Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa

The opening of Red Rock Casino, Resort & Spa raised the bar for Las Vegas luxury accommodations off The Strip. Set in the midst of Red Rock Canyon, the hip destination boasts a price tag of nearly $1 billion, its plush amenities including 814 guest rooms, 11 restaurants, a three-acre pool and beach area, a full-service spa, and a long list of Adventure Spa activities—canyon hikes, mountain biking, horseback riding, rock climbing and river rafting among them.

Meeting planners can rest assured in their site selection, as Red Rock promises guests the “wow” factor. The resort’s 100,000 square feet of sophisticated meeting and conference facilities include five elegant ballrooms, and several breakout rooms. Available to host from 15 to 1,500 guests for formal and casual gatherings alike, the meeting venues all feature wireless Internet access and the latest audiovisual equipment. Some also afford inspiring views of the surrounding canyon and lush pool garden. To help perfect all the details of the event, an expert team of planners and technicians stand by to provide around-the-clock service.

While opportunities for business abound, guests choose Red Rock resort as much for the range of after-hours activities it presents. Groups can share time together hiking or biking the canyon, relaxing at the 35,000-square-foot spa, watching a feature film in the on-site movie theater, 72-lane, state-of-the-art bowling alley, or trying their luck in the 15-table poker room. Be the first to review this property. There are no available packages at this time. There are no value dates at this time. Posted Jul 7, 2008 by Elite Concierge
View RSS Feed By Benjamin Spillman, Las Vegas Review-JournalMcClatchy-Tribune Regional News

Feb. 19--When video game artists emerged from darkened meeting rooms at a recent convention in Las Vegas, it was the sunlight pouring into the conference room -- not the many martinis poured down their throats -- that was responsible for overwhelming their tender, blinking eyes.

The 700 or so gamers were sequestered in the convention center at Red Rock Resort, a $1 billion hotel-casino more than 10 miles west of the Strip.

They peered through Red Rock Resort's floor-to-ceiling windows at the reddened Aztec sandstone cliffs west of Las Vegas as opposed to the Strip's landscape of concrete, crowds and chaos.

That's exactly what Joseph Olin, the man in charge of keeping the gamers on task, envisioned when he moved the 7-year-old DICE Summit away from the Hard Rock Hotel, which is just off the Strip, to the upscale calm of Red Rock Resort.

"They have short attention spans," Olin said of the video game artists. That's why Red Rock was a good fit for the group, which included creators and artists behind blockbuster video game titles like "World of Warcraft" and "Halo 3."

"They are responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars," Olin added. "People get distracted. The late-night party atmosphere would go into the next morning."

Communities outside Las Vegas have long used the lure of a calm, productive environment to position their properties as the anti-Strip to try to lure serenity-seeking professionals.

Locally, Station Casinos' Green Valley Ranch Resort in Henderson and Red Rock Resort have joined JW Marriott Las Vegas as top off-Strip destinations for out-of-town companies to hold events.

Clients of Station's upscale meeting properties include PepsiCo, Audi, Wells Fargo, American Express, Citibank and Microsoft Corp.

But there's room for more. With conventions attracting about 6.2 million people to Las Vegas in 2007, there is opportunity to increase the off-Strip niche's share of the pie, said Chuck Schwartz, chairman of Convexx, a convention production company in Las Vegas.

"Personally, I think there is a tremendous opportunity," said Schwartz, a veteran of the Las Vegas convention scene with major shows like the Specialty Equipment Market Association Show, which occupies about 1 million square feet at the Strip-centric Las Vegas Convention Center and Las Vegas Bike Fest at the Cashman Center near downtown.

"The Strip can be a turnoff to some meetings, particularly small ones, religious, medical," Schwartz said. "But Vegas isn't a turnoff."

Clearly.

From 2001 to 2006, the number of convention visitors to Las Vegas increased from 5 million to 6.3 million. The amount they spent, not including gambling losses, increased from $5.8 billion to $8.2 billion, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

And from 2002 to 2006, the amount of available convention space in the Las Vegas area increased from 8.9 million to 9.5 million square feet.

The convention authority doesn't categorize space by market niche, but its figures report the leading properties away from the resort corridor bounded by Sahara Avenue, Russell Road, Paradise Road and Valley View Boulevard are South Point, with 150,000 square feet; JW Marriott with 109,000; and Red Rock Resort with 70,000 -- 94,000 including public space.

There is also an abundance of properties with a few hundred to more than 40,000 square feet.

In comparison, the area's largest convention centers, such as the Las Vegas Convention Center, Sands Expo and Convention Center and Mandalay Bay Convention Center, have 2.2 million, 1.2 million and 1.7 million square feet, respectively.

The disparity between the Strip's largest venues and those at off-Strip properties is important for event coordinators.

At a large venue such as Mandalay Bay, an event with several hundred people might be treated as filler between major conventions and trade shows.

In a smaller resort, even an upscale venue like Red Rock Resort, event attendees can get red-carpet treatment.

"They are a very big fish in a small pond," said Veronica Kistner, vice president of sales for Green Valley Ranch Resort and Red Rock Resort. "In a Strip property they might have several groups at one time."

The video gamers, for example, occupied the majority of Red Rock Resort's rooms during their three-day event this month. At a larger Strip property they would fill a much smaller percentage of the room inventory.

Kistner said Station actively cultivated the off-Strip convention niche at Red Rock Resort based on what the company learned after it opened Green Valley Ranch Resort in 2001.

Green Valley opened with just 10,000 square feet of meeting space, it added 40,000 square feet in 2004 and 15,000 in 2006. Red Rock Resort opened with its full complement of meeting space.

