Exit Drai’s, enter Gansevoort

Although East Coast-based Gansevoort Hotel Group isn’t a household name around Las Vegas, it soon could be, if a planned collaboration with Caesars Entertainment comes to fruition. The latter had briefly planned to re-do Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall & Saloon as a clubber-oriented hotel/nightclub in collaboration with Victor Drai. Called “Caesars Drai’s,” the new theme — a debasement of the Caesars brand if ever we saw one — debuted to widespread indifference and vanished in, oh, about five minutes. Having evidently thought the matter over more carefully, Caesars has now brought in hipster-friendly Gansevoort. The highly rated Gansevoort brand is one that’s experienced with the pool-party-and-DJ scene, as well as with various and sundry members of the Kardashian species, so it ought to fit right in on the Strip. Judging by its New York City Hotels, Gansevoort is accustomed to working in tight spaces (as little as 250 square feet), so remaking the ex-Barbary Coast shouldn’t be too difficult. The hotelier says its style is both “lush” and “minimalistic.” Those two qualities sound like a contradiction in terms to me, but let’s cut the new guys some slack. Drai will still have his name on the marquee, along with responsibility for the 65,000-square-foot pool deck, where you can party ’round the clock. Swinger hangout Drai’s After Hours will resume its dawn patrol in the basement, too. Total Rewards members will have their points honored at Gansevoort, which is mighty white of Caesars.

The planned 188 rooms* come at a steep price tag, starting at $249/night (ouch!). Design ingenuity will be required, as the plan calls for increasing the casino square footage from 32,800 to 40,000 … along with unspecified “retail outlets.” If the creme exterior harmonizes more closely with Flamingo Las Vegas, the exposed-brick and wood flooring of the interior design scheme retains a hint of the old Barbary Coast. An S&G reader fond of Bill’s closely scrutinized the new layouts and observed, “Note the French-door style window with what appears to be a chair to its left (with a chandelier above). Perfect spot to view the Bellagio fountains — at least for the subset of rooms that are on the south side of the building …

“But then look at the [first] photo showing the bathroom layout, which appears to be rendered from about where that armoire is standing next to that chair (does any modern hotel still use armoires by the way?). It appears the full-length wall-mirror in the first photo may be a one-way mirror, with the other side being in the shower. But at least in the rendering, I don’t see a door on that shower. So if any visitors to your room want to check out the views of the fountains while you are taking a shower, they are going to get quite another type of ‘view’ as well!” Indeed. However, when you’re catering to the partner-swapping crowd, why not throw a little in-room exhibitionism into the mix?

* — The remodel takes “Barbary Bill’s” below the 200-room-minimum that is standard for Nevada hotel casinos. However, Michael Gaughan built the joint in 1979 (for $11.5 million!), which means Gansevoort-to-be would enjoy grandfathered status.