Until last March 1, Elara was PH Westgate Tower. At the time the change was announced, VegasChatter.com reported that it "appears that nothing will change very much inside the hotel (except for those PH Westgate pillows on the bed), but if you were looking to use your points from Hilton’s loyalty program, HHonors, to book your stay, you're out of luck. At least for right now. You can however, earn points by staying at the hotel, so long as you book your stay through Hilton.com."
Three months later, that’s still the situation. An attempt to book at room at Elara using HHonors points elicted this response from Hilton Worldwide’s Web site: "Hotel does not participate." (Future condo purchasers at Elara will, however, automatically be enrolled in HHonors
Said Westgate CEO David Siegel when he unloaded the property, "We are pleased with this … which is part of a larger transaction with our lenders to ensure the future success of our company." Translation: Westgate sold the property to Resort Finance America (which rebranded it as a Hilton) after it had struggled to find banks that would underwrite condo purchases at PH Westgate Towers. Originally planned as a two-tower, 2,700-unit timeshare development, PH Westgate stalled at one tower and 1,201 units – a victim of both a recessionary economy and a grossly overestimated market in Las Vegas for hotel-condo units. By last autumn, Siegel’s lenders were calling the shots at his company, even grounding his corporate jet.
Elara is a completely no-smoking hotel and has strictly one-bedroom units, although suites have as many as four bedrooms apiece. (All units contain kitchenettes or full kitchens, while suites also offer in-room laundry machines.) Except for the pool area and bar, on-property amenities are few but the lobby opens directly onto the Miracle Mile shopping mall, which connects Elara to the Planet Hollwyood hotel-casino itself. RateVegas.com has a huge online photo gallery, although construction was still in progress when they were taken, so they give an incomplete idea of Elara’s splendor.
