In a town full of gamblers, it usually takes more than one toss of the dice to raise your profile as a big-time player — unless, of course, you’ve got a hundred million or more on the table.
Ten years ago, Steve Wynn shot a “7” on the comeout roll with the Mirage. In hindsight, it appears to have been a sure bet, but, in fact, plenty of people here were predicting he’d crap out.
Same thing with Peter Morton, who, in 1995, went against conventional wisdom by targeting Generation X hipsters for his Hard Rock Hotel. At a time when the average age of a Las Vegas visitor was around 48 years old, nobody thought they’d see the day when young adults would flock to a casino, and actually play something more challenging than the nickel slots.
Few people foresaw that the Rio — which is a good hike from the Strip — could attract anything more than bargain-happy buffet buffs and savvy locals, or that the Fremont Street Experience could bring tourists back to Glitter Gulch.
Surely, it was hard to imagine that anyone still would bet against Wynn, even when he dared to use Impressionist and Modern art treasures to lure folks into the $1.8 billion Bellagio. But, there were plenty of naysayers, and, yes, they’ve been proven wrong once again.
In the last several months, the biggest question on the lips of tourism officials has been whether the latest dramatic spurt in room capacity can be justified, especially in light of an economic slowdown in Asia. Many have voiced their doubts.
Since Bellagio opened its doors last fall, Las Vegas has seen the arrival of the Venetian and Mandalay Bay mega-resorts, a plush new Four Seasons, an expansion of the Hard Rock and a revitalization of the Frontier. Business has been booming for the new properties, however, and, to the surprise of almost everyone, slumping gaming revenues picked up steam in the first-quarter.
The Venetian
Nowhere has such high-stakes entrepreneurial gambling been made to look quite so glorious than at the Venetian, Sheldon Adelson’s billion-dollar brainstorm, situated across the street from Treasure Island and adjacent to the Sands Expo Center. The all-suite hotel replicates in minute detail the most familiar landmarks of Italy’s most romantic city, including the Doge’s Palace, the Rialto Bridge, Campanile Tower, Grand Canal and St. Mark’s Square, complete with hundreds of trained pigeons.
The Venetian is taking dead aim at the luxury market now dominated by the Bellagio, Caesars Palace and Desert Inn, by offering 3,000 unusually spacious rooms, an outpost of the Canyon Ranch spa, a boutique-filled mall, an art-laden lobby and restaurants run by such master chefs as Piero Selvaggio, Joachim Splichal, Wolfgang Puck, Emeril Lagasse and Eberhard Muller. Singing gondoliers will transport guests along a replica of the Grand Canal, which was built on the second floor of the hotel.
Among the 15 restaurants in Adelson’s hotel (he’s the sole owner), not one is a buffet.
In Las Vegas, this is the culinary equivalent of building a new Catholic Church and deciding not to put a cross above the altar.
“We have the courage not to put in a buffet,” asserted Adelson, in a conversation over lunch in his business offices last month. “Let them go to the other hotels. The people who want buffets are not consistent with the luxury and quality that we’ve put together here. We have 15 of the country’s greatest chefs.”
Adelson, who owns the Sands Expo Center, is emphatic about his desires to attract a high-end clientele to the Venetian — even though its cathedral-like prominence and magnificent reproductions of frescoes, murals, tapestries and architectural flourishes will be a magnet for looky-loos for months to come. He thinks both business travelers and “pleasure seekers” out for a romantic interlude will want to make use of the standard 700-square-foot suites, which feature sunken living rooms, fax machines, multi-line phones and other frills.
“My wife and I are real luxury travelers, and I want a safe in my room and I want a mini-bar,” he said. “There are no mini-bars in any hotel in Las Vegas — when you’re hungry for a snack or thirsty, you have to go through the casino. Our safes can hold a laptop computer, as well as jewelry, and, what’s more, there are battery-operated lights in them.
“There are pantrys and small kitchens every second level to guarantee continental-breakfast (and) room-service within 10 minutes.”
Inspired by memories of their honeymoon, Adelson was convinced by his wife to embrace Venice as the influence for his resort, which rises from the imploded ashes of the legendary Sands hotel.
