Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Planet Hollywood timeshare owners move in

PH Towers by Westgate opens doors Friday to 20 residents

New Planet Hollywood Towers by Westgate .

Justin M. Bowen

A look at the new Planet Hollywood Towers by Westgate.

Planet Hollywood Towers by Westgate

A look at the new Planet Hollywood Towers by Westgate. Launch slideshow »

The first 20 timeshare owners of Planet Hollywood’s PH Towers by Westgate checked in Friday morning, marking the first of several residential tower openings over the next few months.

As the first phase of the project, the non-gaming, 52-story residential and hotel tower will include more than 1,200 suites to be used as vacation homes and traditional hotel rooms. The top five stories of the tower consist of 40 luxury penthouse units ranging in size from 4,000 to 12,000 square feet. Those will be used as residential units.

Westgate Resorts Chief Operating Officer Mark Waltrip said the tower is open this week for the 200 timeshare owners who purchased for the last two weeks of 2009. An estimated 500 units will be open by Christmas with the rest of the tower open by Jan. 1, Waltrip said.

About 80 percent of the tower will be used as hotel rooms and will welcome guests Dec. 28 and officially celebrate the tower’s grand opening in early January. Waltrip said rates will range from the low $100s to $600s. Guests will have direct access to Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino and Miracle Mile Shops.

Upon completion, the two towers will house more than 2,700 units. A date for completion hasn't been announced.

The opening of the PH Towers will be followed by closings on residences at CityCenter’s Veer Towers next month, then Mandarin Oriental in February and Vdara in March. But Waltrip said Westgate isn’t concerned about the competition.

“Our business model is completely different from theirs,” Waltrip said.

Waltrip said they have already done $300 million in timeshare sales and are expecting to do an additional $100 million in 2010.

The condo-hotel project is a partnership between Planet Hollywood and Orlando-based resort company Westgate Resorts. Westgate is the owner of the property while Planet Hollywood is the marketing and operating partner.

Pending the sale of Planet Hollywood to Harrah’s Entertainment, Harrah’s would become the new marketing and operating partner. The name would still remain the PH Towers at Westgate, Waltrip said.

“Harrah’s is without a doubt the best operator and marketing machine in the Las Vegas market,” Waltrip said. “Having Planet Hollywood as a partner has been great but I think Harrah’s would take it to a whole other level.”

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