Posted on 03/01/2024 12:45:30 PM PST by NohSpinZone
It took almost 20 torturous years to build the Fontainebleau Las Vegas and, when it finally opened, four executives left in the first month. In a town built on luck, those aren’t good odds.
There are few Vegas projects as snakebitten as the Fontainebleau. What was supposed to be a towering spinoff of the Miami icon has turned into a nightmare for just about every owner who’s taken it on. Not even its grand opening on Dec. 13 could stop the barrage of bad press, from execs bailing to a viral $21 plate of six sad nacho chips.
With this in mind, I booked a one-night stay at the Fontainebleau in late January. When the hotel opened, the rack rate started at around $300 a night; mine was $192 before taxes and fees, suggesting demand was indeed softening. Upon check-in, I was upgraded to a room near the top floor, yet another sign that the Fontainebleau wasn’t exactly bustling.
*SNIP*
For over a decade, the Fontainebleau sat watching over the Strip. The bottom began to rust, and firefighters used its empty floors to run drills. It switched hands again in 2017, but construction never restarted — and then a global pandemic hit. Seeing an opportunity, Jeffrey Soffer reentered the scene, this time funded by Koch Real Estate Investments, and bought back the Fontainebleau. After a 12-year pause, construction started up again.
Although the building was about 70% done, its early-aughts aesthetic was now dramatically outdated. Everything had to go. Finished rooms were gutted, and $3.7 billion went into completing the project — second only to Resorts World in Las Vegas Strip history. After 19 years of stop-and-start construction, the Fontainebleau opened in December.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
That sounds about right. I represented a taxi driver who was busted for steering passengers to prostitutes who weren’t on the police kickback approved list. Fortunately, my client surreptitiously recorded a very prominent judge discussing the acquisition of drugs and prostitutes while he was a passenger in my client’s cab. The judge had a very distinct voice- think Amos ‘n Andy.
I sent a copy of the tape to the DA’s office as an informal intended piece of evidence. And just like that, the case was dropped.
Wasn’t Vegas once known for $1.99 buffet lunches?
And free breakfasts (steak and eggs) for the late night/early morning crowd.
It’s the only way I could afford to stay there.
“Anything south of Desert Inn Road is a wasteland by Vegas standards.”
Thanks for your input. I wouldn’t go anywhere north Of Desert Inn Road.
“Wasn’t Vegas once known for $1.99 buffet lunches?”
And .99 cent Shrimp Cocktail, LOL!
The taxis are more regulated now. They have fixed rates, by zones
We used to love staying at that end of the strip, way back when. We stayed a LOT at the Stardust. And Riviera. Even at Westward Ho. We were “High Rollers at the Ho!” lol
They’re all gone now… and it’s deader than dead down there
We once went downtown, to El Cortez, just to get steak and Australian lobster tails for $5.99. It was good.
While waiting in line, our friend dropped $0.75 in a video keno machine, drew two straight lines up and down, and won $1500 hitting 7 out of 8 picks
We made him buy the wine.
I had not heard that. Excellent.
That Vegas and America are long gone
Did they try to pad your bill with beers you never ordered as they did us at Circus Circus 23 years ago?
And I have a long memory about things like that...
Still - forgive and forget - so I tried staying at Fontainebleau for the first time two weeks ago.
Pluses:
- Rooms are great, like the article says. Almost as good as Palazzo.
- Breakfast restaurant had very good food, if a bit limited in variety on the menu.
- Short walk to the West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center. Convention-goers will probably be the main target audience, a point the article misses.
- Classy interior decor, maybe surpassing any other Strip hotel.
- Two valets - short waits for taxis or rideshare, which almost everyone takes to get around the Strip these days. Nobody who stays at Fontainebleau is going to care that it is a long walk to Mandalay Bay.
Minuses:
- No buffet (yet?)
- Some restaurants are not yet open.
- Much of the retail is not yet open.
- Pool is not open - but that is true of most Strip hotels until later in the Spring.
- The place is still kind of empty, less than half full of guests.
- I didn't gamble there, so no opinion on the gaming environment. Table limits are far too high, but that is true at all of Vegas's nicer properties
Bottom line, though Fontainebleau feels incomplete right now it could eventually rise to the same tier as Wynn/Encore and Venetian/Palazzo if the owners stick with it. Given their history, though, I half expect them to panic after a couple of slow quarters and downgrade the place to $39.95 rooms to compete with Circus Circus across the street. We'll see... :)
“Some of Koch’s candidates fall into the pukeworthy category.”
Which ones? Koch is focused on taking away seats from democrats. You don’t like that and run down him and his candidates.
At the FB’s steakhouse, you’ll find a $1,000 steak and a $95 potato. Who buys this stuff?
Once you get north of the Circus Circus, all bets are off.
That must be a souvenir plate (and ramekins, and silverware and tablecloth).
No more Koch for Nikki.
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