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SLS becomes part of Starwood Tribute, Lux tower to be W Las Vegas

Discussion in 'Casino Industry & Development' started by nostresshere, Nov 9, 2015.

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  1. nostresshere

    nostresshere Mr. Anti Debit Card

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    http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/casinos-gaming/deal-will-remake-sls-hotel-tower-w-las-vegas

    Separately from the press release and not from the link above:

    Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. today announced its single largest addition of hotel rooms in North America since pre-recession with the signing of SLS Las Vegas on the world-famous Las Vegas Strip and Sahara Boulevard. Owned by Las Vegas Resort Holdings, LLC, the three distinct hotel towers, encompassing more than 1,600 guestrooms and suites, will be branded by the end of this year under Starwood’s recently launched Tribute Portfolio, while the 289-room “LUX Tower” will be converted to a W Hotel upon completion of a renovation in 2016. The W Las Vegas conversion will include the addition of a W Living Room (the W brand’s take on the traditional hotel lobby), a dedicated entrance for W guests, nearly 14,500 square feet of new W-branded meeting and event space, signature Away® Spa, FIT®state-of-the-art fitness center, and an exclusive outdoor WET® pool deck and bar. The other two hotel towers, comprising 1,324 rooms, will be operated as SLS Las Vegas, a Tribute Portfolio Resort.
     
  2. dankyone

    dankyone VIP Whale

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    Nowhere does this say the SLS has been purchased. The 90% owner is acquiring the final 10% it does not own, and Starwood will manage one of the towers as a W, which WILL bring people in. This makes a lot of sense since the W clientele is exactly what SLS is looking for.
     
  3. JoJoR

    JoJoR VIP Whale

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    Seems like a good move. Didn't the W want to build a hotel in Vegas back in 2007/2008?
     
  4. nostresshere

    nostresshere Mr. Anti Debit Card

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    Yea... I read it too quick. Still a big blood transfusion into the property. Will have to wait and see if they can bring in room nights for the hotel. And, if those room nights will contribute to the gaming revenue.
     
  5. leo21

    leo21 VIP Whale

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    It means a better shot for SLS and potentially the cash to ride out the growing pains.
     
  6. SH0CK

    SH0CK Stylin' and Profilin' Quasi Tech Admin

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    I renamed the thread to better match the info.

    Which tower is the Lux Tower anyway? More to the point, which tower was it when it was the Sahara?
     
  7. pleepleus

    pleepleus 2016 - The monkey is back

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    What a weird mix. It's like that random Westin that is out there with the Max Casino.
     
  8. bigalbr

    bigalbr VIP Whale

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    What exactly is the SLS business model? The far North Strip is not at all desirable. How do they compete except on price?
     
  9. dmr

    dmr Registered Abuser

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    Looks like the Lux Tower is the old Alexandria Tower, the one with the real balconies.
     
  10. Callahan

    Callahan Tourist

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    The W tower is only going to be 300 rooms.Don't see how that's enough to really make a difference to the SLS unless you think being in Starwoods program is much better than being in Hilton's.
     
  11. Funkhouser

    Funkhouser In Charge of the Big Door

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    I think it gives them a bump in the occupancy rates since the Lux tower was branded as one of the higher end inventory rooms. The conventioneers and W travel partnerships should help. W is a distinct brand in Starwood positioned at the destination travel. I have a friend who works in card product industry and employee rewards with Starwood as a partner, he was telling me that new products like this really help their brand. So SLS financials should pickup, in essence they are probably moving an under performing product over to a hotel consolidator / operator and getting a fixed revenue stream. This should help LVRH financials, not to mention I am sure they will trim employee staffing costs since W would most likely pick up the staff responsibilities for this hotel tower which will be an independent hotel brand on site.

    a-view-of-the-custom.jpg
     
  12. UTE

    UTE Plastics

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    Think long-term business model rather than a short-term one. Keep in mind many (now) successful Strip resorts lost money for several years after opening. For example, Stratosphere finally came into the black this year, Cosmo too.

    Bill
     
  13. leo21

    leo21 VIP Whale

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    I think SLS is in a much deeper hole than any other resort that managed to turn it around. And I don't know if situation like The STRAT which was acquired in bankruptcy counts as a success story. I think the post Sam N. era should be considered SLS 2.0 (until they hopefully rebrand) and I hope they have a better strategy than trying to ride it out until some of the construction projects get completed up north. They especially need to start complaining about the 'Bleu. I don't know how you sell a hotel as upmarket and have your customers go past that site to get to you.
     
  14. nostresshere

    nostresshere Mr. Anti Debit Card

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    Bottom line, not matter what they do, it is still "almost off strip". It is just out there, and of course not being part of duopoly of Mlife and CET takes a hit as well. In our 15? visits out there, we have never wandered up there.
     
