dw

Wow, this was not expected at all. The SLS Las Vegas, which left Hilton's Curio Collection last week, will be joining the Tribute Portfolio by the end of the year. In 2016, one of the towers will be renovated and converted to a W property.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/starwo...131700208.html

Considering how terribly this property has been doing, financially, due to it's poor location, I wish them the best of luck. However, if the Hilton affiliation didn't seem to get them where they wanted to be, I'm not sure how rebranding under SPG is going to make a huge difference.

Johnny Rocket

Fantastic news for Starwood in Vegas - a destination which has been sorely lacking of options for too long:

SLS Las Vegas (currently under Hilton’s Curio brand) on the Las Vegas Strip and Sahara Boulevard will be branded by the end of this year under Starwood’s recently launched Tribute Portfolio, while the 289-room “LUX Tower” will be converted to a W Hotel upon completion of a renovation in 2016.

The W Las Vegas conversion will include the addition of a W Living Room, a dedicated entrance for W guests, nearly 14,500 square feet of new W-branded meeting and event space and an exclusive outdoor pool deck and bar.

The other two hotel towers, comprising 1,324 rooms, will be operated as SLS Las Vegas, a Tribute Portfolio Resort.

“SLS Las Vegas, with some 1600 rooms, is a milestone addition to Starwood, growing our total footprint worldwide by nearly half a percent with a single signing,” said Adam Aron, Chief Executive Officer of Starwood Hotels & Resorts on an interim basis. “This is a perfect example of what Tribute Portfolio was designed to do—bring the power of Starwood to great independent hotels, while giving our Starwood Preferred Guest® members and global guests more access to sought after destinations around the world. It also allows us to debut our iconic W brand on the world famous Las Vegas Strip, an incomparable stage for the dynamic energy and vibrant scene of W Hotels.”
W Las Vegas, truly a “hotel within a hotel,” will be managed by Starwood, while the remainder of the property, including the additional hotel towers, casino, food and beverage outlets, and nightlife venues, will continue to be managed under the direction of Scott Kreeger, the hotel’s President and Chief Operating Officer.
“Everything is bigger in Vegas, and SLS Las Vegas is no exception,” said Kreeger. “With more than 1,600 guestrooms, numerous bars, restaurants and nightlife venues, a world-class casino, and 80,000 square feet of meeting and event space, SLS Las Vegas is a standout property. We look forward to partnering with Starwood to soon debut the W brand, a terrific complement to the SLS and a fabulous addition to the Las Vegas Strip.”
Designed by Gensler in consultation with Philippe Starck, SLS Las Vegas offers:
• 1,613 guestrooms, including 120 suites
• Eight restaurants, such as Bazaar Meat by José Andrés and Katsuya by Starck
• Three nightlife and entertainment venues
• Two pools
• 80,000 square-feet of flexible indoor and outdoor meeting space
• 54,000-square-foot casino, including a William Hill sports book
“We have long wanted to increase our Starwood presence in Las Vegas, a much desired destination for our SPG® members, who occupy 50% of our guestrooms on any given night,” said Allison Reid, SVP, North America Development, Starwood Hotels & Resorts. “The signing of SLS Las Vegas not only allows us to expand our footprint and give our members more options on the Strip but also speaks volumes to the power of Starwood’s brands and our industry-leading distribution, loyalty and sales platforms that will contribute to the success of this landmark property.”
SLS Las Vegas will join Starwood’s four existing hotels in the market, which include The Westin Las Vegas Hotel, Casino & Spa, The Westin Lake Las Vegas Resort & Spa, Four Points by Sheraton Las Vegas East Flamingo, and Element Las Vegas Summerlin.

HHonors OUTSIDER

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Thank you for posting this. I think joining SPG and adding a W is a good plan which they should of done in the first place. They will be a very successful property going forward.

letsgofire

Awesome news. Vegas was a gap for Starwood with the existing options very underwhelming.

CLEguy

Hopefully these will be better redemption options than the Caesars partnership currently offers.

