Summerlin resort promises to be a step back in time

Robert Macy

Tuesday, Dec. 1, 1998 | 2:17 a.m.

Promising a step back in time to another Las Vegas era, the head of an international hotel organization says the new $300 million Resort at Summerlin will offer an alternative to the glitzy Strip.

"It will be kind of like it was 30 years ago when wonderful world-class resorts first came to Vegas," promised Paul Hanley, president of Regent International Hotels.

"Some guests like the continued ultra-high energy and crowds" found on the Las Vegas Strip, Hanley said, while others, "if they had a choice, would opt for what we do."

Hanley made his comments in an interview prior to Tuesday's topping out ceremonies for the Regent Grand Palms and the Regent Grand Spa. The resort is scheduled to open April 30.

The resort, in the upscale Summerlin area in northwest Las Vegas, is surrounded by five golf courses and within 15 minutes of eight more, Hanley said.

The Regent Grand Spa will have 287 rooms and suites, the Grand Palms 253. The Grand Spa will feature a 40,000-square-foot spa that will rank with the 10 best in the world, Hanley said, while the Grand Palms will be in a setting featuring some 1,000 palm trees, lush gardens and pools.

The resort is situated on a 54-acre site near the scenic Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area and will offer a panoramic view of the Strip, 11 miles away.

Hanley said room rates -- low-$200s to mid-$600s -- and amenities will compare to five-star resorts in Palm Springs, Hawaii and the Caribbean.

"We're not in the $89 special market," Hanley said.

While some Las Vegas resorts offer "synthetic experiences, this is authentic," Hanley said of the two new hotels.

Also featured will be a conference center seating more than 1,000. Hanley hopes to draw conferences from areas like Scottsdale, Ariz. and Southern California that are interested in a resort setting but "don't want to be in the middle of the Strip."

The resort will also include a casino between the two hotels, but it will not be a focal point.

"You could stay in the hotels for a year and never go around any slots," Hanley said.

Regent has hotels in Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Australia and the Regent Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Three megaresorts are scheduled to open on the Las Vegas Strip next year - Mandalay Bay in March, The Venetian in April and Paris-Las Vegas in September.