las vegas Travel Guide
Tags: Deal Or No Deal / Viva Vegas / Hotel Packages / Private Jets / → All Tags
The Wynn Las Vegas is Offering Up Its 'Private' Jet To Guests
Apparently the folks at the Wynn Las Vegas had some unused jets lying around the tarmac - the recession's been rough on everyone that way - and decided to try to do something with them. For the next two months they'll be flying travelers between Los Angeles and Vegas as part of a broader vacation package:
The package begins at $780 per person for double occupancy and $1,193 for single occupancy. The price includes roundtrip airfare on a 50-person jet from Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport or John Wayne Airport in Orange County and a three-night stay in a standard room at Encore or Wynn. On board the private jet, a Wynn concierge will have room keys on hand so guests can skip the hotel check-in process, as well as champagne before take off. Upon arrival at McCarran International Airport’s executive terminal, limousine service will take guests to the resort.
This is presumably targeted at the same kind of Vegas bachelor parties where people book single-night table service at a club because they're rolling high class, which isn't the worst market to target. It might also be nice for important anniversaries. And though we're not really sure why a 50-passenger jet counts as "private" when the USAir shuttle from Burbank to Vegas has less seats, the limos are a nice touch.
Tags: Hotel Fires / Hotel News / Viva Vegas / Hard Rock Hotels / → All Tags
Fire at The Hard Rock Disrupts Rehab, Sportsbook and Naptime
Talk about a major party foul. An electrical fire yesterday at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas sent guests scrambling from all parts of the hotel, including the sportsbook during the opening day of the NFL and from Rehab, the hotel's infamous pool party. KTNV reports:
The fire was started by an air conditioning unit overheating in a wall between the existing resort and a new building being built on site. There were no fire alarms in the area where the fire flared up, but the heavy smoke alerted security and guests.
Tags: Snapshot / Viva Vegas / Hotel Sex Kits / Steve Wynn / → All Tags
Yes, It's True: The Encore Has Intimacy Kits in the Minibar
Hotel sex kits have been around for a while now so it never surprises us when we walk into hip boutique hotels in urban areas and find a pack of condoms with some fun extras awaiting in the mini-bar.
But we were taken aback when we saw this: The Wynn Intimacy Kit atop the mini-bar at The Encore Las Vegas. Old people use hotel sex kits?
We kid, we kid. Actually, the Encore is the hipper younger sister to the Wynn Las Vegas and during our recent stay, we saw more folks below the age of 40 than we've had in recent memory at the Wynn/Encore properties. Certainly, the average hotel guest age was a lot lower than it was when we first stayed here back in January.
Tags: Digital Nomad Hotels / Hotel WiFi / Hotel Lobbies / Viva Vegas / → All Tags
Digital Nomad Lobbies: Encore's Lobby Bar and Cafe
There has been a lot of talk recently about the lifestyle of digital nomads -- folks who work from wherever they might roam. HotelChatter has been covering hotel wifi since the beginning, but as we cited in our 2009 annual hotel wifi report times they are a changin'.
It's time for us to start rating hotel lobbies on their digital nomad quotient. We continue this series with the Encore Las Vegas where we found ourselves hanging out yesterday at the hotel's Lobby Bar and Cafe.
Tags: Viva Vegas / Michael Jackson / Hard Rock Hotels / → All Tags
The Hard Rock to Add Michael Jackson's Glove to Its Memorabilia Collection
The doors of the Hard Rock have guitar handles.
While the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas does have a lot of party-centric activities on site--drinking at Wasted Space, bumping n' grinding at Body English, doing both of those in the water at the Rehab Sunday pool party--the hotel is still true to its original concept and the amount of rock n' roll memorabilia on display is fantastic.
When we were there last month, just off to the reception desk were the sexy outfits used in music videos by Christina Aguilera, Katy Perry and Britney Spears. In fact, Hard Rock actually possesses the outfit Britney used in her "Hit Me Baby One More Time" video. Throughout the property you will also find outfits and property belonging to No Doubt, Bon Jovi, Elvis Presley, Madonna and Michael Jackson. And it looks like the Hard Rock will have some more MJ to show off pretty soon.
Tags: Killer View / Viva Vegas / WiFi Hell / → All Tags
The Palazzo Lets You Spy on The Wynn's Pool Scene
We are suckers for a room with a killer view. We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.
It's not that often that we get rooms with a killer view in Las Vegas. Like everything else in Sin City--if you want it, you gotta pay for it. And room views do cost extra. But last month we found ourselves with a pleasant view of The Wynn's (thankfully) tame pool scene and its golf course. And yeah, we zoomed in. A wider shot is after the jump.
Tags: Hotel Lawsuits / Hotel News / Ed Scheetz / Morgans Hotel Group / → All Tags
The Hard Rock and Morgans Hotel Group Are Named in Wrongful Death Lawsuit
The Las Vegas Sun reported yesterday that the family of Michelle Hatchel, who died of a drug overdose in 2007 in the Vegas condo of Ed Scheetz, the former CEO of Morgans Hotel Group, have not only filed a lawsuit against Scheetz but have also named The Hard Rock Hotel and Morgans as defendants.
Hatchel had been living and partying with him at his Vegas residence in the weeks before her death--an overdose of oxycontin and cocaine--and Scheetz referred to her as his "girlfriend" in the 911 call. Scheetz has never been criminally charged for any wrongdoing in Hatchel's death. However, he has already settled a wrongful death suit with Hatchel's father for a "substantial sum."
