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Borgata is investing $50 million to renovate its 2,000-room main hotel in the scramble for the affluent, overnight customer, who, many say, holds the key to Atlantic City's turnaround.
The Las Vegas-style megacasino - which opened in July 2003 at a cost of $1.1 billion, then the most expensive casino ever built in Atlantic City - announced a $200 million expansion three years later, and added its $400 million, 800-room Water Club hotel tower in June 2008.
"Offering a compelling guest room and suite experience has been an important aspect of the relationship that we enjoy with our customers," Borgata chief executive officer Robert Boughner said this week.
The renovation will pick up where Borgata left off last year, when it redesigned more than 300 Fiore suites in the same tower in time for the 2010 summer season, Boughner said.
"Now, the redesign of Borgata's 1,600 classic guest rooms, residences, and hotel corridors is currently under way," he said.
The work is expected to be completed in June 2012, just in time for head-to-head competition with Revel, the resort's newest casino since Borgata opened.
Kevin DeSanctis, CEO of Revel Entertainment Group L.L.C., the company behind the casino planned for the northern end of the Boardwalk, said Revel would open with a minimum of 1,100 rooms, with 800 more to be phased in.
A second planned tower, equivalent in size, will push Revel's eventual total room count to 3,800 rooms, about 15 percent of which will be suites.
Having a nice room should be the minimum criterion, DeSanctis said, adding that it was more about having "the overall guest experience, the amenities, the entertainment, the alignment with the guest lifestyle" so Atlantic City can compete for overnight guests.
Industry analysts have speculated that Borgata and Revel likely would go after the same well-heeled customers, who can easily afford to plunk down a couple hundred dollars a night for rooms, even during the off-season. In describing his project, DeSanctis has repeatedly referred to Revel as "Borgata-like."
"I can't comment on what Borgata will do, but we will have a significant focus on the leisure segment and the group or convention segment," he said. "I think the two properties will complement each other and give the leisure, group, and gaming segments more choice, which should be very positive for Atlantic City."
Currently, the resort has about 17,100 rooms among its 11 casinos. A key part of Gov. Christie's proposed state-run overhaul of Atlantic City is to increase convention and tourism business by 30 percent over the next five years.
The Republican governor has emphasized that Atlantic City must generate new forms of revenue besides gambling. That revenue has steadily eroded since Pennsylvania opened its first casino in late 2006.
Last year, casino earnings at the Shore fell 27 percent. Together, the 11 casino hotels posted gross operating profits of $534.9 million in 2010, compared with $729.7 million in 2009, based on year-end figures released Monday by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement.
Meanwhile, gross slots revenue at Pennsylvania's casinos rose 7.4 percent year-over-year, to $214.9 million last month, according to figures released Monday by the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board. SugarHouse opened on the Philadelphia waterfront on Sept. 23 as the state's 10th casino.
In Atlantic City, hotel renovations are also on the books at Resorts, where all 480 rooms in its Ocean Tower hotel are getting new bedding and furniture. Work began last month and is expected to be completed by Memorial Day weekend.
"At this point in time, because of a lack of conventions and demand midweek, there's not a big addition of rooms, and in lieu of that, we've just got to maintain the rooms we do have in great condition," said new Resorts' co-owner, CEO, and president, Dennis Gomes. "In the long term, new rooms are critical."
At Trump Marina, every room and suite is being stripped as part of its $150 million conversion into a Golden Nugget Atlantic City Casino under Landry's Inc., the Houston company that owns several restaurant chains and two Golden Nugget casinos in Nevada. Trump Marina's sale to Landry's closes next month.
"The rooms are coming apart, and everything old is going out and all new is coming in," Landry chairman and CEO Tilman Fertitta said in a phone interview Wednesday. "Atlantic City is going to have great, new product. You will have enough places with destination amenities in them, from restaurants to nightclubs."
Atlantic City has little time to waste, though. Pennsylvania's casinos begin rolling out their own hotels this year.
Sands Resort Casino in Bethlehem will be the first Pennsylvania casino to add a 300-room hotel, while Bensalem's Parx, the state's top casino, plans a hotel in its next expansion phase.
"This really opens up the Sands to attract the visitor from farther away to come for a full gaming experience, spend a night or two, and come for more of a destination visit," Robert DeSalvio, Sands Bethlehem president, said Wednesday.
"We are offering somebody an option now that was not previously available."
Contact staff writer Suzette Parmley at 215-854-2594 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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