Archive for the ‘CityCenter’ Category

One of the best things about Las Vegas is that there is something for everyone to enjoy no matter what your interests are. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Vegas regular, or you’ve never been here, there’s always something new to check out and probably something you haven’t tried yet. Whatever kind of trip you’re planning, whether it’s to indulge in nightlife or take advantage of recreational opportunities available around the city, we’ve put together a guide that will help you plot out your entire stay, from where to grab dinner to where to buy your souvenirs.

First Timer

Where to Stay: If it’s your first trip to Vegas, you’ll probably want to stay somewhere in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip to be close to all of the action and be able to walk to as many places as possible. Some choices near the center of the Strip are Harrah’s, the Flamingo, the Bellagio and Caesars Palace. Another area with a lot going on is the corner of Tropicana and the Strip, which is home to New York-New York, the MGM Grand, the Tropicana and the Excalibur hotels. There are elevated walkways between all of the properties to make it easier to get from one to another.

Where to Eat: Even if you haven’t been here, you’ve probably heard about Las Vegas buffets and just about every hotel has one that allows you to indulge in all you can eat for a relatively economic price. One of the biggest and most varied is the Carnival World Buffet at the Rio, which offers everything from seafood to Asian specialties and Mexican dishes. Las Vegas is also home to many restaurants from some of the biggest celebrity chefs in the world so you might want to try Wolfgang Puck’s Spago, Emeril Lagasse’s Table 10 or Thomas Keller’s Bouchon.

The Forum Shops at Caesars

Where to Shop: Sure you have shopping malls back at home, but we guarantee you’ve never seen one like this. The Forum Shops at Caesars Palace features Roman architecture, fountains, talking statues, spiral escalators and a faux sky that changes colors. Oh, and did we mention you can browse shops like Versace, FAO Schwarz and Pucci?

Attractions to See: Start with the famous Welcome to Las Vegas Sign — you’ve seen it on TV and in photos and you should get your picture taken there to commemorate your trip. A few other must-sees for the first-time visitor: the Bellagio fountains and conservatory, Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay, Hoover Dam and free shows like the Sirens of TI and the volcano at the Mirage.

Entertainment: Nothing says Vegas like showgirls and if you’ve never seen one, then you’ll want to head to Bally’s to see “Jubilee!” The showgirls are everything you expect to see in a Vegas production show, wearing 1,000 different costumes made with 8,000 miles of sequins. Las Vegas is also home to big-name Broadway shows like “Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular,” “Jersey Boys” and “Disney’s The Lion King.”

The Art Lover

Where to Stay: Art lovers will want to stay at one of two properties – CityCenter or Bellagio – and luckily there just happens to be a tram between the two. Bellagio is home to the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art and a chandelier by glass sculptor Dale Chihuly. Visitors can also see the Art of Richard MacDonald Presented by Cirque du Soleil, an exhibit of broze sculptures and original sketches. CityCenter is home to the first major permanent collection of art in Las Vegas to be integrated into a public space. The Fine Art Collection features works by acclaimed artists, sculptors and visionaries including Maya Lin, Jenny Holzer and Claes Oldenburg, among others. The Gallery at CityCenter, a 4,350-square-foot facility located within the Crystals shopping center, features artwork from Chihuly.

Picasso Restaurant

Where to Eat: Picasso restaurant at Bellagio serves the cuisine of award-winning Executive Chef Julian Serrano and surrounds diners with an extensive collection of original Pablo Picasso artwork. The restaurant’s entrance is also a tribute to the artist with wood beams, terra-cotta tile and hanging pottery.

Where to Shop: Inside the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace, art lovers will appreciate the Peter Max and Peter Lik galleries. Peter Max’s gallery features abstract, psychedelic art while the art of Peter Lik showcases his vivid, digitally-enhanced photographs. Centaur Art Galleries at the Fashion Show mall features masterpieces from notable artists from the 16th century to modern times.

Attractions to See: In Vegas, neon is definitely an art form, so head downtown and check out the Neon Museum, a self-guided walking tour of 10 fully restored neon signs, all located downtown, mainly along the Fremont Street Experience. If you’re downtown on the first Friday of the month, the city’s arts distict hosts a festival covering more than 20 city blocks where you can make the rounds of all the galleries and shops.

Entertainment: If you are checking out the downtown arts district, stop in for a drink at the Downtown Cocktail Room, a sophisticated and swank gathering place filled with stylish modern design and interesting art. If it’s a show you’re after, “Crazy Horse Paris” at MGM Grand bills itself as “a celebration of the artistry of the nude,” and features beautiful female dancers whose bodies become canvases upon which light, colors and images are projected.

The Outdoors Enthusiast

Where to Stay: To be close to all of the outdoor adventure that Red Rock Canyon offers, the closest place to stay is the Red Rock Casino Resort and Spa, which is just minutes from the National Conservation Area where you can rock climb, hike, bike and horseback ride. The hotel’s spa also offers an Adventure Spa program with outdoor activities including river rafting and guided hikes.

