The original 14-floor Roman Tower at Caesars Palace will undergo a $75 million renovation and be renamed the Julius Tower. All 587 rooms in the tower, which was built in 1966 for $19 million, will be upgraded and modernized, with guests being accepted beginning Jan. 1 and all work expected to be completed by April. In all, Caesars has six towers with 3,980 rooms.
Poker swap: The poker room at Wynn Las Vegas is being moved to Encore. The Encore room will be in an area near the pool, and a satellite sports book might be added alongside. The former Wynn poker room will be incorporated into whatever is planned for the freed-up space created by the departure of the Penske-Wynn Ferrari Maserati showroom, likely additional retail.
Ice rink returning: For the fourth year in a row, the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas will offer a real-ice skating rink during the holiday season. Bigger this year and featuring snow showers every half-hour from 6 to 10 p.m., the rink will be in the Boulevard Pool area that overlooks the Strip. It’s scheduled to open Nov. 20.
Beer bumped: One of Las Vegas’ best dining deals, the Ellis Island steak dinner, no longer comes with a beer. It still includes a filet-cut sirloin, choice of soup or salad, potato and green beans, for $9.99 when you show an Ellis Island players club card, and you can get it for $7.99 with a coupon you get for playing $5 in any slot or video poker machine. You just have to fork over an additional $2.50 for the brew.
Question: What’s the story on the secret party held at the Palms last month?
Answer: The ride-share company Uber was behind a buy-out of the Palms pool, which was the culmination of a weeklong "team-building junket" for 4,800 of its employees. The whole thing was kept mostly under wraps, but there were reports of Palms guests being wakened by noise and looking out their windows to find pop star Beyonce performing below. Hey, it’s Vegas!
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