Yesterday I received an email from Revel with their opening dates for their Atlantic City casino while I was running out, but I wanted to pass on the information in case you wanted to make plans. I read the email and saw more information on the soft and grand openings and wanted to pass on the details.

Direct from the Revel email.

BE AMONG THE FIRST TO EXPERIENCE REVEL.

FOR THE PREVIEW
The $2.5 billion destination resort, set on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean, will debut with an eight-week Preview on April 2. Early adopters will be able to enjoy the ocean view guest rooms along with multiple levels of offerings which include:

Resort level
Perched 114 feet above sea level sits The SkyGarden with pine grove, fire pits, and ocean views; an indoor/outdoor pool; The O2, an area with six living rooms and several bars; a 31,000-square-foot spa; a pool bar and bistro.

The Mezz
Just below the Resort level, The Mezz features 160,000 square feet of meetings and pre-function space; it also includes a poker room.

Revelry level
This area, 61 feet above the sea, will offer The Social, a two-story bar and entertainment hub; seven restaurants; nightclubs and lounges; 150,000 square feet of gaming.

BY THE PREMIERE
During the eight-week Preview, progressive openings will include a four-story nightclub; a 5,500 seat amphitheater with top headliners; The Row featuring multiple experiential retail spaces; and the remaining seven restaurants for a total of 14 with cuisine from Iron Chefs and Michelin Star chefs.

The full resort will open with a private beach club, a day club, and The Cabanas.

Experience a new age of fun on the Atlantic Coast.

This really is a soft opening and a hard opening. Revel isn’t trying to make believe everything will be ready by one date, rather they will open different parts of the hotel at different times. This gives them time to work out the problems in part of the casino while completing some of the bigger items.

Recent soft & grand openings in Las Vegas have been done differently. The soft open included opening the entire property, make a lot of mistakes,  and then throw a party for the Grand Opening. The Grand Opening would consist of the property opening again and excusing their mistakes on the soft opening. The mistakes usually go unfixed. At least they did at Plaza, Cosmopolitan and Aria, the last three properties to open in Vegas.

At least Revel is attempting to execute a real soft and hard opening. It will be nice to see if the property can fix any problems they come across during the two month soft opening.

Side note: Revel Resorts tweeted me that the full website will launch on March 5.

Atlantic Club Casino Hotel has until Halloween to start making money or they will suffer some kind of consequences.

In approving the rescue plan, the casino commission obtained a commitment from the casino to stay open through October 2012.

Of course, the casino operators are hoping that their efforts keep the casino alive.

But Frawley (Michael Frawley, the casino’s chief operating officer said The Atlantic Club) plans to be in business long after that. ”Oct. 31 is not an apocalyptic date for us,” he said. “We see ourselves operating well beyond that.”

There is so much history with the Atlantic Club Casino Hotel building that I would hope the new marketing efforts work. Unfortunately, I’m not sure that there are enough people that will be coming through the doors this spring and summer.

In a perfect world for Atlantic Club Casino Hotel, all the youth marketing by the casinos in Atlantic City will push the older customers their way. Good luck.

Revel just released it’s opening days!

• Preview will be from April 2 through May 24
• Grand Opening will be May 25-28

See video below (if it decides to work) or g

Go to their site for more information.

UPDATE: I’ll have more information tomorrow.

Atlantic City Hilton went away last year and became ACH which was just a placeholder name. Beginning next month the hotel, with many names in it’s past, will become Atlantic Club Casino Hotel.

The name change will take effect March 13, with cards, dice and gambling chips bearing the new name and logo. New signs will be erected on the Boardwalk building by the last week in April.

The casino is reducing its slot machines from 1,850 now to about 1,500 and its table games from 86 to 50. The casino floor will be redesigned, including new carpeting, and restaurant prices throughout the casino will be lowered.

Their target demo will continue to be locals and old people. While not having said that this was their target customer for my whole life this has always been their customer – and there’s nothing wrong with that.

With many of the casinos in Atlantic City marketing themselves to younger people, Atlantic Club Casino Hotel will become one of the few places you will still be able to roll dice with people that know what they’re doing. That’s not a bad thing at all.

Metallica announced that they are bringing the first of numerous music festivals to Atlantic City this summer with Orion Music and More.

You can see the lineup in the image above, but one thing of note is that “Metallica will headline both nights, and play the Black Album in its entirety on one of the nights for the first time ever on US soil.” I’m not sure how exciting that is, but that’s one of the best selling rock albums in history of music sales so there must be people into that idea.

Tickets go on sale to the public February 11 at $150 for the weekend. If you’re a member of Met Club, the on sale date is sooner and cheaper. Visit Orion Music and More for more information.

The video below is about the band discussing the festival.

In case you’re one of the few people that haven’t purchased Metallica’s self titled album, you can get through Amazon below.

Metallica

A couple weeks ago Baccarat Guy took a trip to Atlantic City and was lucky enough to get one of the renovated hotel rooms at Borgata and the room renovations look good.

Borgata rooms are undergoing renovations from the top floor down so not everyone will get these rooms just yet. The upgrades will be completed on all floors by the summer, here’s a look at what you’re in for.

First, let’s look at the room when you walk in. While the room looks very simple, it seems clean and well organized as a room today should look.

Borgata Full Room

Here is the foyer. Dig the wood entry? While, it’s not ugly I’m not sure I do.

Borgata Foyer

Stepping back into the room, take a look at most of the room from the bed.

Borgata Renovated Room

The pic above may be the best look at the room. I like what I see. There is a very clean feel to the room and nothing that should offend anyone (which is smart). The bedding is nice and clean as well.

Borgata Renovated Bed

The nightstand seems fine, but the lack of outlets bother me. I hope there’s an outlet hidden behind.