Where to Eat: Nature lovers will enjoy the Springs Preserve, a 180-acre cultural and historical attraction that features gardens, hiking trails and Wolfgang Puck’s Springs Cafe. The restaurant participates in the WELL program (Wolfgang’s Eating, Loving and Living program), which is dedicated to providing the freshest ingredients while contributing to the conscious treatment of the environment.

Where to Shop: The District at Green Valley Ranch is an outdoor mall with more than 40 shops and restaurants including an REI store, which carries every piece of outdoor sporting equipment imaginable. In the warmer months, the mall often has free outdoor concerts and movies.

Red Rock Canyon

Attractions to See: Besides Red Rock Canyon, outdoor adventurers will want to enjoy boating, hiking and swimming at Lake Mead. In the winter months at Mount Charleston you can ski, snowboard and sled. For the thrillseeker, don’t miss Bootleg Canyon Flightlines, a zip-line tour in Boulder City that takes you soaring through desert and mountain terrain at up to 50 mph.

Entertainment: If you want to dance under the stars you can literally do that at Moon nightclub at the Palms. The club has a retractable roof like you’d see on a planetarium and if you want to head outside, there’s a sizable patio too.

The Night Owl

Where to Stay: If you’re looking to hit up as many nightspots as you possibly can, you might want to book a room at Luxor or Mandalay Bay. The two properties are connected by a walkway and between the two, you can cover many of the hottest clubs and bars in Vegas. Luxor is home to LAX and CatHouse nightclubs and Mandalay Bay offers a stunning array of nightlife choices including the Foundation Room, Mix Lounge, the House of Blues, Eyecandy Sound Lounge & Bar, Red Square vodka bar, Rumjungle nightclub, and Minus 5, a bar made of ice.

Where to Eat: For a restaurant with a nightclub vibe, there’s nothing sexier than CatHouse at Luxor, a French-style restaurant with a well-rounded menu from Chef Kerry Simon and a great lounge / nightlife atmosphere, open until 11 p.m. If you’re out really late, First Food and Bar at Palazzo is open until 4 a.m. during the week and 6 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. The restaurant has a full bar, a DJ and some amazing food – don’t miss out on the warm donuts served with delicious dipping sauces.

Show in the Sky

Where to Shop: Malls that are attached to hotels are generally open pretty late and we recommend the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood – after you’re buying that cute new outift, you can stop in to party at Hawaiian Tropic Zone or Cabo Wabo, both located in the mall.

Attractions to See: Vegas is a 24-hour town and if you’re up late, there’s always something to do. Head over to the Rio and watch the Show in the Sky, a parade of floats gliding over the casino floor complete with singing and dancing performers. The show runs until midnight Thursday – Sunday. Looking for something even more exciting? The thrill rides on top of the Stratosphere are open until 2 a.m. on weekends.

Entertainment: There are plenty of shows in Vegas that have 10 p.m. or later show times including Blue Man Group (10 p.m. nightly at Venetian), Matt Goss (10 p.m. Fri. and Sat. at the Palms), X Burlesque (10 p.m. nightly at Flamingo) and Playboy Comedy (10:30 p.m. Fri. and Sat. at the Palms).

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Say hello to Haze.

And so it begins. A new era in Sin City nightlife has taken hold, with not one, not two, not three, but FOUR new nightclubs open or opening within a month of each other.

In a city with so many clubs, this may seem like a drop in the bucket, but don’t be fooled. Just like every year’s new car models add some bells and whistles, so do clubs. Only heated seats are swapped for multimillion dollar, one-of-a-kind sound and lighting systems. (So, you know, it’s just a smidge different.)

What’s more, three of these clubs are housed inside the massive CityCenter complex (a revolution unto intself), so there’s really a home for nightlife in Vegas now. Or, at the very least, a place you can hit up and party at a bunch of different places until you finally collapse into your hotel bed.

Here’s a rundown of what’s new in the Sin City Scene. (Sin City nightclub Scene just doesn’t flow as well):

• Haze at Aria opens New Year’s Eve with a massive light wall and a sound/lighting speaker system controlled in full view from the center-club DJ booth. These controls can literally change the atmosphere of the club, lighting things up, or even, in the case of metal rig-like contraptions hung above the dance floor, making the place move.
• Eve at The Crystals in CityCenter also opens New Year’s Eve, with partner/owner Eva Longoria Parker doing hosting duties. The club, which sits atop Parker’s restaurant Beso, has some amazing views (through actual windows! in a club!) of the CityCenter complex.
• Gold Lounge at Aria is already in full effect. It’s Elvis’ Graceland meets Las Vegas nightclub, so think less kitsch, more hip (that …sort of rhymes, right?). With a stallion lamp and monkey detailing, plus a drink menu that recalls The King himself (Blue Suede Shoes anybody?) it’s not hard to imagine you’re reaching Presley levels of party. Which, as we understand it, is pretty good.
• Vanity at Hard Rock Hotel rounds out the New Year’s pack with a theme that could not be more about you. We’re serious — mirrored surfaces, manicurists and make up attendants in the bathroom, it’s all about you. Plus, it’s the Hard Rock, so nightlife veterans in town know to expect good things. And if you’re not a nightlife veteran? Expect good things anyway.

