Repurposing older hotels is becoming more and more common BY ROGER GROS
T
IME WAS , WHEN A HOTEL in Las Vegas fell into disuse , disrepair and a lack of capital reinvestment , the choice was simple . Knock it down and start over .
But those days are gone , if you can trust the recent trends of renovate , repurpose and restore for older buildings along the Las Vegas Strip , often bringing new brands to the city . The “ hotel within a hotel ” concept has many examples in Las Vegas , from the Four Seasons at Mandalay Bay to the El Cortez Cabana Suites in Downtown Las Vegas . But the radical renovations of existing structures didn ’ t really come to fruition until the past few years .
When Caesars Palace decided to renovate one of the property ’ s original towers back in 2011 , it wasn ’ t just going to throw up new wallpaper and lay down different carpeting . Caesars Entertainment reached a partnership agreement with Nobu Hotels , an offshoot of Nobu Hospitality , a company headed by famous Japanese chef Nobu Matsuhisa . Along with another celebrity partner , actor Robert DeNiro , the company created a high-end “ boutique ” hotel that is just off the Caesars Palace casino floor .
The introduction of new brands to Las Vegas is good for the town , says Gigi Vega , general manager of the 181-room Nobu Hotel and a Caesars luxury hotel operations executive .
“ There is a need now to find a reason to come to Las Vegas , and we ’ re trying to create that need by having a different experience ,” she says .
Boutique hotels and the related amenities also open up Las Vegas to more markets , says Seyhmus Baloglu , UNLV professor and assistant dean of the Harrah ’ s Hotel College .
“ The marketing focus has always been on the number of heads rather than average spending per person on their visit ,” Baloglu told Vegas . com in 2012 . “ Mass tourism is very important for Las Vegas given the room and meeting space capacity . However , there is a market out there who would be interested in gaming or non-gaming niche and boutique concepts . They should be promoted , listed , and made available in multiple online and offline distribution channels , which could further diversify the tourism product Las Vegas offers .”
CROMWELL ACHIEVEMENT
A cross the street from Caesars Palace , Caesars Entertainment took over the Barbary Coast in 2007 . After considering several plans for the property , the company decided to renovate and rebrand . The original idea of rebranding the hotel as the well-known boutique Gansevoort brand went by the wayside when one of the Gansevoort investors was alleged to have ties to organized crime . Thus the name Cromwell was born , and Caesars is building the brand from the ground up .
A true boutique hotel ( in a city where the 3,000-room Cosmopolitan is considered “ boutique ”), the Cromwell has 188 rooms , which includes 19 suites .
Eileen Moore , who oversees operations at the Linq , Flamingo and Cromwell hotels , says the idea was to provide a higher-level customer with more personal service .
“ We ’ ll get to know our customers on a much more intimate level ,” she says . “ Being stand-alone is probably the most unique aspect of that property . So literally , customers will pull off of Flamingo Boulevard , drive a very short distance into our porte cochere , walk 10 to 15 feet to their front desk , walk in , again , another 10 to 15 to the elevator , straight to their room .”
18 CASINO DESIGN 2014