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A look at the new Dolce Hotels and Resorts’ Ravella at Lake Las Vegas, that will open to the public in place of the former Ritz-Carlton Friday, February 11, 2011.
Friday, Feb. 11, 2011 | 2:05 a.m.
Related story
Sun archives
- Former Ritz-Carlton to reopen next month as Ravella at Lake Las Vegas (1-6-2011)
- Search begins for 125 workers at former Lake Las Vegas Ritz-Carlton (12-1-2010)
- Company plans to rebrand closed Ritz-Carlton at Lake Las Vegas (9-21-2010)
- Lake Las Vegas, 350 workers say goodbye to Ritz-Carlton (5-2-2010)
- Part of MonteLago Village Resort at Lake Las Vegas gets new owner (4-16-2010)
- Bankrupt Lake Las Vegas targeting former investors (4-12-2010)
- Residents of Lake Las Vegas told recovery on the way (4-9-2010)
- Wide-open fairways at Lake Las Vegas (3-31-2010)
- Casino’s closure brings mixed outlooks on Lake Las Vegas (3-15-2010)
- Lake Las Vegas: A shining lakeside oasis loses its luster (3-1-2010)
- Population dearth doomed Casino MonteLago at Lake Las Vegas (3-1-2010)
- Casino MonteLago at Lake Las Vegas to close next month (2-16-2010)
- Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas to close in May (2-8-2010)
- Lake Las Vegas proposes bankruptcy plan (9-5-2009)
- Judge approves bankruptcy for Lake Las Vegas golf course (6-29-2009)
- Another golf course to close at struggling Lake Las Vegas (6-25-2009)
- Residents of bankrupt Lake Las Vegas face uncertainty (3-23-2009)
When guests start checking into the new Ravella hotel today, they’ll find much of the Italian-inspired décor of the old Ritz-Carlton but with some more contemporary flourishes.
The shuttered resort — the Ritz-Carlton closed in May — has been given a second chance, and the opening of Ravella at Lake Las Vegas is bringing new life to a development that’s been badly battered by the recession.
Luckily for the hotel’s management company, New Jersey-based Dolce Hotels & Resorts, the AAA Five Diamond-rated hotel left little to be desired, except for a few updates throughout the property. The resort is operated by Dolce, but owned by Village Hospitality LLC, which is an arm of Deutsche Bank.
“The owners of the property and the former operator left us some great physical bones to work with,” Dolce Corporate Director of Operations Stephen Bello said. “With the lobby, our goal was to make it a little more comfortable and casual and add some color to the bland olive color tones. We just felt it look dated.”
Bold blue pillows dot the neutral furnishings in hotel lobby, and antique-looking tapestries have been replaced with bright artwork. The lobby’s ornate chandelier has been covered with a drum shade for a more modern feel.
The lobby area has been divided into three sections — a restaurant where breakfast, lunch and tapas are served; a sitting area in the center; and business section with TVs and tables with connectivity ports.
Upstairs, the hotel’s 349 rooms and their Old World style remain untouched, including the hotel’s two 2,400-square-foot presidential suites.
Dolce has revamped the hotel’s three-meal restaurant, Medici Café, into a market-style restaurant, which Bello said is more reflective of the company’s core customer — the business traveler.
Rather than building a “destination restaurant” for guests looking for something more traditional, Bello said, Ravella is partnering with MonteLago Village so guests can bill their dining back to their room.
The hotel has also partnered with the SouthShore golf course, a private Jack Nicklaus-designed course in Lake Las Vegas’ most expensive neighborhood. The partnership is exclusive to Ravella and Loews Lake Las Vegas, the development’s other resort.
Lake Las Vegas’ two public golf courses that were foreclosed on in 2009 remain closed, an issue Ritz-Carlton executives said hindered the resort from drawing guests to a resort 20 miles from the Strip.
While seclusion has been one of Lake Las Vegas’ downfalls during the recession, Ravella is embracing it. Bello said Dolce typically specializes in hotels on the outskirts of large cities, eliminating distractions for meeting and convention guests.
“We allow you to bring your staff out here and reflect and just focus,” Bello said. “The Strip, there is a lot going on. There are a lot of distractions on the Strip to keep people from focusing on business.”
Ravella’s estimated 110 employees are committed providing service revolving around meetings, Bello said.