Absolute

Excellent! I agree that Vegas wasn't very prominent in the portfolio, although ever since the Caesar's Palace partnership it's been a great benefit (especially the VIP Access card), so this is welcome.

Too bad my yearly conferences are normally at the other end of the strip

KENNECTED

So we get an additional option in Vegas? After the failed W build, I'm not that excited, considering the location. It sucks. I would rather stay at the Westin.

itsaboutthejourney

I heard the interim CEO say that in one transaction Starwood increased its global footprint by nearly half a percent

Keyser

very unexpected....i was just forced to cancel a hilton award reservation at the sls after they left hilton last week....would be great if they rebrand by mid december in time for my stay....

craigthemif

The Westin is still much closer to the best parts of "the Strip".

I wish them luck, but most upscale places in Vegas already do the "W" thing. They should have just made a better go of the Planet Hollywood when it participated in SPG...

iflyjetz

I've stayed at the SLS in Las Vegas (during Rock in Rio, which was across the street). They did a terrible renovation of the Sahara (SLS was previously the Sahara). There is nothing for me to get excited about here; the Vegas Four Points has nicer rooms than the SLS.

I'm surprised that anyone's disappointed with the SPG Vegas offerings - you've got all of Caesars properties along with the Westin, Four Points (if you want cheap) and even the Summerlin Element and Lake Las Vegas Westin if you don't want to be on the strip. I don't consider the SLS to be an improvement for what's available in Las Vegas.

The SLS went on casino death watch last month. I don't think that changing over to SPG is going to save the property. http://www.lvrevealed.com/deathwatch/

milesrus

milesrus

I am staying here currently. The hotel is close to the convention center. If your a walker it's a little hike but it gives you a great walk. The tram stops here at this hotel, so you can easily ride it down to the southern casinos.

The rooms are definitely different, but I don't have any complaints. The televisions are larger than any that I have at home. The recently renovated lobby's and bathrooms I think are nice. I don't think the location will hurt them, many hotels aren't in the center of the strip. The Stratosphere is further North and the Delano, Mandaly Bay, Luxor, Tropicana, Excaliber and others are way south. I think it may have struggled with Hilton because they already had four timeshare properties, the Elars, the Flamingo, the convention center and the one across from the SLS. I have stayed at them and they are all nice properties. They also have two embassy suites, The Tropicana, and then several Hampton Inns and Doubletree and Homewood suites around the airport. Starwood only has the Westin on Flamingo. Hilton having eight properties within walking distance to the strip versus Starwood having one, I think this makes more since as a Starwood property.

dw

I think the issue is that when this property was originally redeveloped, the developer(s) had delusional ideas of what room rates were achievable given the location. There's no way this property is going to survive with the roughly $100 room rates they have been charging, unfortunately, and I don't think the new SPG affiliation is going to help them increase ADR in any significant way.

bhrubin

I think you nailed it on the head: SLS being part of Curio/Hilton put the SLS at a competitive disadvantage within the Hilton customer base because there are so many other better priced and better located options closer to the center of the Strip. Being an SPG option gives the SLS/W a more affluent customer base than Hilton and also lets the SLS/W stand out more as options for that customer base--since the only real SPG option now is the average Westin (which feels more like an Element in many ways, to be honest). The Caesars arrangement never really appealed to me (I think Hyatt's MGM arrangement gives access to far nicer properties, to be honest), but still gives less competition to the SLS/W brands than does the Hilton affiliation.

I still think the SLS/W are not as well located as the owners believe, but perhaps further hotel development in that area will improve that scenario over time. Either way, this is a nice addition for SPG in Las Vegas, with 2 of the nicer and more interesting hotel options coming into the SPG fold.

I also hope that this might push other SLS properties (namely, South Beach, NYC, and Bahamas) to consider unifying under the SPG umbrella. And Morgans Hotels is considering a merge with SLS, so that could potentially be another interesting set of SPG additions if Delano and Mondrian hotels ever joined. http://skift.com/2015/08/06/morgans-...of-sls-hotels/