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Las Vegas is viewed by most as a city of excess. We seem to have and waste too much of everything: Food, lights, booze, Elvis impersonators. You may think our concept of “going green” is drinking tinted beer on St. Patrick’s Day.

But truth be told, when it comes to Las Vegas, image is everything. Behind the scenes, many of the city’s biggest hotel conglomerates — including Harrah’s Entertainment, Las Vegas Sands Corp. and MGM Mirage — are working overtime to reduce their carbon footprint and become more environmentally friendly.

“We get a bad rap in Vegas as Sin City, but the reality is that Las Vegas is an energy efficient city,” said Eric Dominguez, director of energy and environmental services for Harrah’s Entertainment. “For example, we lead the nation in terms of solar production per capita. And we’re constantly looking for ways to make things better.”

Just letting off steam

Like an underground city, the chiller and boiler rooms at the Paris Las Vegas are located among a series of plain, conservatively lit hallways, tucked below the casino level.

While there are certainly many sexier sights in Las Vegas, these often unseen facilities are actually the hotbed of energy savings at this Harrah’s property. The extra steam from the boilers’ blow down, for instance, is used to heat the facility’s water and run equipment in the emergency generator room. This recycling of heat is using energy that would have otherwise been lost.

Some of the energy saving equipment was already in place when Paris Las Vegas opened in 1999, but there are many instances at Paris and some of Harrah’s older properties where the equipment has been or soon will be upgraded.

“Through conservation we’ve been able to reduce the need for fossil fuels, which has made a huge environmental impact,” said Dominguez. “We conserve 130 kilowatt of energy a year, which is like taking a property like Paris off the grid.”

Harrah’s Entertainment established its commitment to conservation in 2003 and became the first casino to receive the EPA Quality Award in April 2008. Many of the properties have CodeGreen Teams made up of employees focused on reducing the use of natural resources, conserving energy and promoting reuse and recycling. There are more than 74 major conservation projects in place at individual Harrah’s properties, including:

• Lower water flow control in guest areas
• A five megawatt co-generation facility at the Rio hotel to create and use electricity on site and recapture waste heat for hot water
• Employee training on environmentally-friendly practices

Let there be light

Another major initiative of the Harrah’s properties is the substitution of traditional light bulbs with more energy efficient ones. The Paris, the Rio and Caesars hotels have replaced thousands upon thousands of light bulbs both inside and out. Bally’s replaced 4,000 bulbs in its sports book sign alone. In the back of the house at Paris, every other light was removed.

That certainly doesn’t mean the City of Lights has gotten any dimmer.

“Whenever we can, where the guest doesn’t realize, we’ll change to more energy efficient light,” said Jeff McGillivray, assistant director of facilities for Paris and Bally’s. “It uses five times less energy, still looks good and it lasts longer, so we don’t have to change it as often.”

Not only can no one can tell the difference, said Dominguez, but the energy savings are incredible. “We’ve cut energy consumption five-fold,” he said, adding, “Every bit of energy we save here, is energy that doesn’t have to be generated at the power plant.”

Overall, Harrah’s Entertainment has seen a more than $10 million savings per year from existing and completed conservation programs. Among this is the avoidance of more than 155.7 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year, which Dominguez equated with 81,170 round trip flights between Los Angeles and New York.

Bringing in more green

While energy and monetary savings are expected, Todd Moreau, vice president of food and beverage for Harrah’s and Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall and Saloon, said there are also some unexpected advantages of going green — it helps the company make more money.

It started in May, when Moreau spearheaded a project to find a reusable solution for water bottles as part of a CodeGreen team. He found that in 2007, Harrah’s was disposing of close to 300,000 one-liter bottles of water in restaurants citywide.

Moreau decided that keeping these bottles out of landfills was a challenge worth tackling. The outcome was a one-liter glass reusable bottle produced by AquaHealth. The stylish bottle, which is available in some Harrah’s restaurants, can be filled with water from an on-site filtration system, then washed along with the restaurant’s other china, and reused.

“We ran a test for 30 days in Bally’s Steakhouse and what we found out was that when we featured something green, that brand name had a bigger impact than any other sparkling or still waters,” said Moreau.

And along with helping the environment, to Moreau’s surprise, the program’s profit margin increased.

“We thought, ‘Wow, first we went green and as now a company we are making better revenues off of it,’” said Moreau.

Born green

CityCenter is one of the world's largest sustainable developments.

Until recently, The Palazzo was the largest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified property in the world. That distinction now goes to the urban development CityCenter, which opened earlier this month.

LEED certification is a premium certificate awarded to environmentally responsible properties by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Palazzo actually conserves enough water to provide each Nevada Citizen with 266 eight-ounce glasses of water a year and saves enough energy to light a 100 watt light bulb for 12,100 years.

