Las Vegas Guide

Las Vegas
The 2,995-room Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas celebrated its grand opening last Dec. 15 with a hybrid event of sorts: Killers front man Brandon Flowers performed an opening-night concert that was simulcast on the 65-foot-tall LED-display marquee overlooking the Strip. The spacious guest rooms feature private terraces, and the property offers 150,000 square feet of meeting space, a 100,000-square-foot casino and the Sahra Spa & Hammam.

The Stratosphere Casino, Hotel & Tower, a 2,427-room resort on the Strip, completed a $20 million renovation last month. The project included the remodeling of 909 guest rooms, now known as Stratosphere Select. The deluxe rooms, on floors with upgraded elevator lobbies, are outfitted with new amenities and renovated bathrooms. Other enhancements include a new valet parking entrance on the Strip, several new lounges and an expanded Roxy's Diner.
 
The Las Vegas Convention Center has been designated a World Trade Center site, following an agreement signed in January by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and the Consumer Electronics Association, producers of the International CES event (which this year drew nearly 150,000 attendees). The deal gives both the LVCVA and CEA the opportunity to market under the World Trade Center brand, with the intention of bringing more international business to both the venue and the CES show. As part of the deal, the association has agreed to hold International CES at the Las Vegas Convention Center through 2015.
 
Dolce Hotels & Resorts, which acquired the former Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas, after it was shuttered last spring, will reopen the property on Feb. 11 as the Ravella at Lake Las Vegas. Dolce has rebranded the 349-room resort to create a more contemporary atmosphere, including a lobby that has been redesigned as a high-energy social gathering spot. Named after Ravello, a coastal town in Southern Italy (and playing on the word revel), the resort has nearly 30,000 square feet of meeting space and customized catering for groups, as well as the Firenze Lobby Lounge and the Medici Café and Terrace restaurant. The property also is partnering with restaurants in The Village Lake Las Vegas to offer guests more dining options. The 30,000-square-foot Spa at Ravella includes 24 treatment rooms, a full-service salon and a fitness center.

MGM Resorts International launched M life early this year, a loyalty program that eventually will recognize customer spending on guest rooms, shopping, dining and gambling at any MGM property in the United States. While in its current form the program is an expansion of MGM's player's club, offering benefits to gamblers, by late summer the company expects to integrate recognition, tracking and rewards for other property amenities. Benefits include "M life moments," unique rewards such as selecting the songs for a day for The Fountains of Bellagio, a cameo role in Cirque du Soleil's Viva ELVIS show, a guest deejay slot in an MGM Grand club, cooking lessons with celebrity chef Rick Moonen at Mandalay Bay or a one-day gig as a dolphin trainer at Mirage.

The 150-suite boutique resort Rumor opened last August, a major redesign of the former St. Tropez Hotel. The eclectically decorated property includes four oversized suites the hotelier claims define Las Vegas decadence; known as The Fantastic Four, each features outlandish design, custom-made furniture and touches such as a five-person rain shower. Rumor is across the street from the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. An on-site restaurant, Addiction, offers a 12-person private dining room.

Meeting Hotels
As of last November, Las Vegas had a whopping 145,694 guest rooms -- a 2.6 percent increase over the previous year. In December, the new Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas added nearly 3,000 more rooms to the total.

Among mega-properties are the 5,044-room MGM Grand, 4,400-room Luxor Las Vegas, 4,027-room Venetian Las Vegas, 4,004-room Aria Resort & Casino, 3,981-room Excalibur Hotel Casino Las Vegas, 3,933-room Bellagio Las Vegas, 3,767-room Circus Circus Las Vegas, 3,696-room Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino, 3,460-room Flamingo Las Vegas, 3,292-room Caesars Palace Las Vegas, 3,211-room Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, 3,066-room Palazzo Las Vegas and 3,044-room Mirage.

Hotels with from 1,000 to 3,000 guest rooms include the 2,995-room Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, 2,992-room Monte Carlo Las Vegas Resort and Casino, 2,956-room Las Vegas Hilton, 2,916-room Paris Las Vegas, 2,885-room Treasure Island Las Vegas, 2,814-room Bally's Las Vegas, 2,716-room Wynn Las Vegas, 2,640-room Imperial Palace Las Vegas, 2,526-room Harrah's Las Vegas, 2,522-room Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, 2,427-room Stratosphere Las Vegas, 2,425-room Golden Nugget Las Vegas, 2,075-room Riviera Hotel & Casino, 2,034-room Encore, 2,024-room New York-New York Hotel & Casino, 1,720-room Sahara Hotel & Casino, 1,496-room Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, 1,495-room Vdara Hotel & Spa, 1,375-room Tropicana Las Vegas, 1,276-room Signature at MGM Grand, 1,117-room THEhotel at Mandalay Bay, 1,037-room Plaza Hotel and Casino, and 1,007-room Palace Station Hotel and Casino.

