Anonymous source
A prominent Las Vegas blog reported on Monday that Caesars Entertainment might be considering selling its Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
impending sale of Planet Hollywood given as a reason
Vital Vegas first reported this rumor from an anonymous source who allegedly lost their job recently, with the impending sale of Planet Hollywood given as a reason. No official confirmation about the possible sale of the casino has been forthcoming.
Since Caesars Entertainment merged with Eldorado Resorts last year, the newly formed company has sold number of its properties. Some of these sales are regulatory requirements to comply with competition rules in certain states.
In advance of the merger, Eldorado said that it was likely that at least one of the merged company’s Strip properties could go up for sale. Caesars CEO Tom Reeg at the time referred to expressions of interest from “operators not on the Las Vegas Strip that want to be on the Las Vegas Strip.”
Potential buyers
The Vital Vegas piece speculates that a potential buyer of the property could be Hard Rock International. The casino company has reportedly held discussions with Las Vegas Sands about its Palazzo and Venetian properties on the Strip.
However, the casino-focused real estate investment trust (REIT) VICI Properties – which was spun off from Caesars in 2017 – has first refusal for the landlord rights of certain Caesars-owned properties in Las Vegas. This includes Planet Hollywood, Paris Las Vegas, and the Flamingo Las Vegas.
Currently, VICI owns the real estate assets of Harrah’s Las Vegas and Caesars Palace on the Strip. The REIT currently has 28 gaming destinations across the US in its portfolio, with Caesars being the REIT’s biggest overall tenant.
The history of Planet Hollywood
Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino in its current form has been open since 2007. It began as Tallyho Hotel and Country Club in December 1962, was quickly sold to Kings Crown Inns of America, and reopened as King’s Crown Tallyho less than a year later. Milton Prell bought the property in 1966, renovated and enlarged it, and reopened it with a casino as Milton Prell’s Aladdin on April 1 of that year.
new Aladdin opened for business in August 2000
After several ownership changes, the Aladdin closed in November 1997 before being demolished and redeveloped. The new Aladdin opened for business in August 2000, but declared bankruptcy in 2001. The property was bought in 2003 through a partnership of Starwood and Planet Hollywood. Harrah’s (now a part of Caesars Entertainment) then took over in 2010 after the owners defaulted on the mortgage.
Along with the other casinos in Nevada, Planet Hollywood closed its doors in mid-March because of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions. Despite casinos getting the green light to reopen on June 4, Planet Hollywood stayed shut until October 8.
The property is still running gaming operations each day but only offers weekend hotel reservations. Because of lower levels of business travel and a lack of conventions in Las Vegas due to the pandemic, numerous casinos are not accepting midweek hotel reservations.