“If you can reproduce the romance of Venice, the luxury of Beverly Hills and excitement of Las Vegas, people will flock to you,” insists Adelson, who has been a leader in the travel and tour industry for decades.
“If someone’s a budget traveler, and they’re looking for a $29 room, they can’t get it at the Venetian,” Adelson stressed. “But, if they’re already a customer that’s used to paying the weekend rates around here, they’ll find that the Venetian will be competitive, and we intend — in the first year anyway — not to be any more expensive than what our luxury competitors are, so people can sample it.”
With conventions helping to keep the hotel in business from Sunday to Thursday, and the usual weekend rush, he adds, “We feel that we will be the first hotel to fill and the last one to empty.”
The outspoken businessman was greeted by picketeers when the resort had its “soft opening” earlier this month.
The city’s powerful culinary union protested Adelson’s decision to lease out restaurant, entertainment and spa space, rather than have their employees be part of the hotel’s employee roster and benefit from what he considers to be “better than union scale” pay and working conditions (or be able to vote on union representation, if they so choose).
“My strategic approach is to change the way people do things in Las Vegas, by putting the customers and their needs and desires first,” Adelson asserts. “In a casino-centric mentality, it ignores the desires and needs of the customer and puts the casino first. Here, a wife can go to the Canyon Ranch for a few days, while her husband gambles. It’s a new reason to come to Las Vegas.
“What does a spa have that we don’t have? Maybe a golf course, which I don’t want, because, then, we’d be pitching our own course. Instead, we have a golf concierge, who has a deal with all 55 golf courses around the city and can make all the arrangements according to the level of play you want.”
Independent restaurant operators, he adds, “cannot operate on a union basis. They are leasing the space from us and have their own money at risk, which means that our customers are assured of the highest in food presentation, quality of food and service.”
Mandalay Bay
Constructed next door to the Luxor pyramid, the 3,300-room Mandalay Bay–open since March–is a tropics-themed resort that features an 11-acre water park, complete with a giant wave pool; a 12,000-seat events center; a 1,700-seat Broadway-style theater, where a full-length production of “Chicago” is in residence; and a House of Blues nightclub with its sky-high Foundation Room and themed guest rooms. The many fine restaurants and already-popular nightclubs — including Aureole, Puck’s Trattoria del Lupo, China Grill, Border Grill, Rumjungle and Red Square — cater to the same mix of fashionably dressed tourists and locals as the Hard Rock and Bellagio.
One must-see attraction at Mandalay Bay is the four-story, 10,000-bottle wine tower in Charlie Palmer’s Aureole restaurant. If the gourmet food and swan pond weren’t enough of a draw, nimble wine stewards perform an aerial ballet each time they are called upon to retrieve a bottle from the upper reaches of the climate-controlled edifice.
Other popular stops include the dancing fire-and-water walls of Rumjungle, which features “rodizio”-style skewer food, exotic drinks and dueling congas. Next door, at Red Square, vodka lovers can don a fur coat to sample rare varieties of the imported nectar in a freezing-cold private locker room or at an ice bar.
Outside Red Square stands a large statue of Lenin. A handful of people protested its presence after Mandalay Bay opened, and management quickly decided to behead the communist leader and add faux bird droppings to what was left of the sculpture.
The House of Blues offers a diverse lineup of artists that will be familiar to clubgoers in Chicago, Boston, New Orleans and Los Angeles, as well as down-home cooking, a mossy patio and a gospel brunch on Sundays. Unlike the other venues, however, the 1,800-capacity showroom offers lots of reserved seating and excellent sightlines.
The 18,000-square-foot Foundation Room is on the 43rd floor of the hotel and offers a spectacular view of the Strip and mountains surrounding the city. The 34th floor of the hotel is dedicated to themed House of Blues guestrooms, which cost $20 more than standard rooms.
Since many of the House of Blues shows — and those at the Joint — attract local rock fans, as well as tourists, it’s smart to check out the lineup early, through Ticketmaster, the club’s Web site or the box office.
Four Seasons
Like the Venetian, Four Seasons is attempting to attract travelers for whom money is no object.
