Tag: Las Vegas Hotels View All Tags
Tags: NYT Reviews / Las Vegas Hotels / Steve Wynn / Viva Vegas / → All Tags
The NYT Finally Checks into the Encore
HotelChatter's video from Encore Las Vegas, taken in January 2009.
It’s always fun to read someone else’s first take of a place that you’ve covered, well, quite intimately. Like the Encore in Vegas, Steve Wynn’s almost one-year-old 2,034-room luxe tower, which this past weekend (finally!) got the official New York Times treatment.
“If Steve Wynn’s last two Sin City resorts — Wynn Las Vegas in 2005 and the Bellagio in 1998 — were about bringing a whiff of Park Avenue to the Strip, the Encore is about the hotelier’s loosening his pearls and swinging a little,” writes the Times’ Brooks Barnes. And though the Times says the hotel is intended for the “younger and hipper” crowd, our own observations last January was of a clientele, um, “older than dirt.”
Tags: Hotel Theft / Hotel Hell / Hotwire / Twitter / Las Vegas Hotels / Hotel Security / → All Tags
Our iPod Was Stolen From Our Room at the MGM Grand
We spent a few days last week hopping between Vegas hotels that we’d booked through Hotwire. We landed the MGM Grand for our second night in Sin City, which we were very excited about. And although we got zilch in the way of upgrades and vouchers at check-in, we rather liked our room — it was a little old-looking, but it had a pretty super view of mountains and McCarran airport. We could have watched the planes coming in all day.
Unluckily for us, as it turned out, we didn’t. We went out instead. And, because we were a bit nervous of being mobbed by drunk people, just as we were going out the door, we whipped our iPod out of our purse. We’d already locked our (paltry) valuables away in our suitcase, and we didn’t have time to get the key out, so we just stuck it in the front flap of the case and ran off to watch people humping chairs at Anthony Cools’ hypnotist show at Paris.
Tags: Viva Las Vegas / Hotel News / Las Vegas Hotels / Hotel Construction / Hotel Hype / → All Tags
The Cosmopolitan Resort in Las Vegas is Alive!
The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas has had a rough go of it. It was rising, then Hearst Communications came in and slapped their wrist for using the name of the ladymag — but that didn't matter much, because Deutsche Bank had to come in and buy the half-finished building in a foreclosure sale, then rumors of the place becoming a Denizen started circulating and we all know what happened there — but the $3.9 billion hotel-condominium-casino project continues to forge ahead.
The Las Vegas Review Journal printed an interesting little snippet about the Cosmo this week, though: the owners of the building have hired former Caesars Palace general manager John Unwin to be the resort’s chief executive officer. The owners are "rumored to have an agreement with Hilton Hotels Corp. to operate the property under the Conrad and Hilton brands," though that's still unconfirmed — and no applications had been filed with Nevada gaming regulators as of last week, so we're not too sure what the plan is here.
The LVRJ article says the Cosmo — whatever it ends up being called — is still slated to open in September 2010. Hmmm...
Tags: Sweet Suite / Las Vegas Hotels / Theme Hotels / Barbie / → All Tags
You Know You Want to Check Out the Barbie Suite at The Palms
Don't lie. If we told you that there was a Barbie Suite in Las Vegas you would be kind of interested. Because you know it would be over-the-top. And pink. And sorta crazy in a cute bachelorette party-ish way. Or perhaps someone would have enough sense to use it as the set for the nobody-can-believe-this-is-a-real-show reality mess The Cougar.
Nonetheless, our little sibs at VegasChatter tipped us off to this bad boy (er, bad girl?) this morning: The Palms has unveiled their Barbie Suite (as you can see, it's, uh, sorta pink), done up completely by designer Jonathan Adler:
Featuring custom details that celebrate Barbie's pink panache, such as skirted, corseted, lace-up "dress" chairs, a sunburst mirror made from 65 Barbie® dolls and custom wall coverings in Barbie’s signature patterns, this suite lets guests live it up in true Barbie style!
In addition the custom Barbie décor, guests can also enjoy relaxing in an extra-large Jacuzzi tub, get cozy in front of a two-way fire place and take in amazing views of the Las Vegas strip.
The place can hold up to 50 people — perfect for a Bachelorette shindig or enough room for, oh, we don't know: a cast and crew for a trashy reality show of some sort.
