The full name is Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, so it's not confused with the magazine (whatever). It opens on December 15, which is a Wednesday. It will open with 2,000 rooms (another 995 won't be finished till July 2011), a 110,000-square-foot casino, 13 restaurants, a nightclub and ultra lounge; a 150,000-square-foot convention center; a 50,000-square-foot spa and fitness center; retail shops, three pools, and a five-level underground parking garage.
The Cosmopolitan is located between Bellagio on the north (with the tiny old Jockey Club squashed in between; Cosmo completely hems in its two timeshare towers on three sides) and CityCenter on the south. And it's positioning itself to compete with both.
According to HotelInteractive.com, Cosmo executives "talked a lot about the new definition of luxury and how people are still spending money," and what they came up with is "experiences versus status and the price-to-value quotient."
There are two 50-story towers, one East, one West, connected by the casino and public spaces. Though the scale of Cosmopolitan is large, the area it covers isn't; the whole thing is jammed into a little less than nine acres. That's smaller that Bellagio's 10-acre lake; CityCenter occupies 67 total acres, eight times the size, while Caesars Palace sits on a whopping 85 acres. So Cosmo is going for an "intimate" feel, a coziness that comes from less than 15 minutes to walk from one end of the resort to the other.
The rooms have outdoor balconies, a first in the age of high-rise megaresorts. Reportedly, they feature state-of-the-art control panels, plasma TVs and entertainment systems, and in-room bars. The bathrooms are described as "oversized" and have windows onto the rooms from the shower, along with Japanese soaking tubs and marble floors.
In order to sell the rooms, the Cosmo has partnered with Marriott International and its Autograph Collection (a group of upscale independent resorts). Marriott has 33 million Rewards members, which should go a long way in keeping the hotel occupied.
A couple of the features that have us curious are the sprawling pool complex large enough to host outdoor concerts and sporting events and the three-story bar that overlooks the front of the casino.
Beyond that, more details will no doubt emerge as the grand opening gets closer and we’ll report them in Today's News, QoD, the Advisor, and elsewhere as they do.
