Outdoor event space at the Chateau Nightclub on the rooftop of Paris Las Vegas overlooks the Fountains of Bellagio. Credit: AlliedPRA, Las Vegas

It’s no secret that Las Vegas hotels offer an extensive selection of meeting rooms and ballrooms to choose from for corporate events. But sometimes, a different type of venue is a better fit for what planners have in mind. Carla Alarcon, director of marketing for Open Systems Inc. headquartered in Shakopee, Minnesota, found exactly what she wanted at the South Point Hotel & Spa.

Alarcon plans an annual users conference for approximately 250 IT and accounting professionals who use her company’s software. Someone had recommended South Point to her, and Open Systems ended up having their event there three different years. “We were really looking for something that was a little off the beaten path so that we didn’t have all of our customers going on The Strip. They’re there to learn.”

In addition to a casino, the 2,163-room South Point includes a spa, a 400-seat showroom, a 16-screen movie complex, a 64-lane bowling alley, the 30,000-sf Spa Costa de Sur, an equestrian center with more than 1,200 stalls and a total of 165,000 sf of meeting and exhibit space.

At first, Alarcon thought about bringing in some Cirque-style performers to entertain her attendees in the hotel’s ballroom. But then she asked her contacts at the hotel, “What about this little showroom? Can I just have that? They worked with me. They’re the easiest people in the world to work with.”

The South Point staff arranged for her to bring in the ’80s cover band the Spazmatics to entertain her group. According to Perfect World Entertainment, the Spazmatics offer “all the awesome sounds, styles and way-cool dance steps from the 1980s decade we’d love to forget. Complete with skinny ties, Brylcreemed hair and horn-rimmed glasses, the Spazmatics recapture all the best of the worst.”

Alarcon explains, “We let people know ahead of time that it was going to be a kind of funky night, and we just had a blast. We had the whole club. It was just so much fun. The second year we had the Boogie Knights, and they do the disco thing where they come out with the big shoes and big wigs and stuff. The fact that we had the showroom to ourselves, we could get wild and crazy. Our employees all brought outfits in. The third year, we did another band. The hotel worked with us on (booking) the bands.”

Open Systems’ showroom events followed a sit-down dinner and offered a nightclub-like atmosphere with an open bar. “After the nightclub, then everybody in their little goofy outfits went upstairs and went bowling,” Alarcon adds. “It was a fun group of people.”

Alarcon explains the benefits of using a unique venue inside the hotel versus one that’s located offsite. “We didn’t have to transport people places, so when they’re ready to go back to their room, they can go back to their room. To me, that’s huge. The conference is only two days, and most people are coming in from the East (Coast), so they’re three hours ahead on time. People can leave for a while if they want to gamble and come back into the showroom. Or they could go to a movie if they wanted to. South Point has a lot of different things to do. I just liked having everything contained.”

In fact, South Point offered more things to do than Alarcon could fit into her program. “We thought it would be fun to do a rodeo one night, but it didn’t work out with our timing,” she says.

Alarcon describes another advantage of hosting an event in-house versus transporting attendees to an offsite venue. She says it helps planners avoid dealing with a common pitfall: “You get somewhere and somebody wants to go back. It never fails.”

She had high praise for the South Point staff. “They’re super fun. They’ve been there a long time. I’ve worked with sales people all over the country. Working with Mo and Rich out there is a dream come true.”

The Right Venue Sets the Scene

“When we start with clients, we really try to find out what the goals and objectives are for the meeting, and then we always want to give them a little bit of Las Vegas,” explains Candie Clark Priest, DMCP, general manager of AlliedPRA Las Vegas. She says that some clients look for traditional venues such as museums, but the AlliedPRA team likes to show them how something like a nightclub can become a fantastic venue. “I’m going to use Chateau (Nightclub & Gardens) as an example, which is on the rooftop of Paris Las Vegas. You step outside and you feel like you’re in this garden and the legs of the Eiffel Tower cut right through the venue space and then you’re overlooking the Bellagio fountains. That’s really the start of a phenomenal event. The venue kind of sets the scene, and we enhance it from there.

“We’ve had great success at the Keep Memory Alive event center downtown,” she continues. “It’s a fabulous facility, and they really include a lot for the meeting planner, so you get a lot of bang for your buck, and the catering is just fantastic.” Priest says that the center’s rental fee includes upgraded chairs, tables, linens and even centerpieces.” What’s really unique about that particular venue is the lighting that’s also included. They can customize the lighting to any corporate color or they can mix it up and change it, and it’s throughout, which makes it really awesome, both inside and out. A lot of times, that’s something additional that you have to pay for, so that’s a definite benefit.” The Keep Memory Alive event center is at the Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, which was designed by famed architect Grand Geary.

