89169 Travel Guide
Tags: Sports Illustrated / Celebs in Vegas / Sexy Ladies / Photo Galleries / Vanity / → All Tags
What Was Up With the Sports Illustrated Ladies Last Night?
Cheer up, Bar. You may not be cover girl, but you’re still fit.
Is there trouble in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit 2010 land? We ask because at the red carpet for their party at Vanity last night, the models – all body conned up to the eyeballs - looked rather different than they did the night before.
Bar Refaeli turned up with a face like thunder (although we should be grateful she turned up at all, given that she’s been a no show so far. When the photographer to our left told her we’d missed her, she shrugged and said “I was sick”. Wish we looked that good when we were sick.)
Tags: Hard Rock / Deals / Hotel Deals / → All Tags
Rooms From $48 in the Hard Rock's New Sale
Not content with opening its new HRH Tower Suites with rates starting at a rather reasonable $129, the Hard Rock has launched a pretty fine Winter Special sale which gives you 30 percent off its other rooms midweek.
This means you can snap up a room in the Casino and Paradise Tower for as little as $48 (plus tax) if you choose your dates carefully. Just book by January 12, and stay before 30 June. The offer’s valid Sunday to Thursday.
Granted, we’re not the biggest fans of the rooms here, but $48 is pretty tempting. Let’s see if anyone else launches their own sale in retaliation. We'd be well up for that.
Tags: Vanity / Openings / Nightclubs / Hard Rock / Celebs in Vegas / P. Diddy / → All Tags
Looks Like Vanity Is A Very Good Thing
Maybe it’s the ”cyclone chandeliers” and “rubbed brass” decor. Maybe it’s John Mayer, Bob Sinclair or P Diddy. Either way, Vanity at the Hard Rock seems to have got off to a stonking start.
John Mayer livened up New Year’s Eve when he popped in, and, according to the Twittersphere, Diddy’s party which officially opened the place, on Saturday, was “insane” and “the ish” (which we think means good).
Diddy brought along Chester French and Nelly for moral support and spent the night popping bottles and standing on the DJ booth by the looks of things. And yesterday it was Bob Sinclair’s turn – he, apparently, killed it.
Well done gents! We can’t wait to check it out. The homemaker in us is also looking forward to finding out what exactly rubbed brass is.
[Photo: @thejointlv]
Tags: Late Check-Outs / Hard Rock / Hotels / New Year's Eve Guide 2009 / → All Tags
Remember, There's a $100 Late Check-Out Fee at The Hard Rock
Whether you're off to see John Mayer perform on New Year's Eve at The Joint at The Hard Rock Hotel or if you're frantically practicing your glo-stick moves for the opening of the new nightclub Vanity, there's a very good chance you've booked yourself a hotel room at the Hard Rock too.
If you haven't, no worries, the hotel still has rooms open...for a hefty price. Rooms in the old casino tower start at a hefty $499 a night while rooms in the newish Paradise tower are holding steady at $519 a night.
But don't forget, the Hard Rock's new HRH Tower has opened today. Rooms are currently sold-out tonight but open up again tomorrow for $129 a night for a supreme city view king bed. A pool view room is $20 more and a supreme deluxe corner king is $169. Unfortunately, rooms skyrocket to $649 a night on New Year's Eve.
Tags: Openings / New Year's Eve / Hard Rock / Nightclubs / P. Diddy / John Mayer / Celebs in Vegas / → All Tags
John Mayer Expected to Indulge in Vanity After His New Year's Eve Concert
The cyclone chandelier
New Year’s not just all about celeb hosts, you know. The Hard Rock reckons its new club, Vanity, is going to be so spectacular that it doesn’t need any A listers stealing its thunder when it opens on the 31st; the pearls, hand-cut crystals, “cyclone chandelier” and, um, “rubbed brass” sprucing up the inside will be enough to reel the punters in. Although, um, they’re getting John Mayer to pop in, just in case.
Back to Vanity. The place does look pretty nice from the pictures, although the description – “an eclectic jewel box” focusing on “the most important person in the room – you” – is a wee bit vomitous. But we’re ready to overlook that for the sake of that cyclone/LED chandelier and its 20,000 lights sparkling on the dancefloor, and the beauty salon in the ladies, with six booths where staff will buff your nails and touch up your lippy in case you’re too drunk busy to do it yourself.
Tags: Hard Rock / Tower Suites / HRH Tower / Openings / Hotel Rooms / → All Tags
Why We're Not Really Hard Up for The Hard Rock's Tower Suites, Even at $109 a Night
It's not just CityCenter that's opening in December (although it's hard to keep track of anything BUT CityCenter these days.) Still, we have to at least try and remember that The Hard Rock Hotel will open up their Tower Suites in their newest HRH Tower in December as well.
The opening rates are starting at an incredibly affordable $109 a night for a Supreme City King suite that has 704-square-feet of space. Here's the official room description:
Dark wood floors give way to luxurious carpet, as the foyer enters the living space. Hi-tech rules with the Sound Matters Sound Bar—an AMX 12” Touch Panel Juke Box System that includes over 2000 songs and playlists. Two 40” Bravia LCD TV with DVD players included here.
Meanwhile in the sleeping area, a white lacquer wall headboard with button tufted and quilted leather pairs with a custom stiletto light fixture to highlight the custom mahogany and leather sleigh bed. Black out drapes of raw linen silk with metallic sheers ensure a deep rest as does the ultra luxurious designer bedding.
The bath area is enclosed in a draped and tinted glass enclosure. A generous 148 sq. feet, the bath area showcases black porcelain dimpled tile with Chinese marble and a custom bath vanity, in-shower seat, and cast iron “Tea four Two” tubs. Grohe bath fixtures throughout include Rainhead shower and handheld wands.
