Thursday, Jan. 27, 2005 | 10:53 a.m.
When Station Casinos Inc. opened a $115 million hotel expansion at its Green Valley Ranch Station Casino this month, the company got 296 more rooms that it has so far filled to near-capacity with tourists and conventiongoers.
The Henderson property also got three new secret weapons in its battle to lure more visitors from the Strip to the suburbs.
Enter the Penthouse Suite, a 5,000-square-foot piece of vintage high-roller luxury with gold leaf walls, leopard print chairs and a white baby grand piano. The Whiskey Suite is 2,500 square feet of retro-chic and doubles as a private nightclub, with thousands of movie and music selections, turntables and a wall projector. The 2,500-square-foot Villas Suite is decorated in an upscale minimalist style, with a pool table, full bar and outdoor patio with a spa.
They can be rented for $3,500 to $5,000 per night but are generally reserved for gamblers willing to spend at least $10,000 in the casino. While that may be small fry for the Strip's high-roller palaces, it's newer territory for a company that makes most of its profit catering to slot machine players making relatively small bets.
"These are Strip quality suites," Green Valley Ranch Vice President of Hotel Operations Brett Magnan said.
Green Valley Ranch Station is jointly owned by Station Casinos and the Greenspun family, which owns the Las Vegas Sun.
Those and 34 smaller hotel suites are several magnitudes larger than the property's existing hotel rooms. They are intended for the kind of customer who wants to be pampered but lacks a whale's bankroll.
Luring customers from the glitz of Las Vegas Boulevard to the outskirts of the Valley isn't easy. It's word of mouth as well as repeat business from convention customers and other business groups -- who now account for about 40 percent of the hotel's business.
Having a reality show based around the operation of the property -- "American Casino," which started airing on the Discovery Channel last year -- also hasn't hurt, Green Valley Ranch Marketing Manager David deMontmollin said.
As many as 300 visitors per day travel from the Strip just to "check out" the property they have seen weekly on television, he said.
Once customers have seen what the off-Strip property has to offer they usually want to come back, Magnan said.
"When you come here you have the local gaming experience and you get the same amenities as a Bellagio and Four Seasons," he said. "You don't have the same craziness you have on the Strip. But you want to get to the Strip? No problem. We'll take you there. You want to go to 'O' (at Bellagio)? No problem. The Strip is 15 minutes away."
The hotel addition is the result of near-capacity business at Green Valley Ranch over the past year, Magnan said.
The property's occupancy rate in 2004 was about 97 percent and has been at least 92 percent full so far this month with additional hotel rooms, he said.
The expansion project also more than doubled the property's convention space by adding 32,000 square feet of meeting rooms. It includes a 1,700-square-foot ballroom and stage that will host future parties, business events and concerts.
By April, the property will expand its spa by adding 20,000 square feet of treatment rooms, private cabanas, a fitness center, exercise studio, steam room and lap pool. The property also expects to remodel its Whiskey nightclub and Bull Shrimp restaurant and add a 24-hour cafe by mid-2005.