“We are committed to developing sustainable properties,” said Nicholas Rumanes, vice president of corporate development for Las Vegas Sands Corp. “It’s a larger action as a good corporate citizen, and also to set an example for the rest of the industry to follow. It helps out our business plan, it helps out the environment, it helps out the health of our employees and also the health of our visitors.”

Key elements of the Palazzo’s earth-friendly initiatives include:

• Artificial turf, drip irrigation and moisture sensors in planted areas as well as water efficient shower heads, high efficiency toilets and low-flow faucets inside
• A solar heating system that heats the property’s swimming pools and directs extra solar heat into the hotel’s hot water system. There are also solar panels located on top of the facility’s parking garage.
• Air conditioning controls in the guest rooms, which automatically set back several degrees when guests are not in their rooms. Lighting occupancy sensors in team member services areas that shut off the lights when no one is in the area.

“The part of our green effort here that I really like is harnessing the solar energy,” said Rumanes. “Living in Vegas, it’s 87-and-a-half percent sunny a year. We get probably the most direct sunlight of anywhere else in the United States. And if you really thought of the long term effect if everyone went this green way, we would prevent the construction of these polluting, $5 billion coal power plants down the road.”

The building itself was constructed using eco-friendly materials and more than 70 percent of the property’s waste during construction was diverted, thanks to a waste recycling program. The steel used averaged more than 95 percent recyclable content, while the concrete was 26 percent. There is even a special air filtration system, and a majority of the property is non-smoking, making for an overall healthier facility.

“The air gets really dusty in Las Vegas,” said Rumanes. “You can argue that the indoor air quality at the Palazzo is actually better than outdoors.”

Meanwhile, as one of the largest sustainable developments in the world, MGM Mirage’s CityCenter has six Gold LEED certifications. 

Like the Palazzo, the 18-million-square-foot, seven-building property (which includes ARIA Resort & Casino, The Harmon Hotel, Spa and Residences, Vdara Hotel, Mandarin Oriental, Veer Towers and Crystals retail and entertainment district) integrated the concept of sustainability and earth-friendly initiatives even before it was built. 

CityCenter was constructed with preference to materials made with recycled content, reclaimed materials or those that could be manufactured locally, as well as paints, sealants, adhesives, carpet and composite wood products that do not contain toxic substances. Even the positioning of the buildings to ensure the penetration of natural light was taken into consideration. Read more about CityCenter’s green friendly initiatives.

“While we weren’t the first project on the Strip to be LEED certified, we were the first project to really add in the element of sustainability into our design,” said Cindy Ortega, MGM Mirage’s senior vice president of energy and environmental services. “I think what surprised everyone, is that the idea of the environment and earth actually shows in everything. I had no idea four years ago that I would walk into Aria and I’d be looking at natural stones and natural daylighting and certified wood, but there it all is. We were able on City Center to really breathe the idea and respect of nature into the largest sustainable project in the United States.”

The property includes:

• A co-generation plant providing about 10 percent of the property’s electricity. The throw-off heat from the plant will be used to heat the property’s water.
• Specially-coated windows on Vdara that help reduce heat transfer into the building by reflecting light.
• Settings on the rooms’ remote system in ARIA and Mandarin Oriental allowing guests to green their stay by indicating their preferred light level, room temperature and frequency of linen and towel changes. Systems can also be programmed to turn these settings down or off when the guest is not in their room. Read more about ARIA’s room technology.

CityCenter is expected to save 50 million gallons of water each year as a result of water conservation efforts, such as efficient irrigation systems, low-flow faucets and showers and low-flush toilets throughout the development. The property offers preferred parking for hybrid vehicles, a bike valet and even has a fleet of limos powered by natural gas.

Getting wasted

Another environmental effort by MGMMirage is a program implemented by Mandalay Bay Convention Center to recycle trade show waste. The program enabled Mandalay Bay to recycle upwards of 74 percent of the trade show’s garbage.

In a four month period, with 29 trade shows, more than 6,000 cubic yards of recyclables were collected, while only 2,000 cubic yards went into a landfill. Like most of the eco-friendly initiatives at Las Vegas hotels, these recycling efforts happen behind the scenes and are unseen by the public.

Las Vegas is still a city of entertainment and earth-friendly initiatives will never reduce the guest’s experience, explained Dominguez. “We don’t turn the lights out on the Strip. It’s all about maintaining the image but doing it in a conscious environmental manner,” he explained. “We’ve got energy efficiency projects that are implemented to be seamless.”

Romanes agreed. “If we do our job properly the average customer will not notice that this is a green facility,” he said. “I call it environmental luxury. We’ve proven that you can be luxurious and you can be environmentally sensitive.”

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Las Vegas is viewed by most as a city of excess. We seem to have and waste too much of everything: Food, lights, booze, Elvis impersonators. You may think our concept of “going green” is drinking tinted beer on St. Patrick’s Day.

But truth be told, when it comes to Las Vegas, image is everything. Behind the scenes, many of the city’s biggest hotel conglomerates — including Harrah’s Entertainment, Las Vegas Sands Corp. and MGM Mirage — are working overtime to reduce their carbon footprint and become more environmentally friendly.