“The Palms (Casino Resort) suites have always been fun and people love that,” she continues. The Palms’ Luxe Collection features a series of themed suites, including the Celebrity Suite, Director’s Suite, Hot Pink Suite, Crib Suite (described as worthy of hip-hop royalty) and the Hardwood Suite, which has its own basketball court.

“The Las Vegas Motor Speedway has been very popular lately,” Priest notes, “doing events down in the Neon Garage or in the Blackjack suite, and they can offer any of the racing experiences that are out there, as well. What’s great is that you can do things like fireworks that you couldn’t normally do on The Strip. I just did an event out there in April for about 200 people, and they did full food stations and a play-by-play live feed from pit row where all the guests did Richard Petty ride-alongs on the track. They alternated between dinner and the ride-alongs, went inside, had a great dessert and then they had a fireworks show.”

Priest also describes how The Venetian makes creative use of a small theater it has outside of their convention area by using it to host what she calls “over the top” precons. “Their precons are ridiculous in a fantastic way,” she says. “It’s a miniature performance and show, and it really gives a great start to the meeting.”

“(The Venetian’s) precons are ridiculous in a fantastic way. It’s a miniature performance and show, and it really gives a great start to the meeting.” — Candie Clark Priest

Partying Like a Rock Star

Susan Nicoletti, vice president, meeting operations, for NHS Global Events, a Chicago area meeting and event consulting and hotel site selection firm, found a unique hotel location for a program she planned for a retail company. The venue they chose was the Penthouse Suite at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

“Our theme for this incentive trip of 25 couples was Las Vegas VIP,” she explains. “Each element of the trip experience was designed around making the winners of the annual trip feel special and important to their organization. We believe that creating experiences (like this) is so incredibly rewarding for our groups because we fully immerse them in a fantasy-inspired experience, one that they can’t create on their own, and especially not in a ballroom.”

Nicoletti explains how the program worked. “On the day of the event, we delivered to each attendee’s room upscale, jeweled lanyards with backstage VIP all-access passes attached. Their instructions only directed them to wear the pass, be at the VIP limo pickup area in their club attire at 7 p.m. and to be ready to party like a rock star.” The group was staying at The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas.

“Upon arrival to the Hard Rock Hotel,” she continues, “they entered the hotel from a private, secured access point where bodyguards dressed in black suits met them and escorted them to the red carpet where they were photographed in front of a custom step-and-repeat-banner branded with the event name. Private elevators whisked them to the Penthouse Suite where the suite’s entry hall was lined with mounted replica platinum albums labeled with their names and the award they won.”

That was just the beginning of the attendees’ rock star experience. Nicoletti explains, “The suite was decked out with casino tables, billiards, deejay and electric guitar duo, lighting effects, large-scale, rock-band canvas art, celebrity psychic, makeup artist, hairstylist offering exotic hair extensions and hair color spray, and henna tattoo artists using replicas of famous rock star tattoo designs.” They also had a caricaturist capture the couples’ “rock star attitude” while sporting their choice of a black leather biker jacket or rhinestone-encrusted denim jacket.

The guests even learned how to dine like a rock star. “The food was served green-room style and included some unusual items labeled with the names of celebrity rockers who are famous for quirky snack and food requests when touring. Some of the items were bowls of all yellow M&Ms, seedless watermelon balls, fresh pitted cherries on toothpicks, PB&J sandwiches with crusts removed and cut into tiny circular shapes, and popcorn freshly popped in truffle oil and sprinkled with pink salt,” Nicoletti explains. “The bar was accented with a martini ice luge serving up a custom potion called ‘Famous.’ ”

The attendees also signed an electric guitar, which was presented to the president of the company to thank him for the incentive trip. At the end of the night, the guests returned to their hotel room to find their rock-style photo, imprinted to look like the cover of Rolling Stone magazine, with the magazine’s reviewer singing praises about the trip-winners and thanking them for a great year.

NHS Global Events added one more special touch to ensure an encore performance. “To encourage the recipients to be a top performer next year, inside a metallic envelope that accompanied the photo were two custom-designed concert tickets with the recipients’ names as the rock band detailing the location and date of next year’s trip destination. All of this was accompanied by each recipient’s platinum album replica displayed earlier at the suite, and a sincere note from the president of the company.”

Venue News

Scheduled to open in February 2015 is the Venue Las Vegas, which will feature 36,000 sf of versatile special event and meeting space with two full stories and a rooftop patio, including six indoor and outdoor event spaces for parties that can accommodate from 30 to up to 2,000 guests.