This latest lawsuit has been filed on behalf of Hatchel's mother grandmother, brother and aunt. The new allegations they make against Scheetz are very shocking and they reveal the world of hard-core partying, drugs and sex that he was into during his time in Vegas. And that's where the Hard Rock comes in.
Tags: Anti-View / Hard Rock Hotels / Hotel Fees / Hotel Hell / → All Tags
The Paradise Tower Paved Paradise and Showed Guests a Parking Garage
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
We really hate to do two of the same anti-views in a row but this one from the Hard Rock Hotel's new Paradise Tower is worse than last week's construction eyesore.
A recent guest sent us these photos, which not only show the crap view that some rooms get of the Employee Parking lot but also just how much wear and tear the hotel rooms have suffered--and the hotel just opened on July 31st!
The disappointed guest writes:
I checked into a room at the new Paradise Tower at the Hard Rock yesterday, and found it to be a prefect specimen for your "anti-view" segment. Though I’ve never taken photos of a hotel room before, this one I couldn’t resist.
The room number was 30521. It was supposed to be a "mountain/ city view," but I’d categorize it as an "employee parking lot view," or, "some random guy’s Dodge Ram view." They have draconian policies (like a $100 an hour charge for late check-outs beyond 11AM), and they really don’t keep the place up (the old tower is in shambles).
Frankly, the only reason to even consider staying there is to go to Rehab (their Sunday pool party). Otherwise, the place is ridiculously expensive and has horrible service and food options.
Tags: Anti-View / Viva Vegas / Hard Rock Hotels / → All Tags
'Paradise' As Seen From The Hard Rock's Paradise Tower
You know the scene. You open the door to your brand new hotel room, run over to the window, open the blinds and bam, you are hit with the anti-view. Maybe you are looking down a dirty alley, witnessing a drug deal, staring at an air shaft in the face, or seeing a brick wall. Whatever you are viewing it is not extremely pleasurable. Help out your fellow hotel mavens by uploading your anti-views to the HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool, or by sending the photo along to us. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number with the not-so-easy-on-the-eyes view.
Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas, home to the world's largest gathering of anti-views in one single city. So we're not really surprised that this was the view from The Hard Rock's Paradise Tower but it was kind of a bummer, considering how sweet how rooms were. (The rest of the hotel we could do without.)
Our room, 738 on the seventh floor, was at the corner of the tower which afforded us views of this and facing the strip, which is a few miles away. That view also had some construction immediately in front of the hotel but once you looked past that, it turned into a killer view.
Tags: HotelChatter Reviews / Viva Vegas / Hard Rock Hotels / Paradise Tower / → All Tags
Almost Paradise, But Not Really at The Hard Rock's New Paradise Tower
So we took you inside the Hard Rock Las Vegas' new Paradise Tower yesterday and while we liked the rooms in this new tower at the Hard Rock, the rest of the hotel left us a little grumpy.
It all started with check-in. We showed up on Monday at 1pm. Yes, we knew that it was two hours before the standard check-in time of 3pm but we thought we'd try our luck--after all it was a Monday. However, we totally forgot that the folks attending Sin City's rauchiest Sunday pool party, Rehab, would be checking out that day. Thus our room wasn't ready. That we didn't mind. We ended up passing our time in the Starbucks. What we did mind is that we waited nearly 25 minutes to have an agent tell us that.
When the hotel called us to let us know the room was ready, we had to wait in line another 10 minutes to get our key. Grrr.
Tags: Snapshot / Project CityCenter / Viva Vegas / VegasChatter / Sneak Peek / → All Tags
The Killer View of CityCenter from Hotel32
So we weren't in love with our experience at the Paradise Tower at The Hard Rock but we were might impressed by the new rooms at Hotel32, the new boutique floor atop the Monte Carlot Hotel and Casino.
Here's a snapshot from the Hotel32 lounge which offers up killer views of CityCenter. What you're looking at right here is the Aria Hotel and Casino. In the corner, you can see the tip of the new Cirque du Soleil building which will house the Elvis show. Yes, an Elvis Cirque du Soleil show!
After some pretty dark times this year, CityCenter is now moving forward with plans to open Aria, Vdara Resort and The Crystals luxury shopping complex, all in December. We can't wait.
Tags: Hotel Video Tours / Viva Vegas / Hard Rock Hotels / Paradise Tower / Guess The Hotel / → All Tags
Inside The Hard Rock's New Paradise Tower
We knew that yesterday's Guess the Hotel wouldn't be too difficult and we're happy to see that you all managed to guess correctly---The Paradise Tower at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.
We braved the hotel's new tower the day after the festivities of the raunchy pool party, Rehab, had ended, thus on a Monday. We managed to snag a room here for $99 a night which we booked on the hotel's website. However, there is a $7.00 resort fee which as far as we can tell does not include anything worthy although we'd like to think that it's for extensive pool clean-up.
We also got upgraded at check-in to a corner room, meaning we have views of the back of the Hard Rock (some construction and partial shots of the pool) and full-frontal views of the Strip. Hello, Planet Hollywood!* And we have to say the room decor, mostly black and grey with "rock star" touches, is probably the coolest in all of Vegas.
However, all is not well with this new side of the Hard Rock.
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