“We get a bad rap in Vegas as Sin City, but the reality is that Las Vegas is an energy efficient city,” said Eric Dominguez, director of energy and environmental services for Harrah’s Entertainment. “For example, we lead the nation in terms of solar production per capita. And we’re constantly looking for ways to make things better.”

Just letting off steam

Like an underground city, the chiller and boiler rooms at the Paris Las Vegas are located among a series of plain, conservatively lit hallways, tucked below the casino level.

While there are certainly many sexier sights in Las Vegas, these often unseen facilities are actually the hotbed of energy savings at this Harrah’s property. The extra steam from the boilers’ blow down, for instance, is used to heat the facility’s water and run equipment in the emergency generator room. This recycling of heat is using energy that would have otherwise been lost.

Some of the energy saving equipment was already in place when Paris Las Vegas opened in 1999, but there are many instances at Paris and some of Harrah’s older properties where the equipment has been or soon will be upgraded.

“Through conservation we’ve been able to reduce the need for fossil fuels, which has made a huge environmental impact,” said Dominguez. “We conserve 130 kilowatt of energy a year, which is like taking a property like Paris off the grid.”

Harrah’s Entertainment established its commitment to conservation in 2003 and became the first casino to receive the EPA Quality Award in April 2008. Many of the properties have CodeGreen Teams made up of employees focused on reducing the use of natural resources, conserving energy and promoting reuse and recycling. There are more than 74 major conservation projects in place at individual Harrah’s properties, including:

• Lower water flow control in guest areas
• A five megawatt co-generation facility at the Rio hotel to create and use electricity on site and recapture waste heat for hot water
• Employee training on environmentally-friendly practices

Let there be light

Another major initiative of the Harrah’s properties is the substitution of traditional light bulbs with more energy efficient ones. The Paris, the Rio and Caesars hotels have replaced thousands upon thousands of light bulbs both inside and out. Bally’s replaced 4,000 bulbs in its sports book sign alone. In the back of the house at Paris, every other light was removed.

That certainly doesn’t mean the City of Lights has gotten any dimmer.

“Whenever we can, where the guest doesn’t realize, we’ll change to more energy efficient light,” said Jeff McGillivray, assistant director of facilities for Paris and Bally’s. “It uses five times less energy, still looks good and it lasts longer, so we don’t have to change it as often.”

Not only can no one can tell the difference, said Dominguez, but the energy savings are incredible. “We’ve cut energy consumption five-fold,” he said, adding, “Every bit of energy we save here, is energy that doesn’t have to be generated at the power plant.”

Overall, Harrah’s Entertainment has seen a more than $10 million savings per year from existing and completed conservation programs. Among this is the avoidance of more than 155.7 million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year, which Dominguez equated with 81,170 round trip flights between Los Angeles and New York.

Bringing in more green

While energy and monetary savings are expected, Todd Moreau, vice president of food and beverage for Harrah’s and Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall and Saloon, said there are also some unexpected advantages of going green — it helps the company make more money.

It started in May, when Moreau spearheaded a project to find a reusable solution for water bottles as part of a CodeGreen team. He found that in 2007, Harrah’s was disposing of close to 300,000 one-liter bottles of water in restaurants citywide.

Moreau decided that keeping these bottles out of landfills was a challenge worth tackling. The outcome was a one-liter glass reusable bottle produced by AquaHealth. The stylish bottle, which is available in some Harrah’s restaurants, can be filled with water from an on-site filtration system, then washed along with the restaurant’s other china, and reused.

“We ran a test for 30 days in Bally’s Steakhouse and what we found out was that when we featured something green, that brand name had a bigger impact than any other sparkling or still waters,” said Moreau.

And along with helping the environment, to Moreau’s surprise, the program’s profit margin increased.

“We thought, ‘Wow, first we went green and as now a company we are making better revenues off of it,’” said Moreau.

Born green

CityCenter is one of the world's largest sustainable developments.

Until recently, The Palazzo was the largest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified property in the world. That distinction now goes to the urban development CityCenter, which opened earlier this month.

LEED certification is a premium certificate awarded to environmentally responsible properties by the U.S. Green Building Council.

Palazzo actually conserves enough water to provide each Nevada Citizen with 266 eight-ounce glasses of water a year and saves enough energy to light a 100 watt light bulb for 12,100 years.

“We are committed to developing sustainable properties,” said Nicholas Rumanes, vice president of corporate development for Las Vegas Sands Corp. “It’s a larger action as a good corporate citizen, and also to set an example for the rest of the industry to follow. It helps out our business plan, it helps out the environment, it helps out the health of our employees and also the health of our visitors.”

Key elements of the Palazzo’s earth-friendly initiatives include:

• Artificial turf, drip irrigation and moisture sensors in planted areas as well as water efficient shower heads, high efficiency toilets and low-flow faucets inside
• A solar heating system that heats the property’s swimming pools and directs extra solar heat into the hotel’s hot water system. There are also solar panels located on top of the facility’s parking garage.
• Air conditioning controls in the guest rooms, which automatically set back several degrees when guests are not in their rooms. Lighting occupancy sensors in team member services areas that shut off the lights when no one is in the area.