Meeting properties with fewer than 1,000 rooms include the 826-room Westin Casuarina Las Vegas Hotel, Casino & Spa; 781-room California Hotel & Casino; 711-room Gold Coast Hotel & Casino; 703-room Palms Casino Resort; 696-room Hooters Casino Hotel; 646-room Sam's Town Hotel & Gambling Hall; 638-room Fitz Casino & Hotel; 548-room Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel; 447-room Fremont Hotel & Casino; 424-room Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas (in the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino main tower); 392-room Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas; 390-room M Resort, Spa and Casino; 286-room Embassy Suites Convention Center Las Vegas; 202-room Aliante Station Casino + Hotel; 202-room Greek Isles Hotel & Casino; 200-room Cannery Casino & Hotel; 200-room Santa Fe Station Hotel Casino; 147-room Homewood Suites by Hilton Las Vegas Airport; 118-room Staybridge Suites Las Vegas, and 51-room Skylofts at MGM Grand.

Summerlin, about five miles north of Las Vegas, is home to the 814-room Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa; 545-room JW Marriott Las Vegas Resort & Spa; 427-room Suncoast Hotel & Casino, and 123-room Element Las Vegas Summerlin.

In Henderson, which is about 17 miles southeast of the Strip, properties include the 527-room Sunset Station Hotel & Casino; 493-room Loews Lake Las Vegas; 490-room Green Valley Ranch Resort; 349-room Ravella at Lake Las Vegas; and 300-room MonteLago Vil­lage Resort, Lake Las Vegas.

Laughlin, Nev., is about 90 miles south of the city. Properties here include the 1,907-room Aquarius Casino Resort; 1,505-room Harrah's Laughlin; 1,495-room Tropicana Express Hotel & Casino; 1,405-room Don Laughlin's Riverside Resort Hotel & Casino; 1,355-room Edgewater Hotel & Casino Resort; 1,169-room Colorado Belle Hotel, Casino & Microbrewery; 1,000-room River Palms Resort Casino; 416-room Pioneer Hotel & Gambling Hall, and 300-room Golden Nugget Laughlin Hotel and Casino.

 

Convention Center
Las Vegas Convention Center; exhibit space, approximately 2 million square feet; number of meeting rooms, 144; (702) 892-0711; lvcva.com/meetings

Sands Expo & Convention Center; exhibit space, 1,005,000 square feet; number of meeting rooms, 23; (702) 733-5556

Mandalay Bay Convention Center; exhibit space, 1 million square feet; number of meeting rooms, 75; (877) 632-7800 or (702) 632-7777

Cashman Center; exhibit space, 98,100 square feet; number of meeting rooms, 12; (702) 892-0711; lvcva.com/meetings

Cox Pavilion; exhibit space, 23,870 square feet; number of meeting rooms, two; (702) 895-3761; unlvtickets.com/facility/aboutus.php

Thomas & Mack Center; exhibit space, 22,220 square feet; number of meeting rooms, five; (702) 895-3761

Henderson Convention Center; exhibit space, 10,080 square feet; number of meeting rooms, six; (702) 267-2171; visithenderson.com/meetings/facilities

Airport Transit
McCarran International Airport, about one mile west of the Las Vegas Strip and five miles from the downtown district. Transfer cost by taxi, $12-$18 to the Strip, $17-$27 to the downtown district; by shuttle, $6-$6.50 to Strip hotels, $8-$8.50 to downtown properties

Taxes
 On the Las Vegas Strip: room tax, 12%; sales tax, 8.1%; total tax on hotel rooms, 12%. Downtown: room tax, 13%; sales tax, 8.1%; total tax on hotel rooms, 13%. Sales tax is not applied to guest rooms, but it is applied to other hotel charges.

Group Venues
Planners whose guests are hounded by paparazzi might want to consider Savile Row, a new club in the Luxor Hotel and Casino that attempts to take exclusivity to new levels. The 2,000-square-foot venue offers specialized VIP service in the space formerly occupied by Noir Bar, and access typically is limited to members and invited guests. Members enter through an exclusive area, known as the Parlor, at which point they may discuss with a personal concierge how best to create their desired experience for the evening. The space can be rented for private club events of up to 300, or for catered gatherings that can seat up to 200. Photos of the interior are available to event planners only on special request. (877) 386-4658

The Mandalay Bay Beach, an 11-acre "coastal" expanse on resort premises  -- with 2,700 tons of actual sand -- is now available for intimate beach barbecues. Small groups can get the beach to themselves and enjoy the sound of crashing waves (from the wave pool) while frolicking in the sand and dining on freshly grilled eats. In addition to dinner, the evening includes a premium open bar, cigar hostess and flip-flops for guests. Activities include volleyball, a putting green, beachside massages and either a steel-drum band or an outdoor movie. The price starts at $15,000, plus tax and gratuities, for a minimum of 10 guests, and costs $250 per additional person, up to 30 guests. (702) 632-7470

