Giada at The Cromwell Review

It was New Year's Eve and my wife and I were looking for a quick bite to eat for lunch. We were around center Strip and things were starting to get crowded. We decided to see if we could get a table at Giada.

Somewhat surprisingly the restaurant was fairly empty, and we were seated immediately by one of the attractive hostesses. As an aside, every staff member at the restaurant was good looking.



My wife had the Lemon Pesto Grilled Cheese with heirloom tomatoes, which she enjoyed greatly.

I had the Lobster Hash with marble potatoes, Nueske’s bacon, lobster meat, peppers, tomato, onion confit with sunny side up eggs and toast. It was good, but I would have liked more lobster for the $34 price tag.



The service was great and the view of the Strip was nice even from our table, which was not that close to the window. Located on the second floor, I found Giada to be a good place to take in a meal away from the hustle and bustle of the Strip.

Caesars Upgrading Las Vegas Room Product

For years Caesars Entertainment has had a reputation for not maintaining their properties. While most Strip properties had routine room updates, Caesars seemed to take the approach of deferring maintenance to save money.

This provided some great room rates for budget travelers, but from a company perspective Caesars was hurting themselves by not being able to charge more for nicer room offerings.

This might be changing though. On the latest Caesars Entertainment earnings conference call yesterday new CEO Mark Frissora talked about being able to achieve higher average daily room rates by improving their properties.

Indeed Caesars has already taken steps to upgrade Las Vegas hotel rooms with the upcoming Julius Tower at Caesars Palace, new suites at Paris, upgraded rooms in the Carnival Tower at Harrah's, and refreshed Hollywood Hip rooms and suites at Planet Hollywood.

This follows some other improvements at Caesars properties including the complete overhauls at The Cromwell and The Linq, along with new hotel rooms at the Bally's Jubilee Tower and the Rio Samba Suites.

If Caesars continues to aggressively improve their room products it would give Las Vegas travelers many more options for a nicer hotel room closer to the center of the Strip.

Harmon and Cosmopolitan 2009 Construction Photos

I was going through some old Las Vegas photos and came across these from 2009 which I think might be interesting to the Las Vegas fanatics out there.

The first photo shows the ill-fated Harmon Hotel being constructed. The tower was deemed unsafe because of construction flaws and ultimately had to be dismantled piece by piece.

The second photo shows Cosmopolitan under construction, along with a pre-remodeled Bill's Gamblin' Hall which would later become The Cromwell.

The Cromwell eKey

I had heard about The Cromwell allowing guests to use their iPhones as their room key, but never really saw how it would work until I stumbled upon this video today.

In the future everything will be on your phone, so this is just one step closer to that reality.

While I'm fairly accepting of new technology I have to wonder if this is really more convenient. I've never swiped a hotel room key before and thought, "You know, this would be so much better if I had to download an app and then enter a pin to open my door."

The potential to skip a check-in line could be the real game changer (buzzword alert) with this app - especially if Caesars Entertainment brings it to other Las Vegas hotels. Not having to wait an hour to check in at The Rio during peak times would be fantastic.

One downside - skipping check-in doesn't give you a chance to give the desk clerk a crisp twenty dollar bill in hopes of getting a "free" upgrade. This little known secret is called "The $20 trick" and you heard it here first.

Jim Murren Nevada Public Radio Interview Highlights

MGM Resorts International CEO Jim Murren was on Nevada Public Radio.

The interview started off talking about politics, and the retirement of Harry Reid.

Murren then talked about online gaming, which is something that MGM is looking to get into, although he said it's not something the company is dependent on. He also said he's a "big fan" of skill based gaming, which will help attract millennials and Gen X-er's.

In the future of Las Vegas Murren thinks resorts will become "more porous" allowing guests to flow from resort to resort instead of trapping them in a single resort. He stressed the importance of non-gaming which makes up 70% of the company's revenue.

Talking about MGM National Harbor, Murren said the resort will fit right in with the DC landscape, and uses some of the same architectural elements found in many of the monuments around the District.

Murren also addressed the hypocrisy of major sports leagues by allowing fantasy sports while trying to ban other sports gaming.