“The part of our green effort here that I really like is harnessing the solar energy,” said Rumanes. “Living in Vegas, it’s 87-and-a-half percent sunny a year. We get probably the most direct sunlight of anywhere else in the United States. And if you really thought of the long term effect if everyone went this green way, we would prevent the construction of these polluting, $5 billion coal power plants down the road.”

The building itself was constructed using eco-friendly materials and more than 70 percent of the property’s waste during construction was diverted, thanks to a waste recycling program. The steel used averaged more than 95 percent recyclable content, while the concrete was 26 percent. There is even a special air filtration system, and a majority of the property is non-smoking, making for an overall healthier facility.

“The air gets really dusty in Las Vegas,” said Rumanes. “You can argue that the indoor air quality at the Palazzo is actually better than outdoors.”

Meanwhile, as one of the largest sustainable developments in the world, MGM Mirage’s CityCenter has six Gold LEED certifications. 

Like the Palazzo, the 18-million-square-foot, seven-building property (which includes ARIA Resort & Casino, The Harmon Hotel, Spa and Residences, Vdara Hotel, Mandarin Oriental, Veer Towers and Crystals retail and entertainment district) integrated the concept of sustainability and earth-friendly initiatives even before it was built. 

CityCenter was constructed with preference to materials made with recycled content, reclaimed materials or those that could be manufactured locally, as well as paints, sealants, adhesives, carpet and composite wood products that do not contain toxic substances. Even the positioning of the buildings to ensure the penetration of natural light was taken into consideration. Read more about CityCenter’s green friendly initiatives.

“While we weren’t the first project on the Strip to be LEED certified, we were the first project to really add in the element of sustainability into our design,” said Cindy Ortega, MGM Mirage’s senior vice president of energy and environmental services. “I think what surprised everyone, is that the idea of the environment and earth actually shows in everything. I had no idea four years ago that I would walk into Aria and I’d be looking at natural stones and natural daylighting and certified wood, but there it all is. We were able on City Center to really breathe the idea and respect of nature into the largest sustainable project in the United States.”

The property includes:

• A co-generation plant providing about 10 percent of the property’s electricity. The throw-off heat from the plant will be used to heat the property’s water.
• Specially-coated windows on Vdara that help reduce heat transfer into the building by reflecting light.
• Settings on the rooms’ remote system in ARIA and Mandarin Oriental allowing guests to green their stay by indicating their preferred light level, room temperature and frequency of linen and towel changes. Systems can also be programmed to turn these settings down or off when the guest is not in their room. Read more about ARIA’s room technology.

CityCenter is expected to save 50 million gallons of water each year as a result of water conservation efforts, such as efficient irrigation systems, low-flow faucets and showers and low-flush toilets throughout the development. The property offers preferred parking for hybrid vehicles, a bike valet and even has a fleet of limos powered by natural gas.

Getting wasted

Another environmental effort by MGMMirage is a program implemented by Mandalay Bay Convention Center to recycle trade show waste. The program enabled Mandalay Bay to recycle upwards of 74 percent of the trade show’s garbage.

In a four month period, with 29 trade shows, more than 6,000 cubic yards of recyclables were collected, while only 2,000 cubic yards went into a landfill. Like most of the eco-friendly initiatives at Las Vegas hotels, these recycling efforts happen behind the scenes and are unseen by the public.

Las Vegas is still a city of entertainment and earth-friendly initiatives will never reduce the guest’s experience, explained Dominguez. “We don’t turn the lights out on the Strip. It’s all about maintaining the image but doing it in a conscious environmental manner,” he explained. “We’ve got energy efficiency projects that are implemented to be seamless.”

Romanes agreed. “If we do our job properly the average customer will not notice that this is a green facility,” he said. “I call it environmental luxury. We’ve proven that you can be luxurious and you can be environmentally sensitive.”

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You and your “significant other” are taking advantage of some alone time in your hotel room. You are scantily, if at all, clad when it occurs to you that the maid may come busting in at any moment. But you don’t want to ruin the mood by throwing on clothes and running out into the hallway to put up the “Do Not Disturb” sign. What are you to do?

At CityCenter’s Aria Resort & Casino and Mandarin Oriental, the answer is as simple as pressing a button. Thanks to technology by Control4, you can post a “Do Not Disturb” message, dim the lights, play some mood music and order a bottle of champagne, all with the touch of a remote.

The home screen for the Control4 Suite System.

While you’re at it, you can check to see if your flight home is on time, adjust the room temperature and open the drapes to take in the view. You can check the outside temperature, so you know if you need to take a coat when you leave for dinner, or you could simply order dinner to be delivered to your door.

Both Aria and Mandarin Oriental have integrated Control4’s technology into their rooms and suites, providing guests with hands on (or off, as the case may be) control over the room’s environment, in-room entertainment and concierge-type services.

“We are all about the guest experience,” said Glenn Mella, president and COO of Control4, adding, “I heard someone saying, if the room were an ‘8,’ the technology makes it a ‘10.’”

