# Harrah's to acquire Planet Hollywood Update



## John Cummings (Dec 19, 2009)

A friend of mine who is a VIP sales executive at Caesar's Palace called me yesterday to wish us a Merry Christmas. We talked about what was going on in Las Vegas and she confirmed that Harrah's is acquiring Planet Hollywood. I had posted a thread about that possibility several weeks ago.

That will mean that Harrah's will own every Casino on the east side of the strip from Harrah's down to Planet Hollywood plus Caesar's Palace and the Rio. We also discussed City Center and MGM. I never realized that MGM actually owns more strip casino hotels than Harrah's. I knew some of them but there are many that I didn't know that MGM owns.

I don't know if Harrah's acquiring Planet Hollywood affects the timeshares at PH.


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## gmarine (Dec 21, 2009)

I think it was announced about three weeks ago. There had been an article on wsj.com.
According to what I've read, Westgate is maintaining ownership of the timeshare tower.


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## John Cummings (Dec 22, 2009)

gmarine said:


> I think it was announced about three weeks ago. There had been an article on wsj.com.
> According to what I've read, Westgate is maintaining ownership of the timeshare tower.



My earlier thread on this subject was from the WSJ article. However it was speculation at that time.


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## Kola (Dec 22, 2009)

From California AP news (Dec 18, 2009 6:13 pm US/Pacific ):

"Westgate Resorts Chief Operating Officer Mark Waltrip says 500 units will be open by Dec. 25, while the others will be open by Jan. 1.

Westgate owns the tower, while Planet Hollywood operates it. The Planet Hollywood casino-hotel is in talks with Harrah's Entertainment Inc. for Harrah's to take it over.

There is no deal yet, but Harrah's has filed an application with Nevada gambling regulators for a license to run the property."


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## Kola (Dec 22, 2009)

According to Las Vegas Sun:

Westgate Chief Operating Officer Waltrip said "they have already done $300 million in timeshare sales and are expecting to do an additional $100 million in 2010." 

WOW ! You better hurry, it will be sold out by the end of the year !   

As of now Westgate is the owner of the property while Planet Hollywood is the marketing and operating partner.

"Pending the sale of Planet Hollywood to Harrah’s Entertainment, Harrah’s would become the new marketing and operating partner. The name would still remain the PH Towers at Westgate, Waltrip said."

You Go, figure. Should it be "Harrah's Towers at Westgate" or "Westgate Tower at Harrah's Resort"  or "Harrah's Westgate" ?  

According to Waltrip, “Harrah’s is without a doubt the best operator and marketing machine in the Las Vegas market,”


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## spatenfloot (Dec 22, 2009)

The Harrah's / MGM monopoly of the strip is a big part of what's wrong with Vegas these days. I'll bet Boyd is regretting the decision to implode the Stardust now.


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## Karen G (Dec 25, 2009)

Our paper has this story on the front page of the business section. That picture of the lobby area connects to the Miracle Mile shopping area of the Planet Hollywood.


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## dougp26364 (Dec 25, 2009)

Out of 1,200 rooms (keys) only 200 are timeshares? I was under the impression that the entire tower was going to be timeshares. I guess our trade value for our Marriott and Polo Towers units won't take as huge of a hit as I had once been concerned about. At 200 units I believe that, despite it's impressive size, the Westgate project is actually about the same size or a little smaller than both Marriott and Polo Towers (suite's and villa's combined for Polo Towers).


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## Kola (Dec 25, 2009)

If you havn't seen some of the promotional photos check out here:

http://www.phtowers.com/accommodations/one_bed.asp

Here is a sample of promotional phantasy:
"The PH Towers' One Bedroom Suite redefines luxury. This spacious hideaway offers world-class accommodations for those who love living the suite life. Guests will find a 42” flat-screen television, a surround-sound system, an oversized jet stream tub with separate shower, and a marble-accented bathroom featuring signature PH Towers' bath products. The full kitchen with high-end stainless steel appliances will give travelers a hint of home, while the HD projector with dropdown screen creates a sense of celebrity living."

Just make sure to bring all your credit cards ! 

K.


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## Karen G (Dec 25, 2009)

It is an impressive structure and the location is just great. Though buying a unit there is probably ill-advised, staying there should be a lot of fun. Here's a picture of the building taken from the rooftop pool area at the Marriott Grande Chateau last week:






And here's another picture taken at City Center. You can see the PH Tower through the window.  These are interesting ice sculptures that melt and refreeze, and they are in the Crystals shopping area:






The building is distinctive and you can see the red PH part of the sign from all over the valley at night.  I think it's a cool looking place and I hope it will be a successful venture for Planet Hollywood and Harrah's.


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## timeos2 (Dec 25, 2009)

*The distinction is limited when its not done*



Karen G said:


> The building is distinctive and you can see the red PH part of the sign from all over the valley at night.  I think it's a cool looking place and I hope it will be a successful venture for Planet Hollywood and Harrah's.