Situated on the top floors of the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino, Four Seasons offers a separate entrance and registration area, trademark amenities, but no gambling. With Las Vegas becoming such a mecca for conventioneers and business travel, the idea here is that a goodly number of well-heeled or expense-account visitors might not want to share space with slot machines and yahoos in fanny packs and “Kiss Me I’m Irish” T-shirts.
“The response has been overwhelming,” said Randy Morton, general manager of the 424-room hotel, which also has been open since March. “As a company, we’ve wanted to come here for several years. We’re very fortunate to have a deal with our partner, Mandalay Bay, where we could carve out a section of this mega-resort for a private, intimate Four Seasons.”
While Mandalay Bay has a giant themed marquee, Four Seasons contributes little more than a whisper to the neon cacophony of Las Vegas marketing. Morton sees the irony in the situation, however.
“Our sign is the biggest in the Four Seasons group and smallest in Las Vegas,” he observed, with a smile. “We wanted to have a pretty prominent street sign — for the Four Seasons — but, obviously, compared to everyone else, it’s practically no sign at all. It’s extremely understated.
“Fifty percent of our clients have stayed at the Four Seasons before, and we have a lot of new customers. The major advantage we have is being non-gaming and offering a level of personalized service no one’s really doing or trying to do in Las Vegas to the same extent.”
Four Seasons — which also promotes its dining room, banquet facilities and afternoon tea service — is connected by a private walkway to the Mandalay Bay. So, if any guest wants to gamble or sample its many fine restaurants (or use its monorail link to the Luxor and Excalibur), it takes little effort.
Hard Rock Hotel
The $100-million expansion of the Hard Rock Hotel includes a new 330-room guest tower, four new restaurants (including a Nobu), Baby’s nightclub and more room in the pool and casino areas. The off-Strip property was an instant success when it opened four years ago, both with young trendoids and their Boomer parents, thanks, in part, to the diverse musical acts featured in the Joint showroom.
The New Frontier
After finally settling a debilitating six-year strike, the venerable Frontier — with one of the most distinctive marquees in town — has become the New Frontier.
Bargain hunters will find that, although it remains a throwback to another era, things have picked up considerably, thanks to the country & western-themed Gilley’s Dancehall (complete with bucking machine and Texas barbecue) and Gilley’s Live showroom, Panda Express restaurant, a modernized sports book and a monthly boxing program. The rooms may be old, but they’re larger than average, and renovations should be completed by the July 4 holiday.
. . . And the future
Absent a recession, Las Vegas tourism officials and hotel executives are optimistic that travelers will continue to fill up rooms as quickly as they are built and opened to the public. After all, convention business is booming and the Asian market is coming back to life.
An even bigger test will come this fall when Hilton opens its Paris-themed hotel, across from the Bellagio, and the World Wrestling Federation puts the finishing touches on the property it bought from Debbie Reynolds last year.
Try to imagine Stone Cold Steve Austin and the Rock sipping afternoon tea with the bonneted ladies at Four Seasons, you’ll be ready for everything 21st Century Las Vegas has to offer: luxury and lunacy in equal doses.
IF YOU GO
– THE DETAILS
Unless you’re booking your vacation through a packager, or money isn’t an object, the best rule of thumb when picking a room in Las Vegas is to be an aggressive shopper. Nightly rates can change on a daily basis, and sometimes span hundreds of dollars, depending on the day of the week, convention business, sporting events, holidays, view, weather and the likelihood a customer will gamble in the casino. The standard rack rate for the same “deluxe” room at the Mandalay Bay, for instance, ranges from $99 to $299.
If you want a bargain rate in a top-notch hotel, plan to visit the city on weekdays, or in October, March and (outside of holiday periods) December and January.
Ask for a hotel’s best rate and be prepared to grab it quick, as it might not be available for long.
For reservations and information:
Four Seasons, 3960 Las Vegas Blvd. South; 800-332-3442.
Hard Rock Hotel, 4455 Paradise Rd.; 800-HRD-ROCK.
Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, 3950 Las Vegas Blvd. S.; 877-632-7000.
New Frontier, 3120 Las Vegas Blvd. S.; 800-421-7806.
The Venetian, 3355 Las Vegas Blvd. S.; 888-2-VENICE.
