We've been keeping tabs on hotels that offer gift cards and today we can add the Luxor Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas to the list.
The cards are available inside the hotel at the spa, the business center and Essentials gift shop. Up to $2,500 can be loaded onto the card and it can be used at "participating merchants at participating MGM MIRAGE Properties."
According to the website the card can be used towards accommodations, a wedding in the wedding chapel, most of the restaurants and nightlife spots, Criss Angel's BELIEVE show and pretty much all of the shopping. Sadly, you can't use it at the craps table.
While money Mommy and Daddy enjoy some alone time in the cabanas at the Mandalay Bay, the teenyboppers can have their own private fun with the family charge card at the Shops at Mandalay Place.
Next Friday the 13th (ooh ominous!), the LA-based "specialty store chain for trendsetting young adults" Metropark will join Mandalay's other teen-preen shops like Urban Outfitters and Fornarina.
We told you a few weeks back that Criss Angel was gearing up to do a show at the Luxor and despite our nightly prayers to God, this show is definitely happening.
Criss Angel's new magic show with Cirque du Soleil called "Believe" will open at the Luxor Hotel in Las Vegas on September 1. Tickets are already on sale for the show which was inspired by the code word Harry Houdini said he would use to communicate with people after his death--Believe.
The show will feature Criss Angel as:
A surreal, enigmatic Victorian Noble. Along a path of imaginative exploration, he encounters Kayala and Crimson, two women who represent different aspects of femininity, four bizarre Ushers, who will introduce the audience to the baroque theater of Criss’s mind and a high-energy troupe of characters and dancers who mix a multitude of styles into a high-energy visual feast, punctuated by moments of grace and sensuality.
The preview performances will run from September 1-11 with the Gala Premiere being held on the 12th. Ticket prices range from $59-$150. Some good news does come out of all of this. We hear that the Luxor is getting a complete overhaul of all of its 4,408 rooms and suites. Which as we noticed back in late December is very necessary.
While the Luxor Hotel & Casino has done its best to offer exciting nightlife and dining options as of late, the guestrooms are more than deserving of the hotel's nickname, the Suxor.
This is a video of room 1314 in the Luxor's adjacent tower where rooms were renovated about a year ago. The woman at the front desk kept assuring us it was a nice room compared to the rooms inside the pyramid (which we feared had bed bugs), so we decided to pay $20 for a total of $139 and upgrade to a renovated room.
This is what we got. Hardly what we expected from a "renovated" room. Another thing that skeeved us out was that this room is actually on the tower's first floor just beyond the elevators. So you pretty much walk straight from the lobby to your room.
Since we didn't feel safe there, we opted to take back our original reservation inside the pyramids where the rooms were still pretty ghastly (that Egyptian decor and fake hieroglyphics can never be cool) but at least a little larger-sized.
[UPDATE: It was only open for two months but CatHouse is already undergoing renovations for structural damage. We'll keep you posted on the reopening date.]
CatHouse the new "loungerie" and restaurant debuted inside the Luxor Hotel & Casino over the weekend without any official celebrity host thanks to Mischa Barton's penchant for drinking and driving.
A handful of other celebs did make it to the opening like Tommy Lee, Jack and Kelly Osbourne, Carrot Top as well as CatHouse celeb chef Kerry Simon and his Australian partners, Billy Cross and Mick Doohan, a five-time world Formula One motorcycle racing champion. So needless to say there were a lot of Aussies and gearheads in the place.
MORE on the CatHouse opening, including a Paris Hilton sighting, after the jump.
The Mandalay Bay has come a long way baby. In order to keep up with the insane amount of new hotel construction and renovation going on in Las Vegas as well as keep up with the super sweet rooms of THEhotel, Mandalay Bay wisely redid all their guestrooms this past year.
Rooms range in size from 550 to 1,500 square feet with floor-to-ceiling windows, separate his-and-her closets, spacious multi-jet spa tubs, separate glass-enclosed showers, twin vanities, fully stocked minibars and two flat-screen televisions - a 42-inch plasma in the bedroom and a 15-inch LCD in each bathroom.
Other state-of-the-art amenities include wireless high-speed Internet access, cordless phones with dual lines and iHome clock radios for iPods.
Aside from the rooms looking more like 2007 than 1985, the rest of the hotel has kicked it up a notch. We stayed there in April and had a far better experience than when we stayed there in 2005 which was an infamous hotel stay. The elevators were faster, the check-in was hassle-free, and the front desk bought us two tubes of toothpaste when we told them we had forgotten ours. Even better, we paid $169 a night (before taxes) which in Vegas these days is practically a deal.
Mischa Barton got popped with a DUI in West Hollywood last night after police saw her "straddling two lanes of traffic" and failing to signal when she turned. When they pulled her over they found out she was an unlicensed driver and had been drinking. She also may have had some illegal narcotics on her. TMZ reports:
Barton is still in custody, being held on $10,000 bail. The L.A. County Sheriffs' Inmate Information website called her "Mischa Burton." Sources tell us that Mischa has been "very cooperative" and "no trouble at all." She's a good bad girl!
We are sure Mischa will post bail and down the road attend some court-mandated AA sessions and do some community service. But for now, the bigger question is will she still be hosting the opening of CatHouse, the new bordello-inspired lounge/restaurant from chef Kerry Simon inside the Luxor Hotel?
That opening is set for Saturday night and Mischa was to be the guest of honor. But we're pretty sure hosting a party in Las Vegas just days after a DUI is not the best reputation management plan for Mischa. Then again, we're not sure anyone would care. Let's hope CatHouse can still open on time.
After the recent opening of its LAX nightclub, The Luxor Hotel & Casino is adding another hotspot by the end of this year called, CatHouse.
The place will feature an unusual combination (but perhaps not that unusual for Vegas) of a celebrity chef restaurant from Kerry Simon with a lounge and erotic performance theatre.
From the press release:
A loungerie inspired by the rich opulence of a 19th century European bordello, CatHouse was creaed by an international team that includes European jet-setters, Australian celebrities, theatrical producers and Sin City's most popular chef....
Interactive theatrics--in the form of exotically clad, professionally trained performers--means personal surpise is mandatory for every guest.
Kerry Simon will put his "signature approach" on American cuisine by trying out American tapas. Other jetsetter partners include Australian club owner and promoter Billy Cross and Mick Doohan, a five-time world Moto GP motorcycle racing champion.
If you couldn't guess from the name CatHouse, this loungerie will be extremely sexual, sensual and seductive. Indeed, the owners are hoping CatHouse will be the place guests can go to for "willful voyeurism, twisting taboos and playing with social mores."
The grand opening of the club will happen on December 29th with a full red carpet event as new clubs in Vegas are wont to do. This is just the latest in changes at the Luxor which is getting a $250 million overhaul. Looks like they paid attention to those hotel casinos Crapping Out or Breaking Even on our Viva Las Vegas Hotel Map.
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by juliana
