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An exterior view of LVH, or Las Vegas Hotel, formerly the Las Vegas Hilton, on Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2012.
Monday, Feb. 4, 2013 | 6:30 p.m.
The LVH hopes that teaming with a hotel chain will help fill its rooms.
The Las Vegas Hotel, which has struggled since losing its Hilton name in 2011, signed a licensing agreement this week with Red Lion Hotels Corp. It will give the LVH access to the Red Lion reservations database and to the chain's customer loyalty program reaching 48 hotels in nine states and Canada.
The resort casino on Paradise Road is the first to sign with Red Lion's new Leo Hotel Collection, a licensed brand being offered to independent properties. By the end of the first quarter, the LVH will be part of Red Lion's reservations database, its R&R Club for repeat customers, along with national sales and marketing.
"Red Lion and the Leo Hotel Collection license agreement is part of a new business channel strategy to increase occupancy," LVH spokesman Kurt Ouchida said this afternoon.
After falling into foreclosure and losing the Hilton name, the LVH was sold at auction in October to investors and lenders affiliated with Goldman Sachs. The Navegante Group in Las Vegas took over operations.
By joining with Red Lion's new Leo brand, the LVH will have help from a hotel company with an established pipeline of customers via databases, call centers and online travel sites. There are no plans to change the name, officials with both companies said.
"Red Lion will do its part selling and advertising to the customers it knows, and the LVH will continue selling and advertising to its customers," Harry Sladich, Red Lion’s executive vice president of sales, marketing and distribution, said in a phone interview from the company's headquarters in Spokane, Wash. "It's really all about them. We're just helping them behind the scenes."
Red Lion will get a third more rooms to offer its customers and a way to market Las Vegas as a destination. The LVH has 2,959 rooms. Red Lion has 9,015 rooms across its properties, including hotels in Denver, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Anaheim, Calif., and Portland, Ore.
"The Red Lion name and customers have been predominantly on the West Coast, and now we can say it's time to come to Las Vegas," Sladich said.
The LVH was the world's largest hotel when it opened as the International Hotel in 1969. Its 1,650-seat showroom has featured headliners including Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand and Liberace. Rich Little currently performs in the 350-seat cabaret.
I am confused why this place is still open.
Red Lion??? Seriously?? Who thinks Red Lion when its time to book a room anywhere, much less Las Vegas? Honestly I had never even heard of then until I read this article.
One thing LVH needs to address is their slogan: Our Future is Bright. While that might be a good HR morale booster for nervous employees, it surely doesn't go very far in attracting reservations. Who'd want to stay someplace where the future is the promise, not today. It's about as meaningful as the Bonanza Gift Shop sign facing the intersection of LV Boulevard South and Sahara that says: If it's im stock, we have it. Duh ! ! !
The next thing LVH needs to do is completely re-do the marquee sign at their driveway. The red LVH letters look cheap and shabby, disproportionate is size relative to the structure on which they are jmounted.
And fianlly, they need to get the casino rockin'. They took out so many machines and haven't done much to upgrade. But, they always had one of the best buffets in town.
When I initially red the headlines I wondered why a hotel would partner with a grocery store chain. Ohhhh, that's "Food Lion". Well who the hell is Red Lion?
OK, "Red Lion has 9,015 rooms across its properties, including hotels in Denver, Seattle, Salt Lake City, Anaheim, Calif., and Portland, Ore.," says the article.
9,000 rooms?? MGM has more rooms than that in their properties on the Strip south of Tropicana.
Looking at the Wiki page for them doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. Looks like they are always on the edge of folding up shop.
Somehow, I'm feeling underwhelmed by this press release...
Navegante Group is the managing partner of the Red Lion in Elko, hence the connection.
Red Lion...meh.
LVH (imho) has shown signs of improvement. The last time I was there, room was clean..no torn wallpaper or dirty dishes in the hallway. Common areas looked better also.The casino could use a little help. Update the slots and fill the holes on the casino floor.
Only name agreement, still it is Hilton Hotels.
They have the worst marketing team and stradegy in Las Vegas. With that property in that location next to the convention center there's no reason they shouldn't be doing better. Heard they hired some marketing team from the Riviera. Boy thats a solid aquisition.