The whole design was supposed to be the TWO tail fins of a 50"s car so to say it is compromised with only half existing and the second one unlikely to ever be  built in our lifetimes is putting it mildly. A star crossed operation no matter how you look at it.


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## Karen G (Dec 25, 2009)

timeos2 said:


> The whole design was supposed to be the TWO tail fins of a 50"s car so to say it is compromised with only half existing and the second one unlikely to ever be  built in our lifetimes is putting it mildly. A star crossed operation no matter how you look at it.


I didn't know what their design was supposed to look like or represent--I just think it looks cool the way it is right now.


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## dougp26364 (Dec 25, 2009)

timeos2 said:


> The whole design was supposed to be the TWO tail fins of a 50"s car so to say it is compromised with only half existing and the second one unlikely to ever be  built in our lifetimes is putting it mildly. A star crossed operation no matter how you look at it.



Not to mention that sitting out on the balcony and watching the Bellagio water show is out of the picture. That is unless you bought one of those penthouses up on the top four floors. At one point, the design had balcony's for every forward facing unit. Those got cut pretty quickly along with the original design. Glad we weren't suckered into buying this one.

I find it amazing that, in the promotional photo, the Aladdin....opps...I mean Planet Hollywood, or is it Harrah's now (talk about a cursed property) isn't in the shot at all. You'd think a building as big as Planet Hollywood would show up somewhere. Nothing like a little creative editing to make you think you'll have a view that I'm sure doesn't exist. And how about that shot out the window showing the Stardust. Talk about idiotic photo shopping. There is NO WAY PHT has any view of the Stardust LOL. 

FWIW, Polo Towers did the same thing with photo's of the view from the roof top pool. It clearly shows the strip and the Monte Carlo hotel but, there's a huge white wall that actually blocks that view.


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## dougp26364 (Dec 25, 2009)

Karen G said:


> I didn't know what their design was supposed to look like or represent--I just think it looks cool the way it is right now.



Here's a link that will take you to the original design and the redesign renderings, just in case you want to see the differences.

http://www.vegastodayandtomorrow.com/planeth.htm


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## Karen G (Dec 25, 2009)

dougp26364 said:


> You'd think a building as big as Planet Hollywood would show up somewhere. Nothing like a little creative editing to make you think you'll have a view that I'm sure doesn't exist.



This shot taken from the Mandarin Oriental tea lounge shows the location of the Tower in relation to Planet Hollywood.







It doesn't seem possible to have the view shown in the brochure in the link of post #9 in this thread.  A few years ago we stayed in a room at the former Alladin, now Planet Hollywood in a Strip-facing room with an almost identical view to the one shown in the brochure purportedly taken from the PH/Westgate Tower.  Surely seems like the PH casino/hotel would block views from the Tower, but I haven't actually been inside any of the Tower units.


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## dougp26364 (Dec 26, 2009)

Karen G said:


> It doesn't seem possible to have the view shown in the brochure in the link of post #9 in this thread.  A few years ago we stayed in a room at the former Alladin, now Planet Hollywood in a Strip-facing room with an almost identical view to the one shown in the brochure purportedly taken from the PH/Westgate Tower.  Surely seems like the PH casino/hotel would block views from the Tower, but I haven't actually been inside any of the Tower units.



I can pretty much guarentee that PHT doesn't have that view. Just like it doesn't have a view that includes the Stardust. The Stardust doesn't even exist anymore. Photoshop can do oh so many things. 

As a funny story, we were in the elevator of Marriott's Grand Chateau with a salesman and his victims. There was a photo on one of the elevator walls that was obviously taken from the Stratosphere looking south down the strip. The couple commented on the photo and the salesman told them that was the view from the roof top bar at Grand Chateau. I almost couldn't contain my laughter.


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## Kola (Dec 26, 2009)

Does anyone know who owns the lot in front of Marriott's Grand Chateau right next to Polo Towers and what, if anything, may be built there ? Whatever goes up there would partially block the view from PH Westgate tower. 

K.


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## dougp26364 (Dec 27, 2009)

Kola said:


> Does anyone know who owns the lot in front of Marriott's Grand Chateau right next to Polo Towers and what, if anything, may be built there ? Whatever goes up there would partially block the view from PH Westgate tower.
> 
> K.




It's changed hands several times since we purchased our first Polo Towers unit back in 1998. The last owners of that lot that I was aware of owned everthing from that corner all the way down to the Showcase Mall. Their plans were to build a high rise Elvis themed resort. There was negotiations to remove/buy out the height restriction and easements from Polo Towers in order to build this thing the way they wanted. 

Then, the market crashed. Those plans haven't been heard from for a year or two. I doubt that they'll ever see the light of day. For that matter, I'm not certain who owns that lot now but, my thoughts have always been that all they really planned on doing was flipping it like everyone else had done. Their problem is they got caught holding the hot potato and now their stuck with it or, they'll take a loss selling it. 

In the past there was a plan to build a high rise full ownership condo on that corner. That plan died as well.


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