Tropicana to go with Miami Beach Theme

Details of the Tropicana renovations continue to trickle in.

Recent developments revealed that the hotel will be aiming for a South Beach Miami motif. The finished product scheduled to be complete by 2011 will include a Gloria Estefan inspired show and the Nikki Beach club.

Doing some quick and probably inaccurate math, I calculate that the Tropicana would need to command about a $30 per night room rate increase over the next 10 years to equal the cost of the $165 million renovation. That should be attainable. If they are getting an average of $50 a night now (just a guess) for an outdated room, it shouldn't be that hard to get $80 for a brand new one. And this isn't even considering added gaming and other revenue which is bound to increase with a higher end clientele. I've said it before, but good move by the Trop, and I hope it works out well for them.

Encore Beach Club

The much awaited Encore Beach Club opened Memorial Day weekend. The front part of Encore transformed into a pool and surrounding cabana balconies. It even has a few blackjack tables tucked away from the main action.

The Las Vegas pool party "daylife" concept is a big trend, and EBC will satisfy the high end of this market. From what I have read about the opening the crowd was pretty similar to that of the most popular trendy day clubs like Wet Republic and Liquid.

It will be interesting to see if the upscale pool trend continues. Like the gourmet burger trend I wonder if this niche is becoming over saturated.