Smart Meetings

View From Vegas: Flying High

Author: "Lucky Chuck" Kapelke
July 2007

Columns

PLANET HOLLYWOOD

Most recent developments along the Las Vegas Strip have entailed demolishing an existing (if timeworn) property to make way for The Next Big Thing. But the latest new hotel has sprung up out of the old without ever closing for business.

As of this September, the old Aladdin will have officially completed its gradual, section-by-section transformation into the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. The new Starwood-operated property has all the dazzling rooms, nightclubs, restaurants and meeting space one would expect from the new kid on the most over-the-top block in the world.

“We’re very meeting-planner friendly,” says Bill Feather, executive vice president of hotel operations for Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino. “We want to be the hotel where the meeting planners have a direct line to me, and our sales team and support staff.”

Overall, the property offers 75,000 sq. ft. of pre-function and meeting space, with up to 18 breakout and function rooms for between 10 and 500 people, including two executive-style boardrooms for 10 to 12 people. The Planet Hollywood’s Grand Ballroom weighs in at nearly 37,000 sq. ft. and can be divided into eight separate rooms.

For larger groups and events, the Theater for the Performing Arts, or TPA, can be set up with between 1,500 to 7,000 seats. “Groups just love it,” says Feather.

“Burger King just used it, and it was used for one of the three world-premieres of Spiderman III. It’s great for general sessions and groups.”

Another option for general presentations is the Show-room, a 1,500-seat theater. And a new mezzanine conference space has four 40-foot movie screens. “We do a lot of fun functions there, where a group can come in and have videos of the conference or brand videos on these gigantic movie screens,” says Feather.

Not surprisingly for a Hollywood-theme property, more than 5,000 high-definition plasma TVs are spread across its public spaces, rooms and suites. However, the fabulous movie costumes, props and stills that defined the Planet Hollywood restaurant chain are kept tucked away in the 2,600 guest rooms. “We have Hollywood memorabilia built into each guest room,” says Feather. “But it’s not in the public spaces. Overall, we have a very hip, sophisticated design.”

Among the room options are several mega-suites ranging from 4,000 to 12,000 sq. ft., which are made available to high-end meeting planners and their clients for receptions and upscale meetings.

Though subdued in places, the Hollywood theme is never far away: The TV tabloid show EXTRA will even have its own lounge on-site, which it hopes to use as an outpost for celebrity interviews and for taping the show’s 60 Seconds in Sin City segments.

Planet Hollywood is also home to Privé and Living Room, hipster nightclubs run by the Miami-based Opium Group. Also coming in is ASIA, a multimillion-dollar, two-story restaurant and nightclub. “Our meeting and convention business can do private parties there,” says Feather.

The pool deck on the sixth floor of the resort has a choice of two oversized pools that can be used for events. And, of course, for all your post-meeting massage needs, there is the Planet Hollywood Spa by Mandara.

Other dining/event options include KOI, an offshoot of a popular L.A. sushi eatery; Strip House, a high-end steakhouse; Yolos, a Mexican restaurant; Planet Dailies, a coffee shop; and Middle Eastern-themed Spice Market Buffet, which was recently picked by the staff of the Las Vegas Review Journal as the best buffet in Vegas.

While the Spice Market made the cut, much of the Aladdin’s Arabian desert vibe has given way to Hollywood neon. The Mediterranean-themed Desert Passage retail mall, for example, will be renamed the Miracle Mile and be made over with a Los Angeles theme.

Other entertainment options include Stomp Out Loud, a percussive dance show, and The Beauty of Magic, with magician Hans Klok and Pamela Anderson (for the summer, anyway), who stepped in to replace Carmen Elektra.

Perhaps the most significant perk of all is the Planet Hollywood brand’s direct business relationship with a legion of celebrities. “We’ve had Sylvester Stallone, Roger Clemens and Bruce Willis come in to say hi for meetings,” says Feather. “We have a celebrity-based core that is available to take pictures or do meet and greets. Anything you can imagine we can provide.”

FLYAWAY INDOOR SKYDIVING

The “Bodyflight” experience at Flyaway Indoor Skydiving Las Vegas is one of those adrenaline thrill rides that, for those who haven’t undone their bellies with booze, food and dancing, could easily be incorporated into a client presentation, reward event or team-building program.

Designed to be like skydiving without jumping out of an airplane, the “ride” is basically getting blasted up into the air with a 120 mph windstorm generated by a 1,000-horsepower motor, then flailing, falling and floating around inside a padded 22-foot-tall, 12-foot-wide vertical wind tunnel. Attendees wear special suits and helmets, and they get a 20-minute preliminary training class on body control techniques and safety procedures. (Note that only people between 40–230 pounds may participate.)

Single flights run about $70 (with discounts for groups larger than 15). The rides are short (each individual usually only gets about three minutes of airtime), but for $1,000 per hour, groups can rent the whole facility.

Just make sure your group knows what they’re in for. No one likes to nurse a hangover with a 120-mile-per-hour wind blast. 

BURGER JOINT

Paris Las Vegas’ new Le Burger Brasserie Sports Grill is well suited to hosting casual events and meetings for up to 200 guests. Attendees can gaze upon a 15' x 15' plasma screen TV (or one of nine smaller models) as they sink their teeth into beef, lamb, chicken, salmon or vegetarian burgers. And for an over-the-top incentive prize, consider the tantalizing opulence of the Kobe Beef and Maine Lobster Burger. It's topped with caramelized onions, imported Brie, crispy prosciutto and 100-year aged balsamic vinegar, and served with a bottle of Rosé Dom Perignon champagne—the burger of a lifetime—for a mere $777.

NEWS

• This month marks the opening of the third (and final) tower of the Signature at MGM Grand. This latest addition, a 576-unit all-suite, nonsmoking, nongaming tower, has its own meeting rooms, as well as a fitness center. Suites range from juniors to two bedrooms ($510), and all have kitchens and private balconies with views.
  
  
• Bette Midler has signed a two-year deal to perform at Caesars Palace’s 4,100-seat Colosseum, starting February 20, 2008. She’ll perform 100 90-minute shows annually for two years. (
  
  
• Jersey Boys, the Broadway musical about Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, will open early next year at the Palazzo, the Venetian’s under-construction tower resort, slated to open later this year. The 53-story Palazzo tower will have 3,025 suites, including plenty of meeting space to complement the Venetian’s already-bountiful meeting space.
  
  
• Sometime this year, construction will begin for The World Jewelry Center. It will be part of Union Park, a 61-acre plot currently being developed by the City of Las Vegas. The center will provide 800,000 sq. ft. for various purposes, including meeting and exhibition space, classrooms, a museum, a private club and more. The developer, Probity International Corporation, expects its completion by mid 2011.
  
  
• Mandalay Bay has completed a $150-million redesign of its rooms that has led to five new room styles. Ranging in size from 550 to 1,500 sq. ft., the new options include multijet spa tubs, separate glass-enclosed showers and two flat-screen televisions per room. The 1,500-square-foot extra Bedroom Suite has two bedrooms, while the Sky View Suites (available this October) are luxury top-floor, 1,050-square-foot, one-bedroom suites with a living room and views.