Las Vegas Weekly

December 28, 2009 · 4:32 PM

Hard Rock Hotel and Planet Hollywood open HRH and PH towers

By Robin Leach

A suite in the Hard Rock Hotel's new HRH Tower.

Photo: Hard Rock Hotel

It’s a mighty big day for our still-growing resort business in the face of a bleak economy. But it’s the future that will count, and advance planning even at the darkest of times is proof that we’ll come out of the global economic meltdown. An additional 1,570-plus rooms for guests are now open to tourists today just in time for the upcoming busiest weekend of the year.

The Hard Rock Hotel threw open the doors today of its new all-suite hotel tower the HRH Tower. Vegas DeLuxe posted our tour and photo gallery earlier this month. The new tower features 359 standard suites, 40,000 square feet of new casino space, eight spa villas, seven penthouse suites, Reliquary Spa and the 14,000 square-foot nightclub Vanity that opens on New Year’s Eve and marks the closing of Body English in the older tower. (Body English will be converted into an after-hours 2 a.m. to noon nighterie -- Afterlife -- this spring.) The Vanity gala opening takes place this Saturday with party prince and rap royal Sean “P. Diddy” Combs.

Many of its features are unlike anything seen before in Las Vegas or the world. As you know from my earlier report, the totally unique spa villas and the very sexy penthouse suites knocked me out! The tower, which boasts its own VIP entrance and check-in, is part of the Hard Rock’s $750 million expansion that broke ground in 2007 and includes the recently opened Paradise Tower. The total room count now for the Hard Rock with its three towers stands at 1,506, plus a casino floor total of 70,000 square feet.

Guests can check into the new HRH Tower from today onward, even though the star-studded grand opening won’t take place until April, when the new pool complex is completed and three new restaurants are opening on the new casino floor, which was constructed from the site of the old Joint theater.

Also opening today is the 1,200-room PH Towers at Planet Hollywood, a luxurious hybrid that features time-share apartments, four top floors of condos and an all-suite hotel room inventory. Those high-in-the-sky palatial pleasure pads atop the 52nd floor measure more than an average Las Vegas home, starting at 6,000 square feet and topping out at 18,000 square feet. The regular suites feature full kitchens, appliances and state-of-the-art electronics catering to extended-stay tourists.

PH Towers is a joint venture between Robert Earl’s Planet Hollywood and David Segal’s timeshare conglomerate Westgate. The official grand opening will be on Jan. 30, when all 52 contestants in the Miss America Pageant will have checked in to help celebrate. The pageant broadcasts live from Planet Hollywood’s Theater for the Performing Arts on the same Saturday.

Executives at both properties admit that their towers are being opened at a difficult and crucial state of the economy that has badly impacted Las Vegas. But they both look at the new towers opening in time for New Year’s weekend exposure as an investment in the future as the economy turns and shows signs of improvement in the first quarter of 2010.

We posted a story this morning about how the media are analyzing the New Vegas, which is helping increase the numbers of visitors and room rates.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter HERE.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter HERE.

Follow VDLX Editor Don Chareunsy on Twitter HERE.

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