Bellagio Fountains and Paris Hotel

Bellagio Fountains and Paris Hotel
Originally uploaded by Tom Harwood

This is a great shot taken by my friend Tom from *behind* the Bellagio Fountains inside the Bellagio looking out to Paris Las Vegas with Bally's on the left.

The Bellagio Fountains are one of the "must see" attractions when you are in Las Vegas with a spectacular water and music show throughout the day for most of the day through about midnight.

Other amazing attractions inside the Bellagio are the nature conservatory, sculpted glass ceiling by Chiluly, a massive chocolate fountain, and Cirque du Soleil's spectacular show "O" where the performers constantly test the limits of human acrobatic magnificence with unbelievable jumps, dives, and synchronized acrobatics.

This acrobatic and artistic virtuosity, combined with surreal imagery and music in one of the world's most sophisticated and ultra-engineered stage settings, makes "O" one of the world's most exciting and amazing stage shows.

Hotwire Hotel Identification Trick

If you book a lot of hotels you know that Hotwire often offers major discounts on great and medium quality hotels with the catch that you cannot know the exact location or name of the property.

I've used Hotwire often for Silicon Valley trips and I've been happy with the results - often paying about $50 per night for hotels that would normally run $75-$100 and up.

For major destinations like Las Vegas you can click on through the "continue" button after you have your list of hotels at Hotwire, and review the "TripAdvisor" review information at the lower left to (sometimes) learn the number of reviews for a given property. Now open a new browser window and go to TripAdvisor.com to review hotels in that map area.

This will often specifically identify the property for you *before you book*. This is a quirk and may be "fixed" soon, though I'm guessing the hotels are OK with this as long as it keeps the bookings going and higher paying customers don't find out that their neighbor paid half what they did for an identical room.

Here at Las Vegas blog we'll soon be posting a monthly chart where we try to identify these for you so you can use Hotwire more effectively.

Cirque's One Drop Water Charity Rocks!

Join Cirque du Soleil's founder and support the water charity "One Drop", which helps bring clean water to those who do not share the cozy comforts those of us in most in most of the world are lucky enough to enjoy: http://www.onedrop.org

Bud Light $100,000 Hardbat Classic - Ping Pong Mania heads to Las Vegas this June

As an avid Table Tennis player I'm very excited to see the Bud Light Hardbat Classic Table Tennis Tournament head to Las Vegas on June 26-28. ESPN will cover the event and we'll see 1000 players compete for 100,000 first prize - huge money for the sport of Table Tennis and I'm pretty sure the biggest prize in US Table Tennis history.

Hardbat Table Tennis is *not* the mainstay of this sport, where spinny rubber rules and relatively few serious tournament players still use the old school "hard bat". Combine this with some handicapping rules at the tournament and it'll be sure to lead to fun and hard to predict outcomes.

Website for the Hardbat Classic

You can also follow the classic on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/hardbatclassic

Vegas in Trouble

CNN is reporting very low travel numbers for Las Vegas year to year and although the economy appears to be stabilizing it's not clear that'll prevent severe challenges to the Las Vegas business landscape. Here are the highlights from this Las Vegas economic story:

• State unemployment rate 10.4 percent, convention attendance down 30 percent
  
• Casino slashes room rates, lays off workers -- including 28-year veteran
  
• Mayor Goodman says, "I didn't see this coming," but still optimistic

CNN Reports

CITYCENTER Las Vegas almost complete

CITYCENTER NEARS COMPLETION AS IT TOPS OUT FINAL RESIDENTIAL COMPONENT, VEER TOWERS

LAS VEGAS – May 20, 2009 CityCenter is celebrating a milestone with the recent “topping out” of its dramatically inclining high-rise condominiums, Veer Towers, CityCenter’s only pure residential offering. Preceded by Vdara Hotel, ARIA Resort & Casino and Mandarin Oriental, Veer Towers includes CityCenter’s fourth and fifth high-rise structures and the final residential component to be topped out in preparation of the urban resort destination’s opening later this year.

