Smart Meetings

View From Vegas: Over the Top

Author: Chuck Kapelke
January 2008

Columns

Eyecandy Sound Lounge & Bar
Smack in the middle of Mandalay Bay’s casino, eyecandy is, well, not your parent’s cocktail lounge. With a DJ spinning out tunes, the bar has a touch-activated,  light-up dance floor and interactive tables—that’s right, interactive tables—on which guests can manipulate visual displays with their fingers.

Guests in a VIP booth can watch other guests through the tables, which receive input from cameras around the dance floor, lounges or even other booths. The screens also allow people sitting at one booth to invite people in another booth to collaborate and draw a picture or play hangman. In a trick right out of the Jetsons, the booths can rotate toward each other, so you can combine two different 12-person pods—a perfect option for a group.

Even the music at eyecandy is innovative: When the DJ isn’t working, patrons can plug in their iPods to play their own songs throughout the lounge; after the DJ arrives, you can leave your MP3 player plugged in and the DJ will build your tunes into the mix.

Eyecandy has its own catering menu and can be rented for special events. The bar seats 29; the lounge can hold more than 100. mandalaybay.com

A Three-Star Meal
So what’s the best restaurant in Las Vegas? According to the Michelin Guide, it’s Joël Robuchon, at MGM Grand, which was the only joint in town last year to win the prized three-star rating, which, by the French company’s standards, means “exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey.”

So why not take a VIP or a group on a “special journey”? Reservations are difficult but not impossible to arrange, especially during the week (you can book a table up to a year in advance). The six-course menu is $225 a person; there is also a 16-course menu available at $350 a pop and a new Specialty a la Carte Menu.

The largest private group the restaurant allows is 12 (the exact number that can fit in the private dining room, it turns out). Total buyouts are offered on a case-by-case basis; capacity is 65. joel-robuchon.com

Adventuredome
So much of the entertainment along the Vegas Strip is for the 21-and-older set that it’s easy to forget that some kid-friendly amusements can be fun for adults, too. For example: the Adventuredome, at Circus Circus, fills five climate-controlled acres and is the largest indoor theme park in Nevada, with 25 rides and attractions, including the world’s only indoor double-loop, double-corkscrew roller coaster (corporate groups will enjoy seeing their fearless CEOs scream in terror). For a team-building round of mini-golf or a large group picnic or event for up to 5,000, Adventuredome offers significant discounts to groups of 15 or more. They also have their own catering and group sales department, plus their own team-building program, “Team One.” adventuredome.com

Planning Easy at The Ritz
The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas has put together two all-inclusive packages to make things super easy for meeting planners. Available during the summer months and all holidays, the Complete Meeting Package features four days of meals and meetings, including a welcome reception and meals throughout the day (not including dinner). The price is $899 per person based on single occupancy, a $500 savings as compared to the traditional cost for a similar program. Optional team-building activities are available for an additional price.

Meanwhile, the Complete Incentive Package plans out three days with activities and meals, including a welcome reception with a two-hour unlimited bar package. For the second day, attendees can choose between a round of golf or a treatment at The Ritz-Carlton Spa. For the final day, the group can attend a Hoover Dam tour, followed by a gala dinner with entertainment by a tribute trio, The Rat Pack. The price is $1,119 per person based on single occupancy, based on 150 attendees, for a savings of about $600. (Prices include all catered events, tax, catering gratuity and the guest-room rate for all three nights.)

And for a fine new event space, The Ritz also recently opened a temporary version of the Pontevecchio Pavilion, a 4,920-foot glass-enclosed ballroom (located on the banks of Lake Las Vegas) that can accommodate up to 300 people. The permanent version of the pavilion will open this spring. ritzcarlton.com

Tiki Vegas
There’s something about tiki-themed lounges that always seems to work for corporate groups and, not surprisingly, Las Vegas has a variety of tiki-related properties for events or accommodations.

Trader Vic’s restaurant recently opened in the Miracle Mile Shops, with three separate dining and entertainment venues for groups of up to 600, including a ground-level restaurant and Strip-side patio, plus a second-level Tiki Club-ultra lounge with views of the Bellagio fountains, the Eiffel Tower and the new, upcoming City Center. The Polynesian décor of the lounge is enhanced by two separate DJ booths, a 20-foot outdoor bar and lanai surrounded by palms, a sweeping shingled roof and the upstairs ultra lounge. tradervicslv.com

Not far away, Tahiti Joe’s promises “gaming, booze and pu-pus.” The tiki vibe runs strong here, from the entertainment to the massive tiki gods to bamboo accents and tiki lights. A Tahitian-themed banquet room is also available. tahitijoeslasvegas.com

And for those who want their tiki all the time, the Tahiti Vacation Club is a Polynesian-themed resort about a mile from The Strip, with one- and two-bedroom suites and separate living areas, featuring such amenities as a fireplace, DVD player and stereo system, and whirlpool tubs. Hotel amenities include a picturesque island-style recreation area with sand-bottom swimming pools, a hot tub with a waterfall, poolside palapa huts and gas-fired barbecue grills. There’s even a putting green. crmlv.com

OmmMM
The Spa at Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas now offers Yoga Breaks for meeting attendees. Led by yoga and Pilates instructors from the hotel’s spa, these sessions replace the tired coffee-and-donut-filled gap between meetings with a healthy 30-minute series of guided, modified yoga poses, breathing exercises and stretches, served up with fresh-fruit skewers, smoothies and natural juices. Fifteen-minute breaks are available for shorter pauses, as are 10-minute chair massages. Yoga instructors can also be hired to lead one-on-one sessions or small-group classes for spouses. fourseasons.com/lasvegas  

LVCVA News: Congrats to Nancy Murphy, who was named VP for resort industry and business relations for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Murphy will serve as the liaison between the LVCVA and Southern Nevada’s resort industry and business community.

Meanwhile, the LVCVA continues its ongoing $890-million Master Plan Enhancement Program, most recently by breaking ground on a new area command substation for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, located near the Convention Center. The Master Plan Enhancement, scheduled to continue through 2011, will also add a new meeting room concourse to the South Hall, a new grand concourse and a building-wide renovation. A new fire station is also in the works (lvcva.com).
 
BLT Burger: As the latest in the wave of great-chefs-who-like-to-cook-hamburgers, Chef Laurent Tourondel has opened a branch of his BLT Burger at the Mirage. Once named Restaurateur of the Year by Bon Appétit, Tourondel puts a gourmet flair on sports-bar fare, with Kobe beef, sirloin, lamb or ahi tuna burgers, onion rings, shakes and all the fixin’s (mgmmirage.com).