If you still haven’t made it down to Hooters Las Vegas, you’d better go soon, because the property is slated for a complete re-branding. From the LVRJ:
Say goodbye to those orange short-shorts.
Hooters Hotel will be rebranded into a yet-to-be named boutique hotel following a $130 million redevelopment of the property that could begin later this year, the investment group purchasing the hotel said Monday.
Santa Monica, Calif.-based Hedwigs Las Vegas Top Tier is completing its financing for the $225 million transaction and hopes to close the sale by late spring, Hedwigs principal Richard Bosworth said.
“This will be a complete redevelopment of the asset that includes a lifestyle, entertainment-driven boutique hotel and casino complex,” Bosworth said.
ReviewJournal.com – Business – Hooters brand will get the boot
This is the typical casino acquisition: buy what you think is an under-performing asset, spruce it up, and watch the money roll in. At least that’s how it goes in theory.
There’s something to be said for a smaller property, particularly for repeat customers. So the idea of a boutique hotel isn’t a bad one. But they’ll have to position it very carefully, particularly with mountains of high-end rooms coming on line at about the same time the re-branding is scheduled to be complete. For my money, you couldn’t go wrong with a clean, friendly, affordable alternative to the big resorts. But there’s probably a very good reason why I’m not the one with $255 million available to buy a casino hotel.