Borgata Night Stand

Unfortunately there are no pictures of the bathroom, but I’m imagining they follow with a dark marble theme and rich feel.

While pictures of the renovated Borgata hotel room don’t show anything that will stop traffic, they look nice, clean and unoffensive.

Thanks to Baccarat Guy for the pics!

Four separate music festivals have been approved to take place in Atlantic City this summer. The festivals will take place on the following weekends.

• June 15 to 17
• June 24 and 25
• Sept. 22 and 23
• Sept. 29 and 30

The festival lineups are not confirmed but the rumors are that Metallica, Phish and Kenny Chesney will each headline a festival.

When we last saw discussion about the festivals in December the government was negotiating to earn more money on the festivals than they did last year. It looks like they will do just that.

Starr Hill’s (The promotor) pledge since then to make a donation in an undisclosed amount to an undetermined charity sealed the deal, Councilman Frank Gilliam said.

Gilliam said Wednesday everything else remains unchanged:  Starr Hill will pay the city $80,000 per day: a $30,000 rental fee and $50,000 to cover costs to pay the extra police officers, firefighters, emergency medical personnel and other staff needed to handle crowds at the events.

Gilliam’s big issue was with the ticket sales arrangement. He wanted $1 for every ticket sold to concerts at Bader Field during the upcoming summer to go to the city.

The city will instead get $1 for every ticket sold above 20,000, the low end of the estimated actual attendance last year on each day of the Dave Matthews Band Caravan.

I’ll keep you posted on details as they evolve. I recommend making hotel reservations ASAP if you are even thinking about going to Atlantic City on any of the dates above. Hotel rooms in Atlantic City are usually refundable.

The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority in Atlantic City wants casinos to open up to Pacific Avenue and not just the Atlantic Ocean as most casinos on the boardwalk are currently constructed.

“The industry is looking to appeal to people who aren’t hardcore gamers,” (Liza Cartmell, president of casino-steered nonprofit the Atlantic City Alliance) said. “If we want to provide atmosphere that doesn’t just tie in to gaming exclusively, and makes people want to extend their visit, and get out and about and explore, you need to … create a welcoming atmosphere.”

On the surface this may seem silly as Pacific Avenue is not something most people want to see or be. Pacific Avenue is often seen as a gateway to the hood in Atlantic City. While that may be the case today the only way to change that is to change how the casinos treat the area around them.

The plans for construction are long term and not cheap, but the larger concern should be who the casinos are inviting in to their casino and how to protect its customers. Bally’s and Caesars are already open to Pacific Avenue and it’s no secret that they have the largest homeless and panhandler problem in Atlantic City. Without bulking up security, this could backfire on a city that already seems unsafe to many.

I always want the best for Atlantic City since I grew up with it as my main casino hub and I hope they are taking all precautions for a better, safer place but my previous experiences lead me to believe they aren’t which would be too bad.

The onion of Revel continues to open. The latest bit of information about Revel is that Forty Deuce Burlesque Club may be included when the hotel and casino opens in Atlantic City later this year.

Newspaper reviews and news releases posted online touted the Las Vegas and Los Angeles clubs for their “classic” burlesque-style striptease shows combined with rock ’n’ roll entertainment. The dancers would flaunt their bodies in erotic routines but would remain partially covered at all times.

“The vintage naughtiness and the pulsating rhythms of modern music are blended into a seamless scenario of nightly seduction,” one Forty Deuce news release said while describing the action.

If Forty Deuce opens, it would set up some interesting R-rated competition with another strip club that was approved last month by New Jersey gaming regulators for Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort.

Forty Deuce would be an interesting addition to Revel because the concept previously failed in Las Vegas and Los Angeles. It’s surprising that a new casino would even consider bringing in a concept that has such a negatively proven track record.

Nobody has confirmed that Forty Deuce is opening at Revel and for Revel’s sake (and Atlantic City’s sake) I hope there’s a different brand and/or backer behind the show. The last thing the market needs is for anything involving Revel to fail.

***UPDATE CM1118 left comment below to some pictures that seem as if they are more representative of the hotel rooms @ Revel***

Yay, a sneak peak at the hotel rooms at Revel in Atlantic City. Most pictures of Revel have focused on the windos and shape of the casino and hotel from the outside. These are the first pictures I’ve seen of the hotel rooms. I found these pictures somewhat hidden in the middle of a construction photo gallery on Atlantic City Weekly and figured I’d share.

The lines on the couch area of this hotel room at Revel are very clean, modern and not very fancy. The wood panelling reminds me of something I’d see in the country or at ski lodge. I hope they decide to add a little color to the room. They’ll probably add some art in between the sconses on the white wall. I have to think that this is a suite and not a normal hotel room from the size of the couch. If nothing else, this gives an idea of the design aesthetic of the hotel rooms at Revel.

Revel Hotel Room

The theme continues to the TV area in the hotel room at Revel that looks like a suite. While the ceiling fan is very modern that door looks like something straight out of a 1970′s movie. Now that I think of it, I can’t remember another hotel room with a ceiling fan. This should help keep energy costs down if included in every room although I can only see danger with the fan when I look at this picture. The dresser seems like it will house a refrigerator with room for a nice 42″ HDTV mounted above.

Revel Hotel Room

These are the only pictures that I could find of the rooms, but I’ll keep my eyes open for more. Hopefully the next batch of pictures I find will be of a regular room.

These pictures don’t impress me too much as their isn’t much of a color palette to love or hate. The pictures do show that the rooms will be fairly minimalist, which I do like in my design and hotel styling.

Source/Photos: Atlantic City Weekly

Note: Even though it doesn’t look great, I clipped the pictures and left the ACW logo in since these are their photos.