The move from Huntridge Park, which did draw some opposition from some internal veterans about public safety in Heritage Park, was finished mostly to allow for better public access as well as parking, according to Mick Catron, president of a Las Vegas Veterans Memorial Foundation.”It absolutely complements which Cultural Corridor,” Catron said, referring to a corridor of Las Vegas Boulevard which includes Cashman Center, Lied Discovery Childrens Museum/Las Vegas Library as well as a Las Vegas Natural History Museum, a Neon Museum, a Old Las Vegas Mormon Fort as well as State Historic Park as well as a Reed Whipple Cultural Center.

The city also recently finished a “Vegas Arabesque” Cultural Corridor Bridge which provides a neon pedestrian corridor over Las Vegas Boulevard as part of a city’s Cultural Corridor Trail Project. “I view this commemorative not only as a veterans’ memorial, to compensate respects in which nature, but as also a historical as well as educational piece, as well,” Catron told a city council.Catron pronounced a Heritage Park site has some exi! sting in frastructure, such as buildings with restrooms as well as parking, which wouldn’t have to be added.”That Huntridge Circle Park really presents some hurdles for us at this time,” Catron said. He pronounced which since a park was initially designated for a project, they found problems with both vehicular as well as pedestrian access.”We don’t feel this location really supports what we’re trying to do,” he pronounced of Huntridge Circle Park. He pronounced which after deliberating it with others, including city staff members, they thought Heritage Park would be a best alternative.Catron pronounced there might be some design modifications with a change in locations, but a overall concept as well as vision behind a commemorative would not change.

“Thank you for your willingness to do this,” pronounced Councilman Steve Ross. “Our city desperately needs a Veterans Memorial.”Councilman Ricki Barlow agreed with Ross a area needs such a commemorative as well as “locating a most plausible as well as a most feasible location is a very good problem.”Barlow pronounced he had met with representatives of a Neon Boneyard as well as a Natural History Museum as well as a Clark County Library, who supported a move.Councilman Steve Wolfson asked for a time frame for a project.”Everybody wants to see it get done,” Wolfson said.Catron estimated which it could be open in about 2 1/2 years once a artist has been given a contract as well as initial funding. The artist just finished a Special Forces sculpture piece he is installing this weekend in Lexington, Ky., Catron said.Mayor Carolyn Goodman asked how much it would cost a city.

Catron pronounced a foundation will raise a funds for a entire project, including a sculptures, lighting as well as surrounding sidewalks.City Manager Betsy Fretwell pronounced a next step will be for a artist to adjust his designs for a project.After a plan for a new site is made, a council will vote on whether to go ahead with a new design, Fretwell said.She pronounced a idea would be to leave a rema! inder of Heritage Park which is not dedicated to a Veterans Memorial as a children’s park.During a meeting, one member of a public pronounced there was a lot of crime in a Heritage Park area. After a meeting, Catron pronounced pubic safety issues will be addressed as a project moves forward.”We’re not starting to move forward with any aspect of it unless we’re confident we’re doing it a right way,” he said. “We’re pretty close to moving forward with a fundraising for a project.”A mock-up of a project can be viewed at Las Vegas Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1753, 705 N. Las Vegas Blvd.The design will feature soldiers from a American Revolution to a present time. The design also allow for more sculptures to be added to a commemorative in a future. “Three of a statutes are representative of a family which supports a troops as well as a veterans,” he said. “Throughout history, a families are a key component of all of this.”Each of a 17 sculptures takes a artist about six weeks to complete.”There’s one artist as well as he’s making these things by hand,” Catron said.

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The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority released a report Wednesday that shows visitor numbers grew 7 percent and average daily room rates jumped 13 percent in June compared with June 2010.

The average daily hotel room rate rose from $89.54 in June 2010 to $101.15 this year.

Gambling revenue jumped most dramatically on the Las Vegas Strip, with a 32.3 percent year-over-year increase. The Boulder Strip showed more modest gains of 5.7 percent.