The Mob Museum, the National Museum of Organized Crime and Law Enforcement, recently added two new displays of rare gambling artifacts as part of a collaboration with the Museum of Gaming History. The first display features rare, early- to mid-20th century casino chips, photographs and other memorabilia from the 1946 opening of Bugsy Siegel’s Flamingo Hotel. The second display presents artifacts from legendary illegal gambling halls around the U.S. Located in downtown Las Vegas, The Mob Museum offers a variety of unique venues for private events.

A new venue recently opened at Caesars Entertainment’s The Linq. Titled F.A.M.E., which stands for Food Art Music Entertainment, the venue specializes in the street foods of Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Korea, China and Vietnam along with live entertainment that includes lion and dragon dances, Taiko drum performances and Gangnam-style music.

One of the most unique venues in Las Vegas, the Neon Museum, pays tribute to the city’s legendary neon signs by putting them on display in a “neon boneyard.” The venue recently opened its Neon Boneyard North Gallery at its downtown Las Vegas campus. The new facility contains approximately 60 rescued signs from Palms Casino Resort, New York-New York, Lady Luck and O’Shea’s, among others. The signs provide a dazzling backdrop for special events.

Las Vegas Arena Company, which is owned by AEG and MGM Resorts International, recently broke ground on a $375 million indoor arena. Located between the New York-New York and Monte Carlo resorts, the new 20,000-sf arena will host sporting events, major headline entertainment, awards shows and special events. The arena will feature 50 luxury suites, more than two dozen private loge boxes and other hospitality venues, and is expected to open in the spring of 2016.

The VooDoo Zip Line at Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino is now open. Riders take off from the patio of VooDoo Steakhouse on the 50th floor of the hotel’s Masquerade Tower and are propelled at speeds up to 33 mph to the adjoining 20-story Ipanema Tower, covering one-third of a mile in 70 seconds. The VooDoo Steakhouse’s rooftop patio event space offers great views of the city.

Pure Nightclub at Caesars Palace has been acquired by Hakkasan Group and is currently closed to undergo a complete remodel. The new nightspot is scheduled to open in early 2015.

Hotel Updates

Stay Well Meetings, the industry’s first-ever wellness meetings experience, was officially unveiled at MGM Grand Hotel & Casino in August. Created by Delos, the pioneer of Wellness Real Estate, the program offers healthful environments for high-performance meetings with meeting rooms and spaces designed to optimize the health and well-being of attendees while complementing the existing Stay Well room and suite experience in the hotel’s main tower. The Stay Well Meeting rooms incorporate elements such as ergonomic seating, air purification, circadian lighting, virtual window lights, aromatherapy, healthful menu items, and much more. The Stay Well rooms feature vitamin C-infused shower water, advanced room lighting tailored to sleep/wake cycles, air purification systems, EMF protection and more.

Tropicana Las Vegas – a DoubleTree by Hilton announced a March 1, 2015, completion date for the expansion of the Tropicana Pavilion. The expansion, which also includes enhancements to the existing pavilion area, will increase the resort’s total meeting and convention facilities to 100,000 sf.

The new 26,000-sf Tropicana Pavilion area will offer up to 11 separate breakout rooms, some with up to 16-foot ceilings, and will feature new private restrooms as well as new escalators. The current Tropicana Pavilion also will be enhanced, including a decorative acoustic treatment for the walls. Once the addition is complete, the Tropicana Pavilion will provide 55,000 sf of meeting space.

Caesars Entertainment announced in July that The Linq Hotel & Casino will welcome its first guests beginning on October 30, 2014. The Linq Hotel & Casino, combined with The Linq retail, dining and entertainment promenade and the world’s largest observation wheel, the High Roller, is located at the heart of Center Strip. The hotel, which is a complete re-imagination of the Quad Resort & Casino, will feature 2,256 brand new rooms and suites, a completely renovated welcome experience built around a signature lobby bar, all-new retail and spa amenities, and a new pool deck.

Caesars Entertainment also has recently opened its first standalone boutique hotel on The Strip. The Cromwell includes 188 rooms, including 19 suites, and is home to Drai’s Beach Club Night Club and Giada, the first restaurant to be opened by celebrity chef Giada De Laurentiis.

Delano Las Vegas opened this month in the Mandalay Bay complex, bringing the chic style of its iconic sister property in South Beach to the Las Vegas Strip. Located in the 43-story tower that was formerly home to THEhotel, the new hotel will feature 1,100 suites, the Bathouse Spa and Delia’s Kitchen, a restaurant specializing in sustainable foods.

