Best-kept secret in Vegas. It’s the pool deck at Cosmopolitan, according to an S&G reader who visited it after dark and found but four patrons hanging out on its shores. The missus and I checked it last night and, sure enough, we practically had the place to ourselves. Perhaps customers mistake it for one of those exclusive, douchebag-centric pools like Encore Beach Club. If so, they’re missing out on
a nice scene and some splendid views of the Strip below.
The Cosmo continues to garner mostly rave reviews. Even the rooms, which left me somewhat “meh,” are generating verbal somersaults. The resort’s “stacked” design (which enables one to bypass the casino floor entirely) may not find many emulators — tradition dies hard around here — but it’s extremely pedestrian-friendly. After one too many treks across the interminable acreage of the MGM Grand casino floor, I cannot understate what an incredibly pleasant experience it was to go straight up from the parking garage and get off the elevator practically at Scarpetta‘s front door. It’s a salutary change of habit how Cosmo delivers you right to heart of the action as opposed to making you traipse all to Hell and gone to get there.
David, you’ve nailed the biggest reasons for the Cosmo’s popularity. Let me add two more:
1. The people. I’ve visited the Cosmo three times since it opened. Opening night was too crushed to get a feel of the customer service, but the subsequent trips offered plenty of chance to see that the HR staff has done a great job of staffing the resort. Friendly, professional, and efficient–almost the opposite of much of the “Harrah’s” staff. (I can’t bring my self to refer to the staff at the lesser properties as “Caesar’s employees.”)
2. The vibe. Around every corner, you will see something that you did not expect to see. It’s not always flashy (the board games in the lounge area on the third floor above the casino) or themed (the dog sculptures outside the meeting rooms were incongruous, but we spent fifteen minutes looking at them, then taking pictures and trying to “interpret” them). I was put off by high limits on opening night, but they were closer to normal a few weeks later.
My guess is that they will stay as busy as the Bellagio, and that’s a good thing for the Cosmopolitan.
Cosmo…..I just don’t get it. Sure, the accolades and positive feedback keep on coming. I laugh at the fact that everyone associated with the project basks in the “look how smart and cutting edge we are” arrogent attitude. The reality is you SPENT $4 BILLION DOLLARS!!! Its no different than a woman who spends $10,000 on a designer dress and all the other women at the party bought their dress at Target. Of course she’ll get all the accolades…wow, great design! wow, that fits you amazing! oh, that fabric is gorgeous! I would expect nothing less than the feedback they are currently getting from a project that overspent by $2 BILLION dollars.
Please explain to me how this project is going to give DB a return on investment. Sure its a cutting edge place but casinos are built to make money for its owners and investors, not to fuel an ego trip.
Will the Cosmo make money, sure. But from an business ROI perspective it will grossly underperform the market.
Why doesn’t anybody talk about that?
HUH?
From what I have read everyone seems to really like the design of the Cosmopolitan. It looks like Duetsche Bank made the right choice when they hired Mr. Unwin to help design and run the property. I will be out in Las Vegas sometime this year and my first stop is the Cosmopolitan.
At the moment, common wisdom is that Deutsche Bank will have to eat a portion of its $3.9 billion, the question being, “How much?” Until we have at least six months of cash flow data to work from (assuming that DB releases such information), we’ll have no idea of what the ROI — or for that matter, what the resale price might be, since that’s derived from cash-flow multiples.
So we’re stuck in wait-and-see mode. Perhaps the enthusiasm for Cosmo would be less were we not coming off a string of megaresorts that were either critical disappointments (Palazzo), financial ones (Encore) or a combination of both (CityCenter).
“casinos are built to make money for its owners and investors, not to fuel an ego trip.”
Love it! This should be engraved and hung in the executive suite of every casino company in town. I could make a list of all the casinos and failsinos that were clearly built and/or bought as a form of ego gratification … but it would longer than a Tolstoy novel.
Thanks for weighing in.
Interesting point HUH. But aside from DB investors, who gives a hoot how much they spend? I’m a Lakers fan. They overpay some players, but I don’t care. Vegas has endured a period of truly boring new resorts opening up like Wynn/Encore, and hanging like a thread City Center. About time something exciting hit the Strip.