The Ravella staff is less than a third the size of the 350-person workforce the Ritz-Carlton maintained, but Dolce operates on a smaller model. The company manages 27 properties worldwide, whereas the Ritz-Carlton brand, owned by Marriott International, operates 73 hotels in 31 countries.
But some wonder if an upscale, well-known brand like Ritz-Carlton couldn’t make it at Lake Las Vegas, how can anyone else?
“Ritz-Carlton is a great company, but they are a big company,” Bello said. “I think the good thing about Dolce is we are a great company, but a small company. We can devote all or most of our resources to developing group business. We also don’t have the same operating cost that Ritz-Carlton has.”
Dolce is also scrapping Ritz-Cartlon’s pricey room rates, which were about 30 percent more than Ravella’s, Bello said. Rates will range between $89 and $119 for Nevada residents, and $120 to $200 for non-residents, he said.
There have been concerns about Dolce downgrading the hotel from its Five Diamond status, but most of the Ritz-Carlton’s award-winning amenities are all still there, including the spa, lakeside location and white-sand beach.
“The difference is how you make people feel,” Bello said. “Dolce prides itself on making people feel great -- regardless of the price of their car parked out front.”
Are they expecting the entire Clark County population to come down opening day with all those chairs stack right on top of each other?
Much much better than the first negative Sun article today about LLV. The first article sounded like a repeat of Obama's recommendation to stay away from LLV and the Las Vegas Valley.
Kudos to Dolce and Ravella and we wish them the best of success and thank them for taking the risk to improve our LLV community.
I agree with fsez2010. Thank you for a well written factual article.
Many ask what is different than the Ritz? Dolce is a whole new ball game for Lake Las Vegas. They will bring their own captive audience to their hotel and the village. LLV fits their business model in which they are very successful world wide.
Dolce has also partnered with the restuarants/ shops in the village which makes things easier for the guests and more revenue for the village businesses.
I wish Dolce Ravella the best and know they will do well!
davidm64...its pretty obvious you work for either this hotel property, the pr firm behind this resort, or you're affiliated someway...you've basically written a press release promoting this property on here and on the review journals comment section...i hope you're being paid for your efforts
i love lake las vegas just as much as the next person, but sometimes you just have to let things go...notice in all the images not one soul on the sidewalks walking around, not one shop open...nice looking resort in a ghost town will not last
Parent company? They do not own the building,they are just a management company. Dolce has opened this hotel on the cheap and people will see very little changed.
There has been no announcement about a grand opening event -ANYWHERE! This spells problems regarding hotel cash flow and a lack of understanding about how to kick off a hotel in Las Vegas.
The fact that key local management left a month prior to opening and that all management is from out of town - expect this hotel to struggle and just try to cannibalize on a silly room rate. Their local rate of $119 not really friendly.
If this article was not written, would you even know that there was a hotel out there with this name? No advertising has been done, no pr has been done about this new name. Sorry but these out of town folks missed the boat here. Opening a hotel with a Comfort Inn Budget for a 4 star product will be seen when everyone goes into the hotel. Little has been changed or done. Still stuffy.
@ newbie. I'm just a resident of the area making sure that ALL factual information is presented. There are many uninformed negative posters here and the media tends to leave out important information. The photos in this article aren't supposed to show people, it's supposed to show what the resort it about. I'm sure the lobby photo was intentionally taken without anyone it in and prior to the opening.
Now Kirkland must be a disgruntled ex-employee spewing the same negative stuff on all of the online comment sections.
I only state the facts here. The fact is Dolce is different than the Ritz.
How would you know if Dolce is different than Ritz DavidM? It just opened today?
Facts are facts. They did not make any significant changes or upgrades. It is still a Ritz with less people running around to serve you.
You might be a resident, but have you seen any Ads for this resort? Have you booked an event there?
Vegas has seen a host of hotels be launched from local hotels like M Resort or Alliante to Cosmo on the Strip - all of which had more buzz. That not a fact? No one wants to see a closed hotel and locals without work.
If you have all of the facts, I hope you can make an attempt to reach out to all of the cab drivers to help them find the hotel. "What is it called?"
This seems to me to be a perfect place for the H.A.s to have their annual get-together. It would be more or less private and easy to secure. There would be little interference from the locals. I would think the local police and sheriffs would like it becuse it's somewhat out of the way. Don't know, but it sure sounds like a great venue. Man, it would bring H.A.s and their support clubs from all over the U.S. and Canada, maybe even Europe. Those boys spend some serious money!