If Columbia Sussex ran its Tropicana Entertainment casino hotels the way it maintains its regular hotels, TropEnt CEO Scott Butera is looking at a big refurbishment tab. Southwest Hospitality Management picked up a couple of ColSux discards in Charleston, W.V., in June '07 (which would coincide with a period in which ColSux was trying to sell off assets to pay down Trop-related debt) and, "I feel that if we hadn't done the renovations, we would be hurting more than we are now," according to an SHM exec. (Plus, in a reversal from ColSux policy, wi-fi is now free.) "It is certainly more pleasant and looks more modern … not what they used to be."
Another ringing endorsement of the Columbia Sussex spare-every-expense business model.
