Desert Inn employees happy gaming company is at helm

After years of rumors and reports based on anonymous sources, the Desert Inn hotel-casino finally has a buyer that employees feel will take the time to give the property its due.

In interviews Tuesday afternoon, employees were cautiously optimistic that their new owner, Sun International Hotels Ltd., will bring stability to what has been an uncertain situation, at best.

"I think it gives everyone a sense of direction," Pete Snovitch, a craps dealer who has been with the Desert Inn for 12 years, said. "We're not in limbo, per-se."

Starwood bought the Desert Inn in 1998 when it acquired ITT Corp. But with its location away from the new mega-resorts on the Strip, the Desert Inn was losing money despite a $200 million renovation. Starwood Chairman Barry Sternlicht put the Desert Inn up for sale, and was widely reported to be asking between $325 million and $350 million.

Sternlicht later became disenchanted with the highly volatile gaming business as a whole, and last month agreed to sell Caesars World to Park Place Entertainment Inc. for $3 billion.

The fate of the Desert Inn had remained in limbo, with various rumors surfacing that a separate deal was in the works for the 715-room hotel-casino, its 140-acre golf course and 32 acres of vacant land to the south of the resort at the corner of the Strip and Sands Avenue.

Among the reported rumors:

* That Las Vegas casino designer Mark Advent would buy the Desert Inn and the adjacent acreage and convert it to a San Francisco-themed resort. Under that plan, the Desert Inn's casino would have been closed, and its hotel tower used as a second hotel tower and integrated into the San Francisco theme in some way.

* That singer Michael Jackson would buy the Desert Inn in partnership with Detroit businessman and Indiana riverboat owner Don Barden. No details ever emerged of the duo's plans, though the entertainer once tried to get approval for an entertainment-themed casino in Detroit.

* That Pan Kai Development U.S.A. Inc., a publicly traded firm linked to Taiwanese business interests, would redevelop the Desert Inn into a resort catering to "the local Chinese community and the Chinese business traveler." The renovations would have included a 4-mile long replica of the Great Wall of China and a 'Chinese City' requiring 180 acres of land on the Strip.

Tuesday's sale appeared to end the rumors, and employees were happy that the Desert Inn might finally get a taste of stability.

"It's sort of like a knight in shining armor coming to rescue us," Clarence Whalum, a doorman at the hotel, said.

"It's a very positive thing, to know where we're going," Dave Johnson, director of golf, said.

None of the employees interviewed have any first-hand experience with Sun or its employees, but they say they like what they've heard so far.

"We hear nothing but good things about the owner," Snovitch said.

Sun is a gaming company, and knows how to run casinos, Snovitch said. Starwood, primarily a hotel company, is a good operator but did not really understand the mechanics of running a casino, he said.

From what Whalum has heard of Sun's other gaming properties, the company must be a good operator, he said.

"That's what really makes me feel positive about them, the things they own," Whalum said.

"From what I've heard and read, it seems to be an outstanding company with great properties," Johnson said.

And no one interviewed believed Sun would significantly renovate or tear the Desert Inn down.

"This is too nice of a property to tear down," Snovitch said. "I just can't see them doing it."

"I don't have any great fears," Johnson said. "They value the golf course and what it lends to the property."

In his 11 years with the Desert Inn, Whalum has seen the resort change hands several times. The results have never been negative, he said, so he's not worried this time.

"This is my sixth one, as of today," Whalum said. "I haven't seen anything negative happen."

"Everybody's thinking positive, we're hoping for good things," Snovitch said.

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