The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino Las Vegas faces a challenge no other elite Sin City destination confronts, and – thanks to its collective renovations – it’s managing to stay cool while it matures.
The Hotel and Casino – in addition to its cafes around the world – are obviously built around everything rock n’ roll. They’re an accessible, slightly child-capped, mass market mix of black leather and torn denim, smashed guitars and smudged eye shadow, straight bourbon and short skirts.
But, Las Vegas is now about luxury and elite experiences. The continuing trend there is gambling is gradually fading as a prime attraction, while shows, gourmet restaurants and shopping. The group psychology seems read something like, “If I’m going to drop a chunk of money in Vegas, I want to make sure I come away with something – even it it’s just a good memory.
That means, if the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino wants to compete with massive complexes like Bellagio, Aria and MGM as elite Las Vegas accommodations, the Hard Rock needs to add the kind of luxury elements that might fly smack in the smack-high face of rock n’ roll.
The Sex Pistols, Kiss or Nirvana did’t go in for facials – even if they wore a little makeup now and again. Billy Idol, Lyrnyrd Skynyrd and The Misfits didn’t get their chakras balanced. Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash and The Clash wouldn’t touch micro-organic gastro-intimate cuisine or wander into a woman’s fashion boutique – unless they were cruising for chicks.
So, how does the Hard Rock Hotel offer the spas, the health clubs, the shopping and fine dining while maintaining that classic stale beer and cheap perfume of rock music? After a two-day tour of the hotel, I would say pretty well, thank you.
Originally a much smaller, more intimate venue with its hotel rooms branching off of a circular casino floor on which you could see one end from the other, the facility now packs 670 rooms with suites filling the HRH, Casino and Paradise Towers.
I stayed in one of the HRH Tower suites and found it the perfect metaphor for how the hotel is meeting its identity challenge. The room is elegant and modern with all of the technological necessities for a top-shelf hotel room. But, it’s decorated with stark, black and white photos of rockstars engaged in various activities frowned upon by the Church of Rome.
The hotel and casino couldn’t really assigned “Rock” to its name if it couldn’t host a legit concert regularly. To that end, The Joint is quite simply the best music venue in the city. While other casinos offer huge, high tech stages with excellent acoustics, only The Joint at its 4,000 seat capacity provides the perfect mix of technology and amenities with the right unpretentious ambiance.
On the dining side, other elite hotels bring in top chefs from around the world to set up elaborate restaurants on the culinary cutting edge. Unfortunately, they tend to come with a elaborate price tag, too.
The Hard Rock got their dining mix right by offering a blend of comfortable, everyman diners (Mr. Lucky’s), edgy theme stops (Pink Taco), experimental modern eateries (Culinary Dropout) and the mandatory elite halo restaurant (35). Of the group, I have a soft spot for Lucky’s, but I believe Culinary Dropout (with its mix of comfortable atmosphere and artistically forged comfort food) is the best newer restaurant in Vegas.
For an encore, guests who sample a little too much casino floor cheer can visit the Reliquary Spa. It has all the traditional facilities and offerings of any other relaxation spot in Vegas – including saunas, steam rooms, massage sessions and a complete selection of more new age services.
A spa is probably the farthest thing from the rock n’ roll lifestyle that you could describe. There’s nothing about it that screams “rock on” as its decor steers toward placidity over insanity. So, the hotel’s designers removed the spa from the main hotel throughways, keeping it off the floor and it’s in own little world away from all the thrashing and moshing.
If the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino were an arena concert, it’d be the perfect set from a well-established band that had been at the top of the charts for awhile. Such a show needs to play all of the classic hits the crowd pays to hear, while mixing in the kind of new material that keeps a band relevant and alive. If the Hard Rock can keep up that mix of old and new, no guests will be looking to get their money back from any box office.