The personalized service starts from the moment you open your door. The first time a guest swipes his or her key, the room essentially wakes up to greet them. The lights turn on, the drapes open and the television turns on.

The guest will see his or her name displayed in the top left hand corner of the television, which is tuned to a home  screen with options for lighting, thermostat, services, curtains or entertainment. The temperature inside the room and outside the hotel is presented in the bottom right corner. Guests will also see useful messages on their home screen, (i.e. “The room door is ajar,” “The deadbolt is locked,” “I am watching you,” — Ok, I may have made that last one up). The same home screen is found on a 7-inch touch screen sitting on the bedside table.

Guests may use provided scenes for lighting, temperature, etc., or program their own scenes to fit their needs at different times throughout the day. So if you like to wake up to a slow fade of lights as your blackout drapes open, the temperature rises and the smooth sounds of Burt Bacharach fill the air — you’re in luck. If you prefer to have every single light in the room turn on suddenly as Def Leppard screeches in your ears, you’re also in luck.

The guest room at Aria.

Best of all, everything is controlled with one simple remote.

Of course, if you’re old fashioned, non tech-savvy or have some sort of lifelong debilitating fear of remote controls, there are also manual controls for everything in the room, from lights to temperature.

The Control4 Suite System is compatible with CityCenter’s overall mission of sustainability by making guests’ stays more energy efficient. For instance, there’s no reason to leave the bathroom light on all night long, when all you have to do to turn it off or on is press a button on a remote. If you left the remote in the bathroom, however, that’s another story.

Sixty minutes after a guest checks out of the room or suite the Control4 system goes into “Unoccupied Mode.” The lights turn off, the drapes close and the temperature adjusts.

Aria and Mandarin Oriental are the first hotels in Vegas to implement Control4’s technology, though the company will soon be installing their systems in other Vegas hotels, including the Rush Towers at Golden Nugget and the PH Towers at Planet Hollywood.

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WET, the design firm that created the fountains at Bellagio and the Mirage Volcano, now has another prescence in Vegas with the opening of CityCenter.

The company has created five water features for the proptery, all designed to complement the development’s sophistication.

The Focus water feature at Aria.

Visitors who pull up to Aria’s porte-cochère will immediately notice Lumia, a fountain featuring large arcs and twisting ribbons of water. As its name suggests, light plays a big part in the fountain -it’s the first to be lit in bright, vibrant colors during broad daylight. In keeping with the resort’s commitment to being green, all of the water is recycled and the fountain even has a computerized system that can detect windy days and help control splashing if the breeze gets too strong.

Also located outside the entrance to Aria is Focus, a curved water wall that measures 250 feet long by 24 feet high – WET’s largest water wall to date. The wall is made of gray slate tiles from India that are shaped in a diamond cut. The fountain was designed to complement the organic feel of Aria and to provide a calming influence on guests.

The fountain is completely programmable and the engineers can control the speed and direction that the water runs. The water falls into a pool at the bottom that is only an eighth of an inch deep.

When entering Aria from the casino side, guests will notice Latisse, a series of two-story-high water walls composed of thick, textured glass. The feature has the effect of giving you an idea of what it would feel like to walk underneath a waterfall.

WET also has two designs inside the Crystals shopping center at CityCenter. Halo is a collection of clear tubes placed at different angles that feature spinning vortices of water. There are 20 above-ground tubes and 30 windows underfoot that allow people to watch the water underneath. The lighting on the feature
changes colors and it was designed to allow people to be able to walk through and get an up-close view of the water.

The Glacia feature at Crystals

Glacia, also located in Crystals, is a feature that includes 13 columns of ice emerging from a pool of water. As each column rises from the control room below, it is carved into a different pattern, which means the feature will never look the same twice. The highest column rises 15 feet and the columns can be one to
two feet in diameter.

A chilled rod inside the column keeps the ice frozen for long periods of time and once they are melted, a new column is frozen, which can take up to 13 hours. WET can control how clear the ice is depending on how much air is blown into it, resulting in ice that is sometimes crystal clear and sometimes crackled or a frosty white. Accompanying the surreal ice feature is a surreal soundtrack of music created my Mickey Hart of the Grateful Dead.

*Photos by Aleza Freeman

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Aria Resort & Casino. Photo courtesy of CityCenter.

Fireworks will kick off the public opening of Aria Resort & Casino tonight, marking the official grand opening of CityCenter. Aria brings 4,004 guestrooms, 150,000 square feet of gaming, 15 restaurants, a nightclub, a spa, a Cirque show and more to the Las Vegas Strip.

Aria is the fourth building on the CityCenter campus to open following Vdara Hotel & Spa on Dec. 1, Crystals retail and entertainment district on Dec. 3 and the Mandarin Oriental on Dec. 4.

Even so, Aria can flaunt its own illustrious list of firsts. It is not only the largest hotel in the world to earn a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council but it will also feature the most technologically advanced guestrooms in the country. 