Not bad for $109 a night. Plus, booking a stay in the Tower Suites also gets you exclusive check-in and valet as well as other special services. But here's why we're not jumping the gun to make reservations on December 28, the tower's first night of availability.
Tags: Restaurants / Indian Restaurants / Vegetarians / Diwali / → All Tags
Where To Get Great Indian Food During Diwali
We’ve pretty reached our maximum barf threshold for pink cause marketing (a.k.a. Breast Cancer Awareness Month) for October, so we were overjoyed to hear of another October awareness effort – Vegetarian Awareness Month. And those sentiments are coming from a gal who (a) lost her mom to cancer, and (b) is a hardcore carnivore.
VAM just so happens to coincide with Diwali – that’s Sanskrit speak for a five-day festival of candle and lamps, celebrating the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness. We’re all about feel good holidays – and we don’t even have to be Hindu to play. Yay.
To celebrate Origin India is knocking 15% off every vegetarian item on its menu. A lot of folks who observe Diwali opt to eat veggie throughout the celebration, so it’s a nice tie-in with World Vegetarian Day. Vegetarians typically get screwed by the lack of tasty non-meat options on most restaurant menus and get the culinary afterthought treatment. Can you say pasta? Stir-fry? Some portabella mushroom based concoction? Yawn.
Tags: Shopping / Strip Malls / Lo-Fi Strip Malls / Twain Center / → All Tags
It Ain't Bleeker and Christopher Street But The Twain Center Has Its Own Charm
Travel + Leisure readers may not think Las Vegas has any noteworthy neighborhoods worth checking out and to an extent, they're right--if you're looking for quaint West Village or Silverlake types of 'hoods. But we've got our own special charm that only be found in Strip Malls. Oh yes, we said strip malls.
However, we don’t mean the dull, featureless kind that are in overabundance with Linen N’ Things and Pier One Imports. Far from it. Instead, we're referring to some of the keen, under the radar strip malls, that, despite their lumbering architecture and cluttered lettering, are a neat cultural hodgepodge that have yielded some captivating results in fine food, and kinky clothing. We call these--Lo-Fi Strip Malls.
Tags: Hofbrauhaus / Oktoberfest / Drinking / Vegas Celebs / → All Tags
The Hofbrauhaus: Where Else Would You Celebrate Oktoberfest in Vegas?
October is right around the corner, which means that the Oktoberfest festivities have been in full-swing at the Bavarian-themed Hofbrauhaus Las Vegas on Paradise Road.
The annual event, which generally stretches from mid-September through Halloween, celebrates beer of all kinds, meaning the brew-centric restaurant hosts a bunch of promotions designed to get people drunk.
The party started Sept. 19 during a kickoff event with Siegfried and Roy (sans tigers, of course) with more Vegas celebrity guests scheduled to do the weekly keg-tapping honors. This past weekend, magician Lance Burton hosted a special keg-tapping party (contrary to reports, he did not rely on magic to do the deed). Other keg-tapping hosts on the calendar include The Amazing Jonathan (Oct. 2), Holly Madison (Oct. 9), The Fab Four (Oct. 16) and Carrot Top (Oct. 30).
Tags: Vegas Music Scene / Thee Swank Bastards / Double Down / Interviews / Vegas Bands / → All Tags
Thee Swank Bastards Shred Up The Tiki Circuit
All this week, VegasChatter will be profiling the local Vegas Music Scene for hot upcoming bands, DJs and solo acts. Will any of these homegrown musicians become the next Killers? Possibly. And wouldn't you want to say you knew about them way back when? Of course you do. So start reading now.
Jesse Del Quadro, the dexterous lead player for one of the city’s best surf guitar bands, Thee Swank Bastards, (bassist Shaun Coleman and a series of guest drummers round out the band) has recently finished a successful tour of the West Coast. After showing off his serpentine licks in San Francisco and Portland on the burgeoning Tiki circuit for all the tikiphiles (a throwback to the 60s when Tiki culture was at its peak, hence the compatibility of the Bastards’ kinetic retro sound) Jesse is back home, ready to share his take on music, traveling and Vegas.
Tags: Off-Strip / Platinum Hotel / Casino-Free / → All Tags
The Platinum Hotel: Off The Strip Chic Without The Craziness
A scant two blocks east of the Strip on the busy Flamingo Road you’ll find a non-gaming, non-smoking resort that still has many of the upscale accouterments you’ll find inside the toniest places that line Las Vegas Boulevard.
The Platinum Hotel is one of a large number of condo-hotels in town whose entire residential roster consists of absentee owners who are more than willing to sell their pad to you for the duration of your Vegas stay.
An all-suite property, the Platinum ranks No. 9 in Vegas on TripAdvisor’s list of Vegas hotels. A majority of reviewers give it gushing exclamations like, “Best hotel in Las Vegas!” and “Awesome, awesome, awesome!”
The only downside? Um, yeah. There's no slot machines, craps tables, blackjack tables or roulette wheels. So you decide what's more important. Residential-style and smoke-free digs far away from the casinos or a smoky, cheap room with the "ding ding ding" of slots hitting you as soon as the elevator doors open?
Tags: Shopping / Hard Rock Hotel / John Varvatos / → All Tags
Rock ‘n’ Roll Designer John Varvatos Now Open at…Where Else?
John Varvatos, who repurposed the old NYC CBGBs for his eponymous store in that city’s Bowery District, has just opened a new, 3,000-square-foot store at the Hard Rock Hotel.
According to DDimagazine, the new store is inspired by Varvatos Bowery NYC store and will include a stage for live concerts, a 30-foot-long video screen to show “iconic rock videos” and a seriously rock ‘n’ roll palette of blackened steel, oxblood-painted wood, smoky mirrors, vintage chandeliers and industrial stage lights.