Also, we know the Palms is not the most kid-friendly spot in Las Vegas (hello, Playboy and the playa-boys that come with all that stuff), but this is also a fairly kid-friendly suite.
But wallet-friendly it is not: it'll run you about $3,000 a night. Check it out. You know you want to.
For more on what's going on in Sin City, check out our newest site, VegasChatter!
Tags: Celebrity Scoop / Dennis Rodman / Las Vegas Hotels / Hotel Staff / → All Tags
Dennis Rodman Sued by Hard Rock Las Vegas Employee
Rodman being escorted out of London WeHo after getting too handsy. Again.
Guh. Dennis Rodman. Get it together, dude.
After a couple of unfortunate incidents in hotels lately — one of those incidents being his most unfortunate appearance on 'Celebrity Apprentice' in which he attempted to help the other contestants run a hotel but instead got drunkers and got fired — Dennis Rodman is suffering the consequences for actin' a fool in a hotel.
Apparently, a former beverage manager at the Hard Rock Las Vegas filed a lawsuit against the ex-basketball star that accused Rodman of "[creating] a scene that included him grabbing her, forcing her to dance with him and slapping her bottom" while she was working in early 2006. According to the Las Vegas Sun, she had reported the incident to the management and "was told Rodman would not be allowed back at the establishment" — but then he was somehow there again and pulled the same shenanigans, about which she complained to the management again. And then she was fired.
Tags: Viva Las Vegas / Hotel News / Las Vegas Hotels / → All Tags
Tropicana's 'Les Folies Bergere' Closes, Criss Angel Remains
It's a sad day in Vegas today. This morning marks the beginning of the first week in almost 50 years without the Tropicana's "Les Folies Bergere," the classic French-import Vegas showgirl revue that had been running since 1959.
Due to thinning audiences and the relative unpopularity of showgirl-style entertainment on the strip (compared to shows like Cirque du Soleil and whatnot — and, um, we suppose the stiff competition posed by Criss Angel's tanking "Believe" at The Luxor), "Folies" had its very last show on Saturday night after a whopping 29,000 runs since Christmas of '59.
Tags: Celebrity Scoop / Paris Hilton / Las Vegas Hotels / TV Set Hotels / → All Tags
Paris Hilton Looking for Her New BFF at Hard Rock Las Vegas
We almost wanted to ignore this, but we feel it is our duty to tell you: not only is the heartbreakingly-still-in-existence reality show Paris Hilton's My New BFF back for a second season (a Second. Season.), but it is being filmed — reportedly, at least — in Vegas. And while the show is shooting, Paris herself is going to be calling the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino her home base for a while. Be advised.
Before we continue, please take a moment to sigh and be sad about the fact that Paris' career is still going strong while so many people in this great nation are having employment troubles.
Okay. Anyway. Vegas Deluxe is saying that Paris has come to Vegas to "start filming Season 2 of MTV’s Paris Hilton’s My New BFF reality show. She will be headquartered at the Hard Rock Hotel for the shooting." Recall that back in October, she did the UK version of the show in London and crashed at the May Fair during filming (and was spotted out and about quite a bit) — so, Vegas-ites and future Hard Rock guests, stay on the lookout for a Hilton sister on the hunt for a BFF.
[Photo: Erik Kabik/Retna]
Tags: Hotel Pools / Hotel Parties / Las Vegas Hotels / Viva Las Vegas / → All Tags
Party On With Your Top Off at Mirage's Bare
We sincerely hope that when you think of the Vegas pool scene that the Hard Rock's Sunday Rehab isn't the first thing that comes to mind. Trust us: there are nicer Vegas pool experiences with cleaner water, cleaner people and cleaner, um, everything.
But this one's not necessarily clean in the other sense of the word: the Mirage's Bare pool — an upscale "adult" pool experience (read: topless!) — will open for the season on March 12. The area features two saltwater dipping pools, a DJ and and a pretty impressive menu of over-the-top VIP-style services; you can either drop some cash to snag yourself private daybeds or cabanas on the main level, or just grab one of the poolside chaise lounges. There's also a raised VIP section with umbrella-covered daybeds and a glass infinity-edged pool.