The three-level Mandalay Bay Convention Center recently unveiled plans to expand the facility to more than 2 million sf from its current 1.7 million sf of event space. Plans call for the addition of more than 350,000 sf of exhibit space, as well as underground parking and additional carpeted ballroom space. Construction on the $66 million project is scheduled to begin this fall, and the new exhibit space is expected to be available in late summer 2015.

Station Casinos is planning to invest $20 million over the next year to create four new restaurant concepts at its Green Valley Ranch Resort in Henderson. The new dining outlets at the 490-room resort will include Mercadito Mexican restaurant, the Tippling Hall cocktail lounge, Pizza Rock pizzeria and Tony’s Slice House, a traditional Italian venue.

Station Casinos’ crown jewel, the Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa 10 miles west of The Las Vegas Strip in Summerlin, is undergoing a major renovation, which will feature the addition of a Restaurant Row with four new dining outlets.

Among the MGM Resorts properties that are featuring new restaurants is The Mirage’s 250-seat Tom Colicchio’s Heritage Steak, which opened a year ago. And Masaharu Morimoto, renowned Japanese chef and star of Food Network’s “Iron Chef America,” will debut Morimoto Las Vegas at The Mirage in 2015. Both restaurants offer private group dining options. The Mirage boasts other distinctive event venues outside the ballroom, including Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat, the Bare Pool Lounge and 1 Oak nightclub.

The Monte Carlo Resort and Casino recently completed a multimillion-dollar renovation of its outdoor area to create an open-air plaza and gathering area that offers six new dining concepts and live entertainment.

After a $415 million renovation of the legendary Sahara Hotel, SLS Las Vegas resort and casino debuted in August featuring 1,600 rooms in three towers, three nightclub concepts, including one with a rooftop pool, and 80,000 sf of flexible meeting space.

The salons at both Wynn and Encore have been overhauled under the new artiste-in-residence Claude Baruk, managing director for the salons. The Claude Baruk Salon at Wynn opens this month, while the Claude Baruk Salon at Encore reopened in March 2014. Claude Baruk offers techniques not available anywhere else in the world, the “Baruk 5-step system.”

Westgate Resorts announced the acquisition of the LVH – Las Vegas Hotel & Casino as the newest addition to its portfolio of 28 resorts. The property was formerly known as the Las Vegas Hilton and will be renamed Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino. The LVH is a landmark property that, at one time, was the largest hotel in the world and was home to such legendary greats as Elvis Presley and Liberace. The hotel is located just one block off the Las Vegas Strip, is adjacent to the Las Vegas Convention Center, and is one of seven stations on the Las Vegas Monorail.

Planners who need a more serene, meeting-focused environment can look to The Westin Lake Las Vegas Re­sort and Spa in Henderson. Although it’s only 30 minutes from The Strip, the Moroccan-inspired resort is a world away with its tranquil setting featuring lake and mountain views, a new three-acre white-sand beach cove and any number of water activities. The Westin takes advantage of its stunning environs by offering 50,000 sf of outdoor space from gardens and poolside decks to a terrace overlooking the lake. There is another 45,000 sf of indoor space including a 20,000-sf ballroom and naturally sunlit meeting rooms and boardrooms. The resort underwent a major renovation before re-opening under the Westin flag in 2012, and the Reflection Bay Golf Course will reopen November 1 following a major renovation.

Much More Than Entertainment

While Las Vegas hosts more than 22,000 meetings, events, conventions and trade shows each year, the city is always ready for more. So the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) recently unveiled two new advertising campaigns designed to reinforce the destination’s image as a premier venue for hosting successful, memorable and cost-effective meetings and events. The first campaign “We’re Here to Do More Than Entertain You” targets C-suite executives who are the final decision-makers on selecting a venue for their meetings. The ads will feature iconic Las Vegas entertainers such as illusionist David Copperfield, a Cirque du Soleil performer and a Las Vegas showgirl in office settings. The second campaign “Neon Signs” takes a playful poke at dry-sounding meetings by showcasing their names in neon lights, and by taking items commonly used at meetings and covering them with jewels.

The LVCVA reports that convention and trade show delegates represent approximately 12.7 percent of all visitors to the Southern Nevada region, or approximately 5.1 million business travelers a year — critical to the health of the Las Vegas economy.

There’s Always Something New

“We’re constantly dealing with clients who have been here before or they’re very well-traveled so they need to be wowed,” AlliedPRA’s Priest notes. “What’s great and not great about Las Vegas is about every six months it reinvents itself with more great new venues. Sometimes that gets challenging for us as DMCs to stay on top of the next great thing, but as far as a meeting planner goes, they can come back here every year and there’s something new that they haven’t seen and tried.” C&IT