LAS VEGAS — If you want to know what’s new in Las Vegas, blink. The city that never sleeps rarely pauses the bulldozers, either. What’s new is old in the blink of an eye. But in true Vegas fashion, what’s new also must be dazzling.
The latest icon to rise from the desert dust is the SLS Las Vegas, formerly the Sahara Hotel and Casino that anchored the north side of the Strip. The $415 million fashion forward behemoth is another from sbe chairman Sam Nazarian, known for his “party’s on” personality and high-style hotels in Los Angeles and South Beach.
The Sahara redo does not disappoint. Mr. Nazarian brought in his usual suspects: chef Jose Andres and design visionary Phillippe Starck as well as the globally acclaimed architectural firm Gensler to put a new sheen on this side of town and give the latest in Vegas a great story to tell.
A fully integrated, entertainment-driven resort and casino with more than 1,600 guest rooms and suites, SLS Las Vegas brings a palette of pastels to rooms now draped in faded pinks and whites with soft textiles and metallic accents. Where possible guestroom interiors reflect the company’s fanciful Belle Epoche themes: French brocades on the walls, baroque ceiling fixtures and, in other spots, sbe’s telltale monkey motifs.
The property offers a dramatic red carpet entrance and brings the best of L.A. to Las Vegas: Andres’ Bazaar Meat, a twist on his bazaar concept; the Sayers Club as a live music venue; Katsuya by Starck, Umami Burger, Cleo, and the Griddle Cafe. Also find L.A. retailer Fred Segal and LiFE, an sbe-designed superclub. The vibe here is youth, models, fashion, money – Entourage in all its excesses just a block away from the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Boutique Bravado
Meanwhile, at the other end of the Las Vegas Strip, once considered the city’s epicenter at Flamingo Road, The Cromwell opened its doors this summer as the Strip’s first boutique hotel. But size is no indication of splash. The whimsically designed 188-room property offers a large casino, a secluded check-in, and a restaurant by Food Network darling Giada De Laurentiis. There’s complimentary coffee and tea on all 10 guestroom floors and the views here wander to the dancing fountains of Bellagio, the imposing columns of Caesars Palace and the upcoming open-air Grand Bazaar to occupy the sidewalk frontage of Bally’s later this year.
But it is, perhaps, what’s on the roof of The Cromwell that is most intriguing. There, the rooftop pool scene gets all the desert sun by day and then looks over all the neon jolts below when the sun goes down. The music pumps and Drai’s, an indoor/outdoor night scene, plays out under the stars until 4 a.m.
LINQ, Roll, Rock and Bowl
Just a block north of The Cromwell is another new Las Vegas icon that opened in April: the High Roller — at 550-feet, the highest observation wheel in the world at the moment – crowns the LINQ, a new pedestrian corridor of shops, dining, libations and entertainment behind the Quad (formerly Imperial Palace) and Harrah’s. The High Roller hopes to do for Las Vegas what the Eye has done for London and at least give the city another must-have selfie backdrop. The 28 air-conditioned pods are big enough to fit 40 people each and offer some of the best views of the city at their heights during their 30-minute revolutions.
Tickets vary but average around $25 per person and that may or may not include a cocktail.
The LINQ provides its own reasons for coming. It’s an animated corridor of restaurants, ice cream shops, lounges, and some very cool stores, such as Kitson and Polaroid Fotobar with computers for creative photo management and a museum of Polaroid history upstairs. Also along The LINQ find Brooklyn Bowl. This is designer bowling arena with rock star energy. In fact, you can bowl, listen to a name brand rock concert, and chow down on beer and fried finger foods in VIP spaces that connect bowlers with rockers.
Delano Debut
One more hotel remaking its close-up these weeks is The Delano, formerly THEhotel. The South Beach-toned property is a partnership between MGM Resorts and Morgans Hotel Group (think NYC’s Royalton Hotel designed by Phillipe Starck, and the Mondrian in Los Angeles).
The 1,117-room property connected to Mandalay Bay banished the former heavy browns and leathery corporate-looking appointments for light and airy South Beach with an occasional homage to the Mojave. Alain Ducasse will be reinventing miX and turning it into Rivea, serving French and Italian cuisine with some of the best views of the city from that penthouse perch in 2015.
Dogs have their day at the Delano, too, with a selection of dog-friendly suites given dedicated doggie services and butlers to manage them. The Bathhouse spa remains, and so does the property’s laid back pool scene, only now with tweaks of Florida filtering through the desert sunshine.
Contact Information:
SLS Las Vegas
(702) 761-7000; slshotel
s.com; average starting rate: $104
The Cromwell
(702) 777-3777
; thecromwell.com
; average starting rate: $156
The Delano
(702) 632-9444
; delanolasvegas; average starting rate: $189
Lark Gould covers travel from Los Angeles and blogs on Larkslist.com.
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