Beau Rivage opening puts emphasis on 'grand'

Travel Weekly Destinations editor Tom Power traveled to the Mississippi Gulf Coast last week for the grand opening of Beau Rivage. His report follows:

BILOXI, Miss. -- Growth. That's the overwhelming message that hits you when you arrive at this newest entry into the Mirage Resorts portfolio here on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

And we're not even speaking financially -- at least not yet. It's the flora and fauna of the walk that precede the money that talks at this $650 million hotel-casino. The front entry drive of Beau Rivage is lined with 24 Southern live oak trees, all at least 35 feet high and more than 75 years old. The garden embracing the hotel's front entry is a colorful array of more than 40,000 plants, comprising azaleas, camellias and other fragrant flowers.

But it doesn't end there. As guests enter the hotel and pass through the porte cochere, they enter a fully landscaped, glass-enclosed atrium lobby where 13 Southern magnolia trees (dropped in by crane through the atrium ceiling during construction) give the indoor lobby an outdoor feel, the yellow daffodils and purple hyacinths at their bases adding to to garden atmosphere.

Some 10,000 other plants -- replaced weekly and plant type changed monthly and seasonally -adorn the lobby, giving off an arboreal scent that rings of anything but gaming. But that is the precisely the premise that Beau Rivage is gambling on.

"We are not trying to be another Las Vegas. We are not trying to be another Atlantic City," said Barry Shier, Beau Rivage's chairman and chief executive officer, at a press conference here last week. "This is the Mississippi Gulf Coast. "It is a resort community, located on the water." Beau Rivage, Shier said, is here to offer gaming, but in a resort setting.

"Las Vegas is a market under constant change," Shier said. "The Mississippi Gulf Coast is a virgin. It's going to be defined by what we create and by the way in which we impart the charisma and personality of Beau Rivage with every guest who walks in these doors."

Don't be mistaken. Beau Rivage is a casino resort. Shier and hotel officials don't like to talk about the resort's gaming operations, as is the norm with Mirage properties, but the numbers speak for themselves.

The resort's 72,000-square-foot casino sports an estimated 1,989 slot machines and 86 table games, making it the second-largest casino operation in Biloxi and the fourth largest in the state, behind Grand Casino's properties in Biloxi, Gulfport and Tunica.

Warren Strain, a spokesman for the Mississippi Gaming Commission, said Beau Rivage will be looking for an approximate 50-50 split in earnings between gaming and non-gaming facilities.

And a stroll through the beachfront property makes that a credible goal, even though guests need to walk through the casino to get to most of the resort's 12 restaurants.

Mississippi law states that all casinos in the state must be on the water, whether that's the Gulf of Mexico, Back Bay or a riverboat. So when you walk into Beau Rivage, everything you initially see says resort, hotel -- not gaming.

You have to walk past the lobby lounges, retail outlets and room elevator banks before you reach the gaming area. And once you do, you're no longer technically on land, although you'd never know it. The casino area of the resort is actually built on a foundation of five barges in the gulf waters.

Beau Rivage's non-gaming offerings surround the gaming area. Here's a rundown of the major facilities:

Rack rates for standard guest rooms range from $89 to $159 and rates for suites begin at $199. Beau Rivage, Phone: 228-386-7111, Web: www.beaurivageresort.com