Fire at The Monte Carlo Hotel

Las Vegas Palazzo only weeks away from opening

The Las Vegas Palazzo hotel is just weeks away from opening. Quite when it will open is anyone’s guess, though, as there are contradictory reports of its opening day. The Las Vegas Sands Corp, the Palazzo’s owners, are claiming that it’ll open on December 20th, but the Palazzo web site will only let you book from December 28th.

Even more confusingly, Las Vegas Sands spokesman Ron Reese said the company was planning a “soft opening” of the Palazzo “sometime at the end of December,” but that “…we are focused on a grand opening celebration on January 18.”

Er, right. So presumably the Palazzo will be open for business fully from January 18th, but the foyer will be open on December 20th so the company can claim it met its 2007 opening deadline.

Whatever, the fact that they managed to get the Palazzo open in such a short time is impressive enough, as is the building itself. There will be a grand opening celebration on the nights of January 17th and 18th 2008 as well, which should be spectacular.

[Source: LVBusinessPress]

Treasure Island’s Tangerine club to close

Well here’s news that’s not exactly welcome. Tangerine, the great club at Vegas’s Treasure Island, is due to close - and it’s only three years old! I spent a glorious evening there earlier in the year, and thought the place was great. Sure, the music in the main dance area sucked, but get a different DJ, don’t knock the place down!

Fortunately TI aren’t giving up on the idea of nightclubs altogether. Instead, they’ll be replacing Tangerine with another nightclub that will open on New Year’s Eve. Apparently the reason behind Tangerine’s imminent demise is too much competition from the likes of Tao, Pure, Moon and Jet.

There’s a simple answer to that - get a better DJ! Meh!

[Source: LATimes]

Crown Las Vegas gets closer to construction

The impossible looking Crown Las Vegas hotel is inching towards becoming an actual real-life project, rather than just an architect’s outlandish dream. Now outlandish in Las Vegas terms is pretty normal, of course - in fact, you can’t build a hotel on the strip unless it’s more outlandish than its neighbours.

But the Crown Las Vegas really does intend to be the most outlandish of all, as it’s set to rise some 1,888 feet tall - that’s 700 feet higher than the Stratosphere!

The people behind the Crown Las Vegas, PBL, have just filed papers recently with the Clark County planning commission outlining their plans for the super-huge hotel. These plans include a 142 floor monstrosity that would dwarf everything all around it.

More details after the jump.

The Palazzo confirms opening date

The Palazzo, one of the new Las Vegas hotels currently reaching skywards, has confirmed its set to open on December 20th 2007. Some people are surprised by this given its current state of construction (see pic above, taken on 7th July 2007 and courtesy of Mark Adams), but the Las Vegas Sands Corp., owners of the Palazzo, are confident they can make this date.

When it’s complete, the Palazzo, when combined with its sister hotel the Venetian, will be “the largest integrated destination resort in the world” with 7,128 hotel rooms and 2.3 million square feet of meeting space on the Las Vegas Strip.

It should also be a good little earner, given that the Venetian has just posted revenue of $235.5 million for the quarter for the Venetian.

[Source: Forbes, LasVegasTodayAndTomorrow]

Caesar’s Palace Photo Gallery now live

There’s a new photo gallery of Caesar’s Palace Hotel and Casino now online. Caesar’s Palace is huge, and sprawls over 85 acres, so the photos can only show bits of it a time. If you want a single photo capturing the entire resort, you’d need to take it from space (or at least form Google Earth!).

The photos were taken in 2006 and 2007, and show Caesar’s Palace from the outside and the inside, with quite a few pics taken from the Forum Shops. They complement the review of Caesar’s Palace I’ve just posted as well.

You can find the new Caesar’s Palace photo gallery here.

Caesar’s Palace Review

Caesar’s Palace is one of the most recognized names of any casino in the world, let alone Las Vegas, and with good reason. Situated in the centre of the Strip, Caesar’s Palace is simply vast, and has so many jaw dropping sights, you have to visit it even if you don’t spend a dime.

Just listing the things Caesar’s offers doesn’t do it justice, though - sure it has 120 shops, 3,300 hotel rooms, a 4,100 seat stadium modelled on the Colosseum and live entertainers from Celine Dion to Elton John - but it’s the way Caesar’s is presented in such a lavish, detailed, and, dare one say it, mad style that truly makes it one of the top places to visit in Vegas.

Read on to see the complete Caesar’s Palace review.

Sand Storm hits Las Vegas

I’m writing this from the comfort of the traditional British summer, with temperatures struggling to reach 20 degrees C, the worst flooding we’ve had in over 150 years, and the Sun last being seen back in April. Which, as coincidence would have it, was the last time I went to Vegas - and yes, it rained in Vegas while we had glorious sunshine in the UK!

Now that I’m back, though, the Vegas weather is reverting to type. No problems with water over there, but a real problem with sand. Just check out these pics taken by Roy Vegas of the sandstorm that hit on Friday July 27th 2007. Apparently it lasted for only half an hour, but it certainly was dramatic.

More pics after the jump.

Is Las Vegas heading for ecological disaster?

It had to come sooner or later. With all the money pouring into Las Vegas in the biggest building boom the strip has ever seen, some commentators are wondering whether the company is growing too fast, and whether its growth will be sustainable.

Fast Company have speculated that the combination of low-skilled jobs combined with the potential for what it calls for an “ecological disaster” (no water in the desert, apparently!), all add up to “an environmental pileup in the making”

New Elvis-themed resort heading for the Strip?

Disturbing news reaches us that a new Elivs-themed property is being planned for the south of the Las Vegas strip between the Harley Davidson Cafe and the Smith & Wollensky building just north of the MGM Grand.

This area of the strip is currently occupied by the Hawaiian marketplace, which I’ve never liked. It’s full of stalls selling junk, gets massively overcrowded, looks ugly, and is a nightmare to walk through when you’re on your way to the MGM Grand and New York New York.