Rocking the House at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas

The powerhouse brand of Planet Hollywood keeps the party going, rock-n-roll style, at its flagship resort, dead smack in the middle of the Vegas Strip. While not well-suited for kids and families, the Strip’s sexiest place to stay is a magnet for singles, partiers and business travellers.

As you might expect, Planet Hollywood Hotel Las Vegas puts heavy emphasis on being cool and having a good time. But it does a bang-up job of creating a fun place to gamble, drink and hang out. You know what you’re getting into from the moment you approach the front desk. Neon is splashed across the walls and classic rock pumps out of the resort’s sound system.

The low lighting and the vaulted ceilings create a nightclub atmosphere, minus the brain-pounding dance music. Coming in from the glaring desert light outdoors, it’s an ideal environment to rest off a hangover or to catch up on your sleep.

Even the rooms are designed to get you in the mood for fun. Recently refurbished, they’re hip without being pretentious and come equipped with a solid array of high-tech goodies and comfortable furnishings. Each room has its own Hollywood movie theme, so it may be worth checking beforehand if you’ve been allotted the Nightmare on Elm Street suite before committing.

One area where Planet Hollywood Las Vegas drops the ball is its resort amenities. The overarching caliber of its pools, shopping and fitness centre is decidedly average . The Turkish-style Mandara Spa is the stand-out here, but the two cramped outdoor swimming pools are surprisingly dull and uninviting. Fans of chain retailers will find 170 or so of them along the Miracle Mile shopping strip inside the resort, but again, the overall atmosphere of the shopping scene is underwhelming.

Although you won’t find any celebrity chef names attached to Planet Hollywood’s eight restaurants, the variety of cuisine and the quality of the preparation is impressive. Most eateries won’t drain your wallet and a few like the Spice Market Buffet are excellent value.

While the resort may slack a bit in its swimming pools, it hits the nail on the head in the entertainment and nightlife department. Its two in-house clubs, Living Room and Prive, are both Vegas hot spots which attract a regular showing of celebrities and jet-setters. A clutch of other drinking and socialising spots around the gaming area ensure you can keep the scene fresh.

Gamblers like Planet Hollywood’s three-acre casino which feels like a nightclub mated with a strip club. From go-go girls pole dancing in the Pleasure Pit to blackjack dealers dressed in sexy lingerie, this is by far the sexiest place to gamble in the city. All the usual gaming tables, poker rooms and slots are on hand under a towering 75-foot ceiling which helps to keep the air circulated.

Planet Hollywood definitely pigeon-holes itself into the rock-n-roll party niche, but its central location on the Strip means you can change the scene in minutes with a short walk to Paris, the MGM Grand or the Bellagio. With room rates that are very competitive, Planet Hollywood makes an ideal home base for a whirlwind getaway, Vegas-style.