Dining Out
New York City institution P.J. Clarke's opened a new Vegas location last month at The Forum Shops at Caesars. The classic East Coast saloon atmosphere is maintained with the help of vintage fixtures collected from Boston, New York City's Harlem and Philadelphia. Likewise, the venue's signature dishes will be familiar to New Yorkers: the famous hamburger, Meyer prime steaks, Maryland jumbo lump crab cake and the Maine lobster roll, to name a few. The main dining room can seat 320, and a private room can accommodate up to 180 people. A separate dining room, known as Sidecar, has its own bar and is designed for private events and VIP customers. (702) 434-7900

Fleur by Hubert Keller, the latest celebrity-chef outpost in town, debuted last month. Open for lunch and dinner inside the Mandalay Bay resort, Fleur focuses on small plates featuring influences from Asia, France, Italy, North Africa, South America and Spain. The newly designed restaurant inhabits the space formerly occupied by Fleur de Lys, offering a more casual dining environment than its predecessor. The main dining room seats 78, and semiprivate cabanas enclosed by curtains sport wooden tables cut from large trees. Tables can be adjoined for communal dining that seats up to 24 guests. (702) 632-7777; mandalaybay.com 

 

Golf
Those looking to meet on the greens can do so at a number of Las Vegas area locations. Tee up at the following: Aliante Golf Club (702-399-4888, 877-399-4888), Arroyo Golf Club at Red Rock (702-258-2300, 866-934-4653), Badlands Golf Club (702-363-0754), Bear's Best Las Vegas (702-804-8500), Desert Pines Golf Club (888-427-6678), Durango Hills Golf Club (702-229-4653), Eagle Crest Golf Club (877-669-4653), Las Vegas Golf Club (702-646-3003), Las Vegas National Golf Club (702-734-1280), Las Vegas Paiute Golf Resort (702-658-1400, 800-711-2833), Painted Desert Golf Club (702-645-2570, ext. 2),  Royal Links Golf Club (702-450-8123, 888-427-6678), Silverstone Golf Club (702-562-3770, 877-888-2127), TPC Las Vegas (702-256-2500), and Wynn Golf and Country Club (702-770-7100, 888-320-7122).

The nearby city of Henderson is home to some courses as well, including the Black Mountain Golf & Country Club (702-565-7933, ext. 113), Desert Willow Golf Club (702-263-4653), The Legacy Golf Club (702-897-2187, 888-446-5358), The Revere Golf Club (702-259-4653, 877-273-8373), Tuscany Golf Club (866-887-2269) and Wildhorse Golf Club (702-434-9000).

Laughlin offers the Mojave Resort Golf Club (702-535-4653).

Contact
 Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, (702) 892-0711 or (877) 847-4858

Henderson Convention Center & Visitors Bureau, (702) 267-2171 or (877) 775-5252

Laughlin Visitor Information Center, (702) 298-3321 or (800) 452-8445

 

Greening the Desert
Planners bound for the land of neon might be surprised to learn that major casino hotel operators in Las Vegas are deeply committed to greening their operations and hosting sustainable meetings.

• Caesars Entertainment made pioneering efforts in 2003 with the formation of its Corporate Energy and Environmental Services Group. Over the past seven years, Caesars (formerly operating under the Harrah's name) has invested more than $60 million in energy retrofits, training and green-building initiatives.

Among standard practices at all eight Las Vegas properties: Lighting and ventilation in meeting facilities are regulated based on occupancy; water-saving policies are in place, including not pre-setting water on tables and eliminating bottled water unless requested; reusable service materials are used whenever possible, and disposables incorporate recycled content; all refuse is sorted and recycled in the back of the house, and used vegetable oil is repurposed for fuel.

In 2010, Caesars opened its first LEED Silver-certified facility, the 263,000-square-foot Octavius convention expansion at Caesars Palace.

Another recent achievement: In October 2010, all of the company's sales and services managers -- numbering more than 100 -- were certified as Green Meeting Professionals by Esty Environmental Partners, after extensive training and testing in all the nuances of planning and executing sustainable events.

• MGM Resorts International established an Energy and Environmental Services division in 2006, headed by vice president Chris Brophy. Since that time, the company, which operates 13 properties on the Las Vegas Strip, has conserved enough energy to power 5,500 homes or light the Circus Circus sign for the next 130 years, says Brophy.

MGM's CityCenter bills itself as the world's largest environmentally sustainable, mixed-use new construction development to achieve LEED certification. The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded six distinct LEED Gold certifications to ARIA Resort & Casino's hotel tower, convention center and showroom; Vdara Hotel & Spa; Mandarin Oriental; Crystals (the retail and entertainment center), and Veer Towers (residential housing).

Furthermore, says Brophy, MGM's Mandalay Bay, Aria and Vdara are three out of only six properties in the United States rated at 5 out of 5 Green Keys by the Green Key eco-rating program (greenkeyglobal.com).

That commitment appeals to MGM's meetings clientele. "Some of the greenest companies in the world are MGM's customers," notes Brophy. In fact, 17 out of 20 of MGM's top customers have very strong environmental policies in place. IBM, for instance, recently sent out a letter noting that it will stop doing business with companies that don't have an environmental responsibility program, according to Brophy.  

-- Loren G. Edelstein and Michael J. Shapiro