Sustainability

Here are a few highlights of Aria’s “green friendly” initiatives:

• Slot machine bases that serve as floor air-conditioning distribution units in order to cool public spaces from the ground up.
• An overall design that includes extensive natural light, said to dramatically reduce lighting power requirements.
•  Two recycling docks for collection and separation of glass, paper, cardboard, metals, plastic, food waste and grease.

CityCenter overall is considered one of the world’s largest sustainable developments.

Billed as a pedestrian friendly campus, CityCenter offers a free monorail providing easy transport between the Monte Carlo hotel next door, Crystals, Vdara and Bellagio next door. The campus also offers preferred parking for hybrid vehicles and a bicycle valet.

Many of the materials used in the construction of CityCenter were brought in from within 500 miles of Las Vegas, in order to minimalize required transportation. A majority of the wood products selected are FSC certified, meaning they come from sustainably managed forests.

Ninety-seven percent of the construction waste from the former Boardwalk hotel, imploded in 2006, was reused or recycled during the construction of CityCenter, thanks to a large-scale recycling and resue operation. Although the waste from the Boardwalk hotel wasn’t all necessarily used to actually build CityCenter, it did go to other construction projects. Overall, the CityCenter project utilized more than 260,000 tons of construction waste.

Read more about CityCenter’s green initiatives.

Technology

All 4,300 ARIA guestrooms, meanwhile, will feature technological advances that are unmatched within the United States. Control4, a company that specializes in residential and hospitality automation, has provided suite systems that allow guests to control their room enviroment with the touch of a remote. 

Don’t be caught off guard when your room “greets” you as you enter it for the first time. The room will fill with light, the curtains will part and the TV will turn on to display a list of automated controls to personalize.

Some other features from Control4 Suite Systems include:

• One-touch control of lighting, room temperature, television/video systems, music, wake-up calls, draperies and requests for services through a single remote control.
• One-button modification of room settings. “Good Night,” for example, turns off lights, TV and/or music; shuts curtains and turns on privacy notification.
• Keyless locks utilizing RFID technology reduce the failure of room keys.
• In-room devices which automatically “communicate” maintenance needs; remote control batteries will be replaced before guests notice a problem, and more.

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Anywhere else, a coaster is just a coaster. Not on the 23rd floor of CityCenter’s Mandarin Oriental.

Individually the small black squares may seem like nothing special — just your typical drink coaster, sitting dutifully underneath your beverage, protecting the table from condensation and leakage.

But put the four unique coasters at Mandarin Bar together and you’ll discover the Mandarin Oriental promise, an impeccable attention to coasters … I mean, details. The coasters were actually designed to fit together like a puzzle forming the image of a dragon.

After four drinks, you may think you’re seeing things. But this is more than just a dragon’s tale!

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The Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas opened Dec. 4 with Asian-inspired festivities including a Feng Shui ceremony and a traditional lion dance. The Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas is a 47-story, non-gaming hotel inside of CityCenter, a 67-acre urban metropolis and one of the world’s largest green developments.

Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas brings the legendary service levels of the Mandarin Hotel Group to Vegas. The hotel has 392 rooms and suites, plus 227 residences. The hotel’s Sky Lobby is located on the 23rd floor offers stunning views at the heart of the Las Vegas Strip.

Also located in the hotel is three-star Michelin Chef Pierre Gagnaire’s first restaurant in the United States, Twist; an all-day dining establishment, MOzen Bistro; the Mandarin Bar and a tea lounge. Amore Patisserie, is located at the base of the hotel tower directly on Las Vegas Boulevard and serves a variety of gourmet foods, pastries, coffees and teas.

Mandarin Oriental, Las Vegas, features a two-level, 27,000-square-foot spa with 17 treatment rooms, multiple relaxation and water experiences, an expansive Fitness Center and dedicated yoga studio. A pool facility with 20 cabanas and a Pool Café can be found on the eighth floor.

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This morning I searched everywhere for my Tiffany & Co. bracelet.

Any other day, I usually don’t wear jewelry. But since today was the grand opening of the two-story Tiffany & Co. store inside Crystals, I wanted to don my jewelry for this very special occasion.

From an official ribbon cutting to models dressed like Audrey Hepburn’s character in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” what better way to celebrate the opening of one of the largest Tiffany stores in the country? If you’re a fan of Tiffany jewelry, then this 10,000-square-foot store will be like heaven.

“This is not a typical Tiffany store,” said Frank Visconti, president of retail at MGM Mirage.

Not only can you explore two whole floors of sparkling diamonds, exclusive collections and limited edition jewelry, but the front of the store has a huge floor-to-ceiling window offering a view of Las Vegas Boulevard. Next to the window, there is even a bench so you can sit and take everything in.

If you happen to catch a view from outside, look out for the store’s 85-foot-high glass facade that is shaped like a diamond. This is one Tiffany store that will not go unnoticed.

I know I don’t wear jewelry often. And I know this is probably the first time this year I’m wearing my Tiffany bracelet. But seeing all the bling makes me want to add to my collection…

(Photos taken by Aleza Freeman. For more pictures at CityCenter, click here.)

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