  15. FuzzyDiceCraps

    FuzzyDiceCraps VIP Whale

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    Regarding their business model, I had an interesting observation/interaction with them. We've never been there, but in preparation for our upcoming trip (on the advice of some helpful VMBers) we reached out to a number of other properties to inquire as to whether they would meet/compete/consider the offers we get from V/P. We got a variety of responses ranging from immediate offers of a couple comp nights to a "show us what you get and we'll see" to polite messages offering something other than a matching or competing offer. We didn't really expect anything, and didn't request anything, just wanted to test the waters as we've been interested in experiencing some other properties around Vegas.

    Anyway, SLS was the only property that pretty much made it clear they could care less about our offers, and gave the distinct impression, they really didn't care if we came or not. No biggie really, as far as we're concerned, saves us the trip up there, but in light of this discussion I found it interesting. We're high volume gamblers (at lower stakes), so we're nobody casinos will fight over, but we always get what we consider to be generous offers since we are true degenerates.

    It does just make one wonder how they plan to get people off their strip properties to there when they don't want to work with anyone.
     
  16. NickPapageorgio

    NickPapageorgio OG of the Sal Sagev Hotel

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    That's not the case with SLS. The refurb was funded by EB5 investments. Their debt is nothing compared to larger resorts that have either dug their way out over time, restructured or filed. As far as Fontainebleau, the media negativity is overstating the problem. The Eyesore isn't putting SLS into this situation. A poor location, at least presently and bad management have killed them. Jump ahead 5 years with new resorts on the north strip and far higher foot traffic and we'll be discussing how the new SLS management team has such great vision.

    Nick:beer:
     
  17. Funkhouser

    Funkhouser In Charge of the Big Door

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    SLS is too isolated and does not have enough on property to make it as a destination hotel. MBAY for example has plenty onsite amenities where you never need to leave the resort.
    I only see the convention / business traveler / value conscious play for them in the near term. Gaming is definitely not a priority based on the casino size. One just needs to look at the history of
    the Sahara which was a gambler focused business. What came out of the remodel was not a must visit property. There's just nothing special to draw foot traffic to that property right now and I am guessing they are not getting anywhere near the same occupancy levels as
    the rest of the strip. The only thing I see going for them is they have a newly refurbished property that some players in the hotel industry would see as an attractive asset.
     
  18. waverunner

    waverunner ------VEGA$------

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    I wish them luck but SLS is still not within walking distance of the Strip after Wynn/Encore. Just stand outside Fashion Show Mall where Stripburger is and see for yourself, people are not going to walk further up the Strip to buy t-shirts 3 @ $1 when they can do the same at places between Harley Davidson and MGM. People who ride the bus going North are not stopping at SLS, they're continuing on to Downtown. People who stay at the Circus usually have a car or RV and don't walk around because they either have kids or are retired, not people who will hang around the North Strip, especially at night.
    I visited SLS the day after it opened, there is nothing to draw people in, no volcanoes, no lake shows, no ferris wheels, etc.
    Perhaps in a couple of years if/when Resorts World and Elan and the extension of LVVA make an appearance it will bring some foot traffic to the North Strip, but until then, most tourists will continue to avoid the North Strip.
     
  19. UCLAGirl

    UCLAGirl High-Roller

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    I'm spg platinum and I wouldn't stay there. The only reason I was able to reach that is because I prefer to stay at a W if there is one in the city that I am traveling to because of the bliss spa and bar scene...but Vegas has much to offer. We actually have a hotel budget at work and I'll cover the difference if the room cost is over that. That's how much I love to see the "good morning" mats in the elevators when I get up in the morning.
     
  20. NickPapageorgio

    NickPapageorgio OG of the Sal Sagev Hotel

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    Agreed that SLS is no MB..... Not even close. MB is one of the most forgotten and underappreciated properties in Vegas. It rarely gets mentioned anymore in the luxury class, as the location sucks, and you now have a half dozen newer 5 stars with better locations.

    Things will change for SLS with Resorts World and Alon coming to fruition. If Fontainebleau gets finished, it too will assist in moving the balance point of LVB north from its current position in the City Center/ Bellagio/ Paris/ Ballys area. The balance point certainly wont be SLS, but the foot traffic/ gaming revenue/ f&b revenue and room occupancy rates will increase drastically, and the business patterns will again be commensurate with the Stardust/ Riviera/ Frontier/ Sahara/ Westward Ho days.

    When this occurs, the attention will be on how the new SLS CEO made it all work, with great vision and business sense, when in actuality, the mega team of Jack Welch and lee Iacocca couldn't turn present day SLS into a success.

    The SLS management team in 2018 will benefit from external environmental factors that will greatly contribute to success.

    None of those factors are in play today = Epic fail until Resorts World and Alon open shop.

    Nick:beer:
     
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