London Clubs International has entered a joint venture with Robert Earl’s Celebrity Gaming to redevelop their London casino 50 St James into a unique casino club. The club, to be known as Fifty, will be for private members only and is scheduled for a December opening. The four-storey building will house 2 restaurants – one Asian and one International, a bar, a casino with 15 tables and, in the basement, the nightclub Fifty Below. A top chef and bar manager have been headhunted to oversee the exclusive food and beverage arrangements for club members.

Across the pond Robert Earl has entered into another partnership, this time with Sheraton’s Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. that has acquired the long troubled Aladdin Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. For the next 18 months it will continue to operate as The Aladdin as $90 million worth of refurbishment and improvements is invested in the property. Upon completion the new resort will be known as the “Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino”, a Sheraton Hotel.

Sheraton is the largest brand of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, one of the planets largest hotel and leisure companies, with more than 750 properties across 80 countries and employing more than 110,000 people. Starwood President of North America, Geoff Balloti was quoted as saying, “We are thrilled to be working with our partners in transforming the Aladdin to include all the exciting elements of a themed Planet Hollywood Resort, while providing our guests with all the sales, marketing and innovative initiatives of Sheraton. We will focus on bringing the Aladdin into the Starwood family and layering all the distribution benefits that our global sales offices, reservation networks and Starwood preferred guests will provide.”

Planet Hollywood founder and CEO, Robert Earl thanked the workers of the Aladdin for persevering through 35 months of bankruptcy, by laying-on New York strip steaks for breakfast. He said, “I am extremely excited that our first venture as casino owners is in partnership with Starwood. We have the best hotel operators in the business on our team and look forward to the day this project is complete and we are able to unveil our new brand in Las Vegas.”

Audit and enforcement agents for the state Gaming Control Board monitored the books changing hands from Aladdin Gaming LLC to RE/BH LLC, Earl’s acquiring company. Earl’s partnership finally received regulatory approval for the deal more than a year after the successful bid for The Aladdin in a U.S Bankruptcy court. Offering $637 million, the Aladdin when opened in 2000 was estimated to be worth $1.2 billion.

The Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, will create displays from its amassed $20 million collection of movie and television memorabilia. Incorporated into themed suites and specialty rooms, and also offering interactive Hollywood themed attractions. The hotel also offers 75,000 sq ft of flexible function and meeting facilities, two executive boardrooms, a separate conference floor and a 114,000 sq ft casino. The 7000-seat, Theatre of the Performing Arts, will be reconfigured to a more intimate 3,200. With frequently scheduled movie premieres and celebrity visits the resort should cash in on the excitement and allure of Hollywood.



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