You wouldn’t know if from the wrap on Luxor’s west side, but Angelica Bridges is out as Fantasy headliner, replaced by Lorena Peril (late of Sin City Bad Girls at the Las Vegas Hilton). This alone is sufficient to bump Fantasy to the top of the topless heap in Las Vegas. While Bridges sang tolerably, Peril has the kind of lungpower and style that make her the Darlene Love of contemporary Vegas: a star-quality voice just one step shy of the name recognition she deserves. Kudos to Fantasy‘s producers for snapping Peril up when her Hilton show closed. They knew a good thing when they heard one.
Palazzo #1. No, Steve Wynn, I don’t get it either. Then again, I’ve not stayed in a Palazzo hotel room. (The Venetian‘s rooms wear their 11 years — venerable by Vegas standards– lightly, however.) Readers of Travel + Leisure voted Palazzo tops among Vegas hotels and 18th overall, in a poll to determine the “Top 50 Hotels in the Continental U.S. and Canada.” Palazzo prexy Rob Goldstein opted for grace over bragadoccio, deferring credit with the statement, “The fact that this award is generated from the magazine’s readers and our guests shows the public recognizes the quality of The Palazzo – which is a true testament to our dedicated staff.” Sands not only has reader accolades but rising ADRs to point toward as metrics of Palazzo’s popularity. (Three Wynn-created hotels also got love from T+L readers, with Wynn Las Vegas, Bellagio and Encore finishing at #20, 31 and 40, respectively.)
It’s chillin’. In its continuing effort to make Monte Carlo something more than a doorstop for CityCenter, owner MGM Resorts International is opening a new branch of Minus5, the “ice bar” at Mandalay Place. I’m surprised they waited until mid-August to do so. Nothing is more tailor-made for midsummer in Vegas than a 23-degree hangout where even your drinking glass is shaped from frozen H2O.
Shamed by Atlantic City. The embattled seaside casino town is about to accomplish something nobody on the Strip can — arrive upon a labor accord between dealers and management at Tropicana Atlantic City. This, if it comes off, will be a feather in the cap of new owner Carl Icahn, who’s close to a deal while Trump Plaza, Bally’s Atlantic City and Caesars Atlantic City continue to pout and drag their feet. Trump Entertainment Resorts has been particularly churlish but Harrah’s Entertainment has been at some pains to poison relationships with its dealers on the Las Vegas Strip, so one isn’t surprised to find it bringing up the rear in Atlantic City, too. Were Icahn to promise unionized status to (potential) dealers at Fontainebleau — unlikely as that is — he’d probably be canonized on the spot.
Life after Icahn? The mogul’s successors at the Stratosphere, the renowned casino-management firm better known as Goldman Sachs, continue to lose money. Higher ADRs at non-Strat properties aren’t reflective of better occupancy … quite the reverse (55% of rooms empty at Arizona Charlie’s Boulder). Goldman blames its misfortunes on aggressive promotional efforts by its competition. That sounds like a weak excuse. Aren’t they doing the same … and if not, why not?
Until the economy gets better the Stratosphere is going to be in the same boat as the Riviera and the Sahara: geographically undesirable for most tourists at the far north on the Strip.
I stayed at Arizona Charlie’s Boulder for 3 nights back in 2006 when Las Vegas was packed with a huge convention in town. The hotel rooms were pretty big but they were not attached to the casino.