"At that point you could see the direction the property was headed," Kistner said.

Red Rock Resort also included separate entrances for the convention center and made sure convention space was close to the hotel desk and towers.

The emphasis helps Red Rock Resort attract companies that might otherwise leave the Strip for non-Las Vegas venues and keep them in Las Vegas.

"If you are looking for a Scottsdale, (Ariz.), or Palm Desert, (Calif.), type of experience you can find that in Las Vegas," Kistner said.
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Copyright (c) 2008, Las Vegas Review-Journal Posted May 28, 2008 by Elite Concierge
View RSS Feed For Station Casinos Inc., owner and operator of 11 hotels located throughout the Las Vegas Valley, each property and its guests will always win thanks to a recent system-wide rollout of MTechs Internet-based Hotel Service Optimization System (HotSOS, pronounced hot sauce) solution. HotSOS connects service staff to each other, guests, groups and meeting planners"thus streamlining guest-services workflow and maximizing guest satisfaction.

Station Casinos properties that will soon spice up service with HotSOS include: Green Valley Ranch Resort, Spa & Casino, Palace Station Hotel & Casino, Boulder Station Hotel & Casino, Sunset Station Hotel & Casino, Santa Fe Station Hotel & Casino, Texas Station Gambling Hall & Hotel, Aliante Station Casino & Hotel (scheduled to open by the end of 2008), Fiesta Rancho Casino Hotel, Fiesta Henderson Casino Hotel and Wild Wild West Gambling Hall & Hotel.

We opened Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa two years ago with HotSOS, said Michael Grisar, Station Casinos Corporate Vice-President Hotels. We instantly realized the value that HotSOS brought to the property, and it soon became a must-have solution for our remaining ten hotels which do not have an automated guest-response solution in place.

HotSOS has already helped Red Rocks team members to focus their attention on immediate guest requests and become more proactive in creating work orders to reduce the overall wear and tear of this amazing facility, he said. For some of our older properties, however, HotSOS will be an invaluable tool " especially when used in conjunction with MTechs preventive-maintenance tool in the near future.

Grisar said the companys plan is to install HotSOS beginning with the Santa Fe Station Hotel & Casino, which went live in May, and adding a property every two weeks. Once the HotSOS roll out is complete, training will begin on the PM module, which already is in use at Red Rock Casino, Resort and Spa.

Enterprise operations
In conjunction with the HotSOS roll out, Station Casinos also is migrating its entire property PBX operations to its new state-of-the-art Call Center. The facility, opened in December 2007, serves as headquarters for Station Casinos Centralized-Reservations operations for all 11 hotels. Beginning in June, the PBX team from the Santa Fe Station Hotel & Casino will move to the offsite facility. Every two weeks thereafter, an additional propertys PBX team will relocate to the Call Center with completion due for September 2008.

Only HotSOS can work in tandem with remote PBX operations to support an enterprise of this magnitude, said MTech President Luis Segredo. Data from 11 individual hotel property-management systems will be brought together at the Call Center for seamless operations. Guest requests will be entered into HotSOS by the hotels proprietary PBX operator, and then dispatched -- via a wireless device like a pager or cell phone -- to the Team Member at the specified property responsible.

By making our team members jobs easier through the usage of HotSOS, they will in turn be able to provide heightened, superior level of service to our guests, Grisar said.

Thanks to MTech and HotSOS, Station Casinos is leveling the playing field by providing a winning experience for all " the house wins and so do our guests " every time, he said.

About Station Casinos Inc.
Station Casinos, Inc. is the leading provider of gaming and entertainment to the residents of Las Vegas, Nevada. Station's properties are regional entertainment destinations and include various amenities, including numerous restaurants, entertainment venues, movie theaters, bowling and convention/banquet space, as well as traditional casino gaming offerings such as video poker, slot machines, table games, bingo and race and sports wagering. Station owns and operates Red Rock Casino Resort Spa, Palace Station Hotel & Casino, Boulder Station Hotel & Casino, Santa Fe Station Hotel & Casino, Wildfire Casino and Wild Wild West Gambling Hall & Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, Texas Station Gambling Hall & Hotel and Fiesta Rancho Casino Hotel in North Las Vegas, Nevada, and Sunset Station Hotel & Casino, Fiesta Henderson Casino Hotel, Magic Star Casino, Gold Rush Casino and Lake Mead Lounge in Henderson, Nevada. Station also owns a 50% interest in Green Valley Ranch Station Casino, Barley's Casino & Brewing Company and The Greens in Henderson, Nevada and a 6.7% interest in the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition, Station manages Thunder Valley Casino near Sacramento, California on behalf of the United Auburn Indian Community. The Company has been named four years in a row by FORTUNE Magazine among its 100 Best Companies to Work For, To learn more about the Company, visit www.stationcasinos.com.

About MTech
Since 1993, MTech has developed and installed solutions to help hotels work smarter " not harder. The company is on track to double its client base to more than 1,200 hotels this year with the introduction of HotSOS (pronounced hot sauce) " comprising a suite of Internet-enabled, enterprise-level quality and customer relationship management applications available on a subscription basis. The companys Espresso! client server/site-based quality management software suite and PM-Works Internet-based preventive maintenance-centric solution (also integrated as a subset of HotSOS) have been market leaders for more than a decade. MTechs solutions are uniquely positioned and proven to help hotels improve communications, increase productivity, and maximize guest satisfaction. Unique telephone, email and alphanumeric paging interfaces improve overall workflow and communication between departments and streamline data collection and dispatching processes. Production, sales, pre-installation, and ongoing world-class service and support are provided from the companys headquarters in Miami. For more information on the company, please visit www.m-tech.com.