Tags: Celebrity Scoop / Viva Vegas / Hotel News / Las Vegas Hotels / Hard Rock Hotels / → All Tags
Chris Brown Hiding Out at the Hard Rock Las Vegas
When you're a celeb in trouble with the law, with your wife or with your fans (a la A-Rod), there's something about the anonymity of a hotel that will always seem like the most appealing option. Inside a hotel, you're afforded the opportunity to escape the throngs of paparazzi (or dirty looks) that may surround your permanent residence to hide away in your lavish suite — and sneaking there through a back entrance to avoid the bustling lobby and judge-y eyes is totally do-able with the right security team.
And yet. When you're in trouble with the law, your girlfriend and your fans — like Chris Brown right now — perhaps the most prudent choice of hotel in which to keep a low profile would be, oh, we don't know... not the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas.
According to E! Online, the singer — who is being investigated by the LA District Attorney's Office for allegedly physically assaulting his girlfriend, Rihanna — is hiding away inside an upper-floor suite at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Vegas.
Tags: Hotel Renovations / Hotel Concerts / Hard Rock Hotels / Las Vegas Hotels / → All Tags
Hard Rock's The Joint Goes Out With a Bang
Let's pretend you're a concert venue. And let's pretend you're about to close for a while before re-emerging bigger, better and with a totally new look and a bit of a different identity. Who would you choose to play the last concert on your stage — the rock and roll equivalent to your Last Meal on Earth?
For The Joint at Vegas' Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, the answer was Motley Crue. On Saturday night, the legendary band was the last band to grace the original Joint's stage before the curtain fell on the place. The Joint will be closed until April 2009, and it will re-open as a totally new butterfly: twice the size, with a new sound and lighting system and seven premiere VIP hospitality suites.
Specifically, the new Joint will have:
· Seated and general admission capacities will be doubled
· 700+ fixed stadium-style seats and top-notch green and production rooms
· WiFi access throughout the venue and full blogging station for press covering events and shows
· State-of-the-art light and sound including a D&B Audiotechnik, two full flown stacks, a center cluster for fills, stage fills and over 36 delay speakers through the back of the venue, bar areas, lobby and restrooms
· Ability to transform venue to accommodate boxing, wrestling, mixed martial arts events, corporate functions and trade shows, as well as red carpet movie premieres and advanced screenings
The reno will cost the hotel $60 million, a mere fraction of the property's $750 million expansion slated for completion in late 2009.
Tags: Anti-View / Viva Las Vegas / Las Vegas Hotels / → All Tags
Red and Gold Spires Do Not a Killer View Make
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.
When we're staying in Vegas for $61 a night, we can deal with not having a view of the Las Vegas Strip — even if we are at the Excalibur. And we understand that if we're not looking at the Strip, there's a pretty high likelihood that we're going to get some roof action — or at least a view of a neighboring hotel casino.
Unless, that is, someone got creative! Behold this breathtaking view of some goofy red and gold spires, courtesy some clever designer at the Excalibur. That's right, folks: someone at least went through the trouble of dressing up the otherwise-blah roof with a couple of red and gold-topped towers. It's kind of cute, right?
We've gotta give the Excalibur credit where credit is due, though: at least you're looking at something — plus, the hotel doesn't front like it's something that it's not. It touts itself as a Vegas hotel that's "fun, not fancy." Not fancy, indeed. Check out what we saw on the inside of this room here.
Tags: Snapshot / Killer View / Las Vegas Hotels / Encore Las Vegas / → All Tags
View Faceoff: Wynn vs. Encore Las Vegas
Reader D. was kind enough to send over a couple of window snapshots from his recent stays at both the Wynn Las Vegas and Wynn's younger sister (she's a newborn, really) Encore Las Vegas so we could assess which one was more viewlicious. And maybe it's just the Friday afternoon anything-looks-better-than-a-desk syndrome, but they both look pretty killer to us.
But please, judge for yourself. Here's the Wynn's golf course view:
And check out Encore's view of the strip:
We think both views are perfectly lovely, and we maintain that the competition is fair: the Encore view is from room #5526, and the golf course view comes from Wynn's room #5524. The rooms (as far as we know) are similar — but the killer view is in the eye of the beholder.
Hotels In: Africa | Asia | Australia | Caribbean | Europe | North America | South America
Our Publications:
Jaunted | HotelChatter | VegasChatter
