Wasn’t the Flamingo a Hilton Hotel at Some Point in Time?

Wasn’t the Flamingo a Hilton Hotel at some point in time?

It certainly was.

Around the Flamingo's 20th anniversary in 1967, Kirk Kerkorian acquired the property for $13 million at a time when a number of Strip hotel-casinos were changing hands during the Howard Hughes whirlwind. Kerkorian planned to use the Flamingo as a sort of hotel school to train the core staff of the huge International that he was then planning. He immediately invested $2.5 million into improving the casino, expanding the theater, and tearing down the iconic champagne tower.

Shortly thereafter, in one of the very few missteps in Kerkorian's long, storied, and immensely profitable career, he overextended his financing and in order to stave off foreclosure and/or bankruptcy, he had to sell the Flamingo to Hilton Corporation in 1970; in so doing, Hilton became the first major hotel chain to enter the Nevada market. Hilton quickly embarked on a massive expansion program that added 500-room hotel towers in 1977, 1980, 1982, and 1986, a 728-room tower in 1990, and a 908-room tower in 1993. The 400-unit Hilton Grand Vacations timeshare tower opened in 1993.

In 1998, Hilton's gaming properties, including the Flamingo, were spun off as Park Place Entertainment. That deal included a license, good for two years only, to use the Hilton name. When Park Place failed to renew the Hilton licensing agreement in 2000, the property was renamed Flamingo Las Vegas.

So the Flamingo was the Flamingo Hilton for a total of 30 years -- from 1970 to 2000.

As an addendum to this answer, rumor has it that the Flamingo might not be a Caesars property for much longer. In its first-quarter earnings call in early May, the Caesars Entertainment CEO told analysts and journalists that the company "started the process of selling a Las Vegas-Strip asset early in 2022 ... putting us somewhere in the middle of summer for a confirmation of a transaction.” Two days later, Bloomberg reported that the sale of the casino that's "in motion" was, yes, the Flamingo.

Apparently, Caesars has been asking $1 billion for the 76-year-old property, which is a bit rich for some "private equity firms and other operators, reluctant to buy an older property that needs a lot of maintenance." Further complicating matters, VICI Properties has a right of first refusal on the sale of the Flamingo. According to Bloomberg, "Caesars considered selling Planet Hollywood, but decided to keep that property, so it can continue using its theater for concerts."

If the above timetable turns out to be true, we should know if something is happening with the Flamingo within the next month or so.

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Comments

Gregory Jul-10-2022

Reno - Laughlin

I know this is the Las Vegas Advisor, but why not also mention that under the helm of Hilton, they opened 2 more "Flamingos" in Reno and Laughlin?  The one in Reno was fairly short lived.  Park Place Entertainment (Hilton) backed away from it around 2000, closed it, then sold it and it reopened as Golden Phoenix.  It's since been converted to condos.  They hung on to the one in Laughlin, but once Park Place Entertainment became Harrah's Entertainment (now Caesars), they quickly sold the Flamingo Laughlin.  A name change was a requirement of the sale.  It's now the Aquarius.

Sandra Ritter Jul-10-2022

Selling Flamingo

I'm not sure of the logic here. Why sell a casino in the middle of it's string of casinos? Get rid of Harrahs. Our host always puts us up at the Flamingo. I know it's old and rickety but hell, I'm old and rickety :) I'm comfy there. I hope it doesn't sell, at least not for several years.

Kevin Lewis Jul-10-2022

They didn't listen to me

I told them back in 2000 that since the property consisted of a lot of rooms that were too small, its best and highest use would be as a mass-market brothel. Of course, that was ostensibly illegal (wink wink, nudge nudge), but Nevada politicians are easily purchased and in fact, a price list used to be regularly published. They could have bought the entire legislature for $2,569,229.05; a trivial part of the overall rebranding budget.

And the best part? The renaming would have been almost effortless: "The Flaming O."

John Foisy Jul-10-2022

The Flamingo

The Flamingo was once a great place to stay. Centrally located, only a few minutes to walk to at least 6 other casinos. The coffee shop used to have really good food and was always bustling. Then things went downhill and it was closed. The buffet had good food and there were always lines to get in. Then it was downsized. The rooms in the newer sections of the hotel were clean and comfortable. I was sorry when the penguins were all shipped off to a zoo somewhere. We liked the Flamingo and stayed there several times -- even got married there. But management allowed things to get run down and didn't put any money into
keeping up the high standards. We haven't stayed there in the last 20 years or so.

rokgpsman Jul-10-2022

long live Dan Tanna

The terrific tv show "Vega$" showed the Flamingo Hilton in the opening credits and photography. Dan Tanna (Robert Urich) cruised around town in his convertible helping showgirls, tourists and old friends. It was only on the air for 3 years but had a ton of celebrity movie and tv stars in guest appearances. One of the best Las Vegas related tv shows of all time. The 1980's were great times to visit Las Vegas, it was before Harrah's and MGM acquired many of their Strip properties. Harrah's morphed into Caesars Entertainment and the corporate monopolizing changeover to Vegas began between them and MGM. Nearly everything we hate about the Vegas experience of today càn be traced back to having so many properties owned by only a few corporate owners. Little competition for customers is bad. Once upon a time there's a reason you could only own a few newspapers, radio and tv stations - it wasn't in the best interest of customers or the general public.

Michael Rankins Jul-10-2022

Tropicana

Tangentially related: A lot of visitors don't know this because the property doesn't emphasize it, but the Tropicana is a Hilton affiliate (it's part of the Doubletree brand). It's a great place to stay if you want to be on The Strip in a decent and often less pricey location, while earning Hilton Honors points.

Roy Furukawa Jul-10-2022

The 80's

The Flamingo Hilton and Ramada owned Tropicana (The Island of Las Vegas) were in their second heydays in the 80's, but unfortunately both never got a third re-birth and have gone downhill since the invention of the megaresorts (Mirage, 1989) and now the city-within-a-city concepts.

Doozey Jul-12-2022

Flamingo Capri

Back in the good old daysmy dad and I had a reservation at the Flamingo Capri. Cab driver dropped us at the Flamingo and maintained it was the right place.  Of course this couldn't happen now, but only because the Flamingo Capri changed names more often than the Flamingo.

Question of the Day - 10 July 2022

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