High-Stakes Hideaways

Jace Radke

Saturday, Aug. 22, 1998 | 5:19 a.m.

In Las Vegas lore there are few legends as big as the high-roller, the gambler who can boost a casino's quarterly earnings or drop them substantially with just a few hours of high-stakes play.

The high-roller's game of choice is baccarat, the game made famous by James Bond. High-rollers are the players who frequent the $100,000 limit tables, as tourists in Bermuda shorts stroll by on the way to the $5 blackjack tables.

When these high-rollers -- or "whales," as they are called by casino executives -- hit town they make a big splash, and each property is vying for their business.

To that end many hotel-casinos keep lavish "high-roller suites" to make these millionaires and billionaires feel more at home.

"We have four $750,000 penthouse suites that are never rented out," Michelle Knoll, marketing director at the Monte Carlo hotel-casino, said. "These are obviously very special rooms for very special guests."

The rooms are not meant for anyone other than high-rollers, including the likes of models, movie stars and politicians.

The rooms are held for people such as Australian media mogul Kerry Packer, who visits Las Vegas three times a year. Packer, whose personal fortune is approximately $2 billion, reportedly won $6 million in two nights at the MGM hotel-casino in 1995 -- tipping dealers around $2 million -- while staying at the Monte Carlo.

The 3,500-square-foot suites in the Monte Carlo are designed with people such as Packer in mind. The 32nd-floor rooms feature such amenities as imported Italian marble floors, hand-crafted furniture from Europe and hand-knotted rugs from India.

"We wanted these rooms to have the feel of a residence in Monte Carlo," Knoll said. "They have that feel with the long hallway and different rooms, but we still customize the rooms with amenities for individual guests.

"If that means there is a certain type and color of flower that a guest likes, or if they have a favorite liquor, it will be provided in the room."

The Monte Carlo's high-roller rooms sport an office, full kitchen and a workout room with all the equipment one needs to get in some exercise before moving into the huge bathroom for a dip in a whirlpool tub.

The Monte Carlo's suites were designed by Anita Brooks Design Associates, a local company that has designed these lavish suites for many Las Vegas hotel-casinos. Some of the company's clients include the Luxor, Caesars Palace and the still-under-construction Mandalay Bay and Four Seasons Las Vegas.

"These rooms represent huge investments for these properties," Charles Gruwell, design director for Anita Brooks, said. "From preliminary design to completion, these projects usually take about 18 to 19 months."

The investments pay off when Packer and other high-rollers choose to play at that property.

High-roller rooms start out as concepts that the property has, and are then turned over to design companies, Gruwell said.

Designers have a basic sense of what the property wants, as well as space limitations before producing fabric, color and furniture samples, as well as sketches of the finished room.

Gruwell, who was a designer of the suites in the new Luxor towers, said that there are usually six to eight designers working on a given hotel's suites.

At the Luxor, Gruwell was hired to design 4,800-square-foot suites in each tower. Each suite has $65,000 worth of marble flooring with a price tag of several million dollars, Sarah Ralston, Circus Circus spokesperson, said.

"The Luxor already had a presidential suite that was very Egyptian in theme, and they wanted the new suites to be related, but not overly Egyptian," Gruwell said.

The Luxor got huge rooms with a full bar, two master bedrooms, floor-to- ceiling windows with remote-control drapes and two huge bathrooms overlooking Las Vegas Boulevard from the 30th floor.

"The rooms are very plush without the in-your-face Egyptian theme," Paul Spiers, a Luxor spokesman, said. "They are very large rooms and with the huge windows it makes them seem even bigger. You could get lost in there."

In order to accommodate the city's different styles and give high-rollers something that meets their expectations, designers import many of the materials that go into these suites.

"We often go out of the country for fabrics and furniture," Gruwell said. "Italy, France and Spain are some of the places that we go to get these items, and we also have local vendors."

The Luxor and the Monte Carlo, along with the New York-New York hotel-casino, are all fairly new entrants into the race for high-roller clientele. The old guard of hotel-casinos that compete for these players' attention include the Mirage, the Las Vegas Hilton, MGM Grand, Caesars Palace and Desert Inn.

The competition will become even stiffer with the anticipated October opening of the $1.8 billion Bellagio hotel-casino. Approximately 25 percent of the resort's business is expected to come from the high-rollers the property will target, gaming analysts said.

The suites in the Bellagio will top out at 8,000 square feet, and will include such amenities as marble foyers, antiquities, steam showers and whirlpool tubs.

The 36-story, 7 million-square-foot resort also will feature a nine-acre lake and a nearly $300 million art display including works from Pablo Picasso, Pierre Renoir, Paul Cezanne, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Henri Matisse and Vincent Van Gogh.

With these extras, it's obvious that Steve Wynn's newest hotel-casino is attempting to become a haven for high-rollers.

With the Four Seasons Las Vegas, Mandalay Bay, Paris and the Venetian all under construction, decorators are anticipating putting their respective and distinctive marks on more high-roller rooms.

"The growth has caused a huge need for cutting-edge interior design in Las Vegas," Gruwell said. "The city has really transformed from an old-time Las Vegas feel to one of glamour and glitz."