las vegas nevada

The Cosmopolitan Partners With Marriott

Finally a little bit of good news for the Cosmopolitan project in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that the huge resort project set to open in December will be part of Marriott International's Autograph Collection.

The project has faced lawsuits from dissatisfied owners and many have questioned whether or not Las Vegas needs another huge project, The $3.9 billion project will include nearly 3,000 rooms, 13 restaurants, a casino, spa, nightclub and retail space. The deal with Marriott will give the Cosmopolitan access to Marriott's customer base and the resort will also be part of the Marriott Rewards program. It will be listed as a partner hotel on the Ritz-Carlton website. The partnership will also give the Cosmopolitan access to group and convention markets, something it will need in order to succeed in the crowded Las Vegas marketplace.

Tags: cosmopolitan, Las Vegas, las vegas nevada

Riviera Hotel Files For Bankruptcy

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

The owner of the Riviera Hotel & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip has filed for bankruptcy protection. Riviera Holdings Corp. filed Chapter 11 under a pre-negotiated deal that will end up transferring the ownership of the company to secured lenders. The reorganization plan has the approval of a majority of the lenders holding parts in it's nearly $248 million in debt. The filing has no impact on the day to day running of the Riviera hotel and casino in Las Vegas and the Riviera in Black Hawk, Colorado which remain open.

Riviera Holdings lost $4.5 million as revenue fell in the first quarter. While room occupancy was up, the average room rate in Las Vegas continued to fall as the hotel competed with other Strip properties which have also been dropping their prices.

Like many Las Vegas properties, the Riviera has been affected by the drop in tourism. The property itself has also suffered because of its north Strip location. Many of the casinos on that end of the glittering boulevard have been torn down or sold to make room for new resorts. Unfortunately the economic turmoil has meant that many properties haven't been built or, like the Fontainebleau project, have been delayed. Visitors to the Las Vegas strip tend to cluster in certain areas, most likely visiting other properties that are a short walk away.

Tags: Las Vegas, las vegas nevada, las vegas strip, Riviera, riviera hotel

Charlie Trotter Closes Las Vegas Restaurant

by Deidre Woollard (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Dining

Las Vegas is losing one of its celebrity chef restaurants. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Charlie Trotter has closed his two-year-old Restaurant Charlie in the Palazzo Las Vegas. Trotter, who is a Chicago institution, won his first Michelin star at his seafood-centered Las Vegas restaurant. The sushi bar inside the restaurant, Bar Charlie, was selected as one of the nation's best sushi spots by Bon Appetit last year. Alas, the numbers just weren't working for the Las Vegas restaurant. The Chicago Sun-Times quotes Trotter's wife and spokeswoman, Rochelle Smith Trotter, who said that they lowered prices three times and tried a pre-theater menu . She makes a mention of the "level of clientele that seemed to be the frequent guest that Las Vegas is now seeing" a reference to the fact that the high-spending tourists seem to be in short supply in Las Vegas lately.

Trotter's Las Vegas restaurant offered a Grand Tasting Menu for $175 (with a $100 wine accompaniment). Items on the menu included Muscovy duck breast with Thai basil and Yuba, Elysian Fields lamb loin with cumin, smoked ricotta and buckwheat, Peekytoe crab salad with sake and rice milk and Nantucket bay scallops with guava and macadamia nuts.

Trotter is still hoping to open a restaurant in New York. It had been announced that it would be at One Madison Park but it may end up being at another New York property. He is also looking at other options and continues to delight dinners at Charlie Trotter's in Chicago.

Tags: charlie trotter, charlie trotters, las vegas nevada, palazzo las vegas, PalazzoChupi, restaurant charlie, restaurant closings, restaurant closures

Dinosaur for Sale (still)!

by Tom Johansmeyer (RSS feed) —

Filed under: Auctions

Bonhams & Butterfields tried to unload a dinosaur skeleton Saturday, but the piece was one of 17 lots that didn't move at the Natural History auction at the Venetian in Las Vegas. The auction house had originally hoped to pull in estimated $6 million for the 66-million-year-old bones of a 40-foot Tyronnosaurus Rex. In all, it was shooting for around $8 million in sales. Only 60 percent of the lots coming under the gavel sold.

The T. rex skeleton that nobody wanted (at least not at that price), named Samson, is the third most complete ever pulled from the ground, according to Thomas Lindgren, Co-Director of Natural History at Bonhams & Butterfields.

"'Samson'" is one of four known T. rex specimens which display characteristics that set it apart from other examples of the species," Lindgren continues. "In the dynamic science of paleontology, variation from one specimen to the next may indicate varying developmental phases, normal variations within a species, or it may represent the discovery of an entirely new species. As it stands, experts identify 'Samson' as Tyrannosaurus rex."

Samson was the first T. rex to come on the scene since 1997, when Sotheby's auctioned Sue, a dinosaur of similar size. The Field Museum in Chicago picked her up for a record $8.36 million – a price that still has not been topped. Sue is considered to be the largest and most complete T. rex ever excavated.

Tags: bonhams, bonhams auction, bonhams butterfields, BonhamsAuction, bonhamsbutterfields, dinosaur, dinosaurs, las vegas, las vegas nevada, las vegas nv, LasVegas, LasVegasNevada, LasVegasNv, tyrannosaurusrex, venetian