MGM's new arena is almost complete, and MGM is spending $100 million on the park surrounding the arena and New York New York (complete with a Shake Shack). Murren is optimistic about attracting a hockey team to Las Vegas "no later than the 2017 season."

As far as a possible merger between WYNN and MGM - Murren dismissed it as "total speculation."

MGM's power bill is $86 million a year, which is leading them to explore cutting ties with NV Energy in an effort to save money.

Despite North Strip struggles Murren is "very optimistic about the growth of Circus Circus." Monte Carlo is also ripe for growth, with MGM expecting to invest a large amount of money to re-position the property. He mentioned The Cromwell as an example of a successful re-branding.

Finally talking about Macau, Murren said he thinks the market is stabilizing, and expects the numbers to be back up in 2016.

Listen to the entire interview at Nevada Public Radio.

Las Vegas in 2014

I've been away from the blog for a while. I'm always thinking about Las Vegas and it's about time I start posting again. Some of the topics I plan on covering soon are:

- The Cromwell
- Downtown Grand
- The Linq and the High Roller
- The Quad name change to The Linq
- SLS Las Vegas
- Resorts World
- MGM-AEG Arena
- Cosmopolitan sold
- Atlantic City

Las Vegas is constantly changing so there's a lot to write about.

Nobu Open - Bill's Closed

After more than thirty years of operation, Bill's Gamblin' Hall and Saloon closed today at noon in preparation for a year long renovation project. The former Barbary Coast was a favorite spot among budget visitors to the Las Vegas Strip. The hotel will be transformed to an upscale boutique resort with a new name. Some of Bill's lounge performers, including the famous "Big Elvis" will be moving over to Harrah's.

Meanwhile the much anticipated Nobu Restaurant and Hotel at Caesars Palace opened on Saturday. Everything I have seen from the new hotel-within-a-hotel looks amazing. I would love to stay in one of the brand new rooms, but they are a tad pricey. Rack rate is $249 for most weekdays and $299 for most weekends. It will be interesting to see how this concept works. If successful I wouldn't be surprised to see other towers of different hotels being remodeled and branded to satisfy niche markets.

Bill's Closing for Remodel on February 4, 2013

Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon will be closing on February 4, 2013 to undergo an extensive renovation and transformation into a luxury boutique hotel.

A Caesars Entertainment press release described the $185 million dollar project:

"The complete remodeling of the guest rooms, casino floor and common areas, the addition of a new second floor restaurant, and the construction of the 65,000 square foot rooftop pool and dayclub/nightclub."

Ever since Caesars acquired the former Barbary Coast in 2007, they've had plans to do something with it. At first they were thinking about demolishing it along with Flamingo and Imperial Palace to make room for their version of CityCenter. When the economy tanked they scrapped that idea and settled for modest renovation projects.

I'm always in favor of property improvements, but it's going to be sad to see Bill's go. It was always a fun place to stop in for cheap drinks and low table minimums, just like O'Sheas. Those two closing leave Casino Royale as the premier low rolling joint on the Strip.


Photo: Larry D. Moore

Harmon Ave Walgreens Coming to Strip

The 2.16 acre parcel of land on Harmon Ave. south of Planet Hollywood and across from Cosmopolitan and CityCenter is being developed. A 3 story, one hundred thousand square foot retail building will break ground in the next few months. Walgreens will be the "anchor" of the building.

It's definitely nice to see something done with this land. If you have walked past it lately you might have noticed that it is pretty barren and often trash laden. A Walgreens might not be what people expected, but this is a high traffic area, and Walgreens will no doubt do a lot of business. This will be the third Walgreens on the strip. There is one in front of Palazzo and another one just south of this proposed location near MGM Grand.

I always think it's an interesting decision to not include a casino in a new project on the strip. It seems like it would be ideal to develop this land into a small walk in casino similar to that of Casino Royale, O'Sheas or Bill's. You could incorporate a Walgreens into that type of project and still print money from the casino. Obviously there would need to be significantly more investment and planning involved for that type of project though, and perhaps the economy can't handle it yet.

Source: Las Vegas Sun.