ALADDIN GAMING agreed to sell the 2,567-room
Aladdin Resort & Casino and the 7,000-seat Theatre of
Performing Arts, which are operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy
protection, to a joint venture. The buyers are Robert Earl, the CEO
and co-founder of Planet Hollywood; Bay Harbour Management; and
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. The joint venture, which
appointed former Green Valley Ranch Casino & Spa general
manager Mike Mecca as its president and CEO, plans to spend $90
million to give the resort a new theme. The resort will be renamed
the Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino, a Sheraton Hotel.
Starwood, which will manage the hotel but not the casino portion,
also plans to develop a Westin Vacation Resort of up to 600 units
at the property. The sale does not include the adjoining Desert
Passage Mall, which is owned by Aladdin Bazaar.
SONG, Delta's new low-fare carrier, will begin
daily roundtrip service between Las Vegas and Orlando on July 21.
The airline also will launch one daily roundtrip flight between Las
Vegas and Ft. Lauderdale on Aug. 25. Introductory one-way fares
range from $119 to $299 per person. Song, which began flights
between New York (JFK) and West Palm Beach on April 15, will use a
fleet of 199-seat, all-coach Boeing 757 aircraft on its routes. By
the fall, the carrier plans to operate 144 daily nonstop flights
servicing such markets as Boston; Washington, D.C.; Tampa;
Hartford, Conn.; Fort Myers; Newark, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. To
book, call (800) 359-7664 or visit www.flysong.com.
TICKETS FOR ZUMANITY, the Cirque du Soleil
production scheduled to debut July 31 at New York-New York Hotel
& Casino, will go on sale at the property's box office
beginning May 22, but priority bookings can be made now by
registering at http://www.zumanity.com. Featuring an international
cast of 50 performers and musicians, the 90-minute show, performed
at 7:30 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, will center
on themes of love and sensual passion. The show blends uninhibited
movement and style with acrobatics, and exotic rhythms, according
to its organizers. The 1,256-seat Zumanity Theatre, which was
custom-built for Cirque du Soleil's third permanent Las Vegas
production, offers several seating options, including cabaret
stools, priced at $55, and traditional theater seats, which go for
$75 each; tickets for love seats and duo sofas are sold only in
pairs and are priced at $150 and $190, respectively. For more
ticket information, contact the New York-New York box office at
(702) 740-6815 or visit www.nynyhotelcasino.com.
TREASURE ISLAND will celebrate its 10th
anniversary by revamping its famed Battle of Buccaneer Bay--with
vamps. In a more sensual interpretation of the pirate show, which
will premier Oct. 26, a band of renegade male buccaneers will fight
the Sirens of TI, a group of sexy women who are part muse, part
temptress and part pirate. Besides a fresh story line for the
battle, the resort also will mark its decade on the Strip with a
new name--TI. Next year the resort plans to open a Mexican
restaurant, Cantor's Deli and a new spa facility. Also in 2004, the
property will be linked to the Fashion Show mall via a new
pedestrian bridge.