. and Canada” list, up from last year’s #48 perch. The score was also good enough to land the resort the #12 spot on the magazine’s “Top 15 Hotels for $250 or less” list.
The Four Seasons Hotel was the second Vegas property to appear on the “Top 100 Hotels in Continental U.S. and Canada” list, with an 85.86 score. This placed the hotel at #46 on the Top 100, up from last year’s #58 spot.
The final Vegas resort to appear on the “Top 100 Hotels in Continental U.S. and Canada” list was the Wynn, which scored an 84.97. It made its first appearance on the list, ranking at #72.
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According to Reuters, Israeli company Africa Israel Investments is the newest partner in a group attempting to buy a plot of land in Las Vegas for $625 million.
The company is investing enough to give it a 49 percent share in the project, which will encompass several hotels, commercial spaces, a conference room and a casino on a 60-acre plot of land bordering the Hard Rock Hotel. No word on whether this will be another mega-project along the lines of City Center and Echelon, but it sure sounds like it.
The article also doesn’t mention the plot of land specifically, but the …
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PBL, the company behind the upcoming Crown Las Vegas, filed papers recently with the Clark County planning commission outlining their plans for the luxury property, which will have 5,000 rooms, along with retail, restaurants, gaming, spa and convention center space. But most noteworthy about these plans, as you can see from the artist rendering to the left, is that the resort would literally tower over the rest of the Strip.
According to the plans, PBL intends for the building to be 142 floors, or 1888 feet …
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It was announced this week that Tamares Las Vegas Properties, owners of several downtown hotel-casinos, have agreed to sell the run-down Gold Spike on Ogden to a Miami developer - sight unseen! - for a little over $15 million.
The new owner, Gregg Covin Development, has a reputation in Miami for taking older undesirable properties and turning them into boutique hotels, like they did with what is now known as Hotel St. Augustine. And that’s exactly what new owner Covin says he …
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![Luxor at night [taken by Michelle Snow]](http://www.lasvegaslogue.com/files/2007/07/luxor-frontnight-120x120.jpg)
This morning, MGM Mirage held a press conference to officially confirm what many already suspected: the Egyptian theme prevalent throughout the Luxor was going to be removed.
MGM Mirage acquired the Luxor about two years ago, in an almost $8 billion purchase of the Mandalay Resort Group that also included Mandalay Bay and the Excalibur. But the company feels it’s time to let go of the Egyptian theme.
“We’re not a British museum with ancient artifacts, we’re a casino-resort,” said Luxor President and COO Felix Rappaport to reporters. “This was a brilliantly conceived building from the outside. The pyramid always created a sense of wow and wonder, but the inside never delivered on that promise.”
I can see what he means by that. Even though the outside Sphynx and the pyramid shape of the building are very visually interesting, some of the ways the theme was applied included just slapping an Egyptian name upon something, without really committing to the idea. It always felt to me like they did just enough to say it was an Egyptian theme, without really making the resort feel like you were in Egypt. For comparison, look at The Venetian, which does a remarkable job of immersing guests in the Italian theme, while still offering a luxury experience.
Already minor changes have been applied to the Luxor.
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Just a few quick Vegas notes of interest for you today:
Temperatures in Vegas hit 116 degrees this week, which tied a 1985 record. That temperature is also only 1 degree shy of the all-time record. Might be a good idea to revisit my tips and tricks for beating the Vegas heat that I wrote last month. Stay safe if you’re visiting in this heat, ok?
Michael Politz from VegasEye.com confirmed my earlier suspicions that the off-Strip land deal I wrote about last week was indeed the land that was supposed to house the W Hotel development. Partnering …
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Late yesterday MTR Gaming Group Inc. said in a press release that they intend to sell their Binion’s property to TLC Casino Enterprises Inc. for a reported $32 million.
MTR bought the property three years ago from Harrah’s Entertainment for $20 million, but found it tough going in the downtown market. Last year Binion’s barely broke even in profits and this year, it has posted a loss of over $1 million so far.
TLC is no stranger to the downtown Vegas casino …
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