LAS VEGAS (AP) - Two more casino resorts are preparing to open new hotel towers, less than two weeks after the debut of the 4,000-room Aria casino-hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.
The 1,201-room PH Tower at the Planet Hollywood Resort and the 374-room HRH Tower at the Hard Rock Hotel are set to open Monday, with executives at the properties saying both will seek well-heeled guests.
"The tower is for the upscale customer who wants to enjoy an all-suite product," Planet Hollywood Resort President Bill Feather said.
The 52-story new tower on Las Vegas Boulevard is a joint venture between Planet Hollywood Resort and Florida-based time share company Westgate. About 200 units are being sold as time shares, with the rest being used for hotel rooms marketed at $229 midweek and $349 on weekends.
Feather said the tower will open Monday with 330 rooms, growing to 500 rooms by New Year's Eve. Several timeshare owners took advantage of a soft opening to move in a week ago.
Plans call for more rooms to open in time for the International Consumer Electronics Show beginning Jan. 7, with all rooms open for the Miss America Pageant on Jan. 30. A tower grand opening is planned that same weekend.
The new tower brings Planet Hollywood Resort's room count to 3,697 rooms.
Hard Rock Hotel chief Randy Kwasniewski said the all-suite HRH tower on Harmon Avenue is part of a $750 million expansion aimed at attracting customers looking for a "boutique experience" different from the 450-room Paradise Tower, which opened in July.
"It has all the amenities necessary," Kwasniewski said of the HRH rooms, including seven penthouse suites and eight spa villas. "It is a bit of a different design for that customer."
Opening with the tower is the 25,000-square-foot Reliquary Spa, a new parking garage and entrance, and 40,000 square feet of new casino space. Three restaurants are planned in the new casino, an area that used to house the Joint, in the second quarter of 2010.
A lobby bar will open Monday, and plans are being developed for two restaurants.
The property is planning an opening celebration in April, when a pool expansion is complete.
A new nightclub, the 14,000-square-foot Vanity, opens Dec. 31. The old nightclub, Body English, will close.
The expansion brings the Hard Rock Hotel to 1,506 rooms and 70,000 square feet of casino space.
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Information from: Las Vegas Review-Journal, http://www.lvrj.com