The new SLS Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, on the site of the former Sahara Hotel and Casino, once staged the top acts in the golden age of “Rat Pack” Vegas entertainment in the 1950s and ’60s. When the Sahara shuttered its doors in May 2011, the site sat vacant until SBE Entertainment’s Sam Nazarian broke ground on a $415 million conversion project that resulted in the stylishly modern new property opening in August 2014.
The actual timeline of the project was a bit more complicated due to the recession, however, as SBE bought the Sahara in 2007 with the intention of razing it for a complete rebuild, but had to hold on with the Sahara name and existing property until the hotel industry’s economic fortunes turned.
“After they shut it, Sam went back to the drawing board and decided to reposition the existing facility, bring it down and reopen as an SLS property,” says the hotel’s executive director of hotel sales, Robert Filipelli.
“We’re akin to a lifestyle-type of property, but we have 1,600 rooms,” Filipelli says. “It’s very based on entertainment, and a very stylish sort of hotel, with Philippe Starck as the design partner. It’s definitely forward-thinking, not a conservative property by any stretch of the mind. It is anything but a stagnant facility.”
The SLS is a hot spot for nightclubbers, and often uses its clubs for meeting group events. In fact, entertainment is really the driving force behind the property—parent company SBE is basically a Los Angeles-based entertainment company—with three major nightspots vying for attention: LiFE, a 20,000-square-foot high-energy space showcasing top DJs, aerialists, 70 VIP tables and three bars; Foxtail, an 8,000-square-foot Philippe Starck-designed space with an LED light system and outdoor pool area; and The Sayers Club, a live-music venue with an intimate environment and a patio overlooking the Strip.
The SLS also offers unique video mapping technology that allows groups to message their attendees to the hilt in a variety of venues, and is especially good for product roll-outs and car launches.
The property’s 1,600 rooms are spread across three distinctly designed towers, Story, Lux and World, and there is approximately 30,000 square feet of function space, all located with convenient access directly from the airport off of Paradise Road. And one of the other big selling points for many groups is that the hotel’s 60,000 square feet of casino space is located in a central, relatively unobtrusive place, so groups don’t typically have to navigate through it to get to the meeting space or rooms.
“From a Vegas standpoint, it’s a very easy place to do business,” Filipelli says. “It’s one of the only places where you can come in, check in and go to your room without seeing a slot machine.”
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