“The topping out of Veer Towers signifies the final stages of construction for CityCenter as we progress toward its grand opening just months from now,” said Bobby Baldwin, president and CEO of CityCenter. “Veer Towers’ cutting-edge architecture defines the core of CityCenter’s unique urban design. Inclined at five-degree angles – a feature celebrated by the development’s name – the towers will no doubt be an attraction in and of themselves when CityCenter debuts later this year.”

Designed by Helmut Jahn, Veer Towers will be a masterful translation of energy and excitement into physical form; its two glass towers will shimmer day and night and rise above Crystals, CityCenter’s retail and entertainment district. The overall lobby environment, with soaring ceiling heights, will showcase the beauty of its architecture with dramatic glass walls flooded with light, metal statements, exposed concrete walls and modern artwork. Veer residences will be filled with contemporary features and designer-selected fixtures. Open floor plans will feature floor-to-ceiling and wall-to-wall windows that capture spectacular views of Las Vegas and the surrounding CityCenter. Light-filled rooms, natural textures and a range of neutral palettes will infuse streamlined interiors with openness. Modern kitchens, living and dining areas will be ideal for entertaining and spacious spa-styled bathrooms will invite retreat.

Veer’s most compelling attribute will be its striking rooftop amenity floor. Positioned atop each striking 37-story tower, residents will enjoy an amenities floor featuring an unequaled view of Las Vegas complemented by an infinity-edge pool, hot tub, sun deck and patio for outdoor entertaining. Within, Veer will feature a media room; game room; screening room; fitness center with panoramic views; and men’s and women’s separate changing rooms, steam rooms and saunas. Veer’s west tower also will boast a business center and boardroom for residents who wish to conduct business from home.

Owners of Veer residences will enjoy access to the full spectrum of MGM MIRAGE properties in Las Vegas. Benefits include preferred access to MGM MIRAGE’s unequaled resorts, restaurants, entertainment, special events, nightlife, shopping, and golf and spa offerings.

Charting a new course for responsible growth in Las Vegas, MGM MIRAGE is pursuing the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) certification at CityCenter. Designed with the environment in mind, Veer residences will feature extensive natural light, dramatically reducing lighting power requirements, and water-saving fixtures throughout. Its glass façades and fins will provide shade from the sun, diverting heat and enhancing circulation of cool air to promote energy-efficient climate control.

Veer Towers is part of CityCenter, a dazzling vertical city set on 67 acres between Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts. A joint venture between MGM MIRAGE (NYSE: MGM) and Infinity World Development Corp, a subsidiary of Dubai World, the urban development will feature ARIA, a soaring 61-story, 4,004-room resort casino; three non-gaming hotels including Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas, Vdara Hotel and The Harmon Hotel (opening 2010); approximately 2,400 luxury residences; a resident Cirque du Soleil show celebrating the legacy of Elvis Presley; and Crystals, a 500,000-square-foot retail and entertainment district. For sales information on Veer Towers or to inquire about CityCenter residential opportunities, please call (702) 590-5999, toll-free (866) 708-7111 or visit www.CityCenter.com.

Veer Towers Construction Facts:

• Total concrete for Veer Towers: 55,000 cubic yards
• Floor plan square footage: 853,000 square feet of floor plate (floor area)
• Curtain wall square footage: 326,000 square feet
• Number of stories: 37 floors each tower
• Both towers lean at five degree angles
• At peak, approximately 700 construction workers will work on Veer Towers.

Raku Restaurant makes Travel and Leisure's Top 50 New USA Restaurants List

Raku has made Travel and Leisure's prestigious list of the top 50 new restaurants in the USA:
http://www.travelandleisure.com/restaurants/raku

Although there appears to be no website for this outstanding yet relatively inexpensive Japanese restaurant located somewhat inconspicuously off-strip, it's a definite Las Vegas food attraction for those who value incomparable Japanese Cuisine.

Reviews of Raku at Yelp