Downtown Las Vegas represented the lone downturn, with that area of the city seeing a 4.1 percent drop in gambling revenue.

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There’s lots of competition among airlines for Vegas, which keeps fares low. When those fares are bundled with hotel rates, you can save even more.

Along with bundling, the days of the week you travel can make a big difference in price.

The best days to depart are Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday or Friday departures with Sunday returns will bring the highest fares, and hotel prices are highest Friday and Saturday nights.

If you want to spend the weekend in Las Vegas, depart early on Saturday and come back on Monday or Tuesday; you can save about $100 per person on your vacation.

Check airline websites for air/hotel/car packages (Alaska, United and Southwest are among those offering vacation packages from Seattle) or use a travel company.

Here are some other ways to save in Vegas:

Avoid resort fees: When booking rooms, watch out for resort fees. Quite a few hotels in Las Vegas charge a resort fee per room for certain amenities, and you have to pay whether you use those amenities or not. The Gold Coast charges $3 per day, while Red Rock Resort charges $24.95. Some hotels, such as Harrah’s properties, don’t charge resort fees.

Show tickets included: You’ll get two free show tickets when you book an air/hotel package with stays at a participating MGM property for three or more nights from Nov. 6 through Feb. 2. The show choices are “Viva Elvis,” “Lion King,” Terry Fator, “KA,” “Jabbawockeez,” “Zumanity,” “Criss Angel Believe” and “Tournament of Kings.”

Stays are available at 13 hotels, including Aria, Vdara, Bellagio, MGM Grand, Signature, Mandalay Bay, THEhotel, Mirage, Monte Carlo, New York New York, Luxor, Excalibur and Circus Circus; see www.mgmresorts.com (click on “Show Tickets”).

The offer must be booked by Aug. 16, and show tickets must be reserved within 72 hours of booking your room. Blackout dates apply. Be aware that these properties charge resort fees that vary, such as $6.95 at Circus Circus and $22.40 at the MGM Grand.

Eating large: If you book a room at a Harrah’s property under the Buffet of Buffets promotion, you get two free all-day buffet passes with unlimited access to seven Harrah’s buffets.

Such passes normally cost $44.95, and you can get them even when you stay at the Imperial Palace with rates as low as $53 per night. You can head to different buffets for breakfast, lunch and dinner and snacks in between. www.harrahs.com/buffets/

Getting around: An economical way to get around the Strip and to downtown Las Vegas is to take the Deuce, a city bus that shuttles along the Strip day and night. A 24-hour pass costs $7, and you can hop on and off as much as you’d like.

Compare that to a taxi ride that could easily cost $15 one-way, or the Monorail, which costs $12 for a day pass and covers only the Strip, and you will be happy to ride the Deuce: www.rtcsnv.com/transit/route/.

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Dianne Schiller, owner of Renta-Dress & Tux Shop, a wedding and formal wear store in Las Vegas, says her business has dropped 15 percent from two years ago, forcing her to stock more inexpensive gowns. “People are spending way less,” Schiller says. Adds Cliff Evarts, founder of chapel operator Vegas Weddings: “Gas prices, airplane ticket prices, all those things impact people’s ability or desire to come to Vegas.” Some 37.3 million people visited the city last year, down from 39.2 million in 2007, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

The slump is prompting the 90-plus wedding chapels in the county — where there are no requirements for blood tests or a waiting period — to shift their focus to husbands and wives seeking to renew their vows and “commitment ceremonies” for same-sex couples who can’t legally wed in Nevada. “Just because there is a decline in marriage certificates, there isn’t a decline in love,” says Charolette Richards, owner of the Little White Wedding Chapel, which offers drive-through service in its “Tunnel of Love.” Richards, who in 1987 married Bruce Willis and Demi Moore and has hosted weddings for Britney Spears and Joan Collins, says recommitment ceremonies now make up about a third of her business, a big increase over prior years. “People today are renewing their vows more than ever,” she says.

At $60 for a marriage license, Clark County has lost some $2 million in annual fees from weddings since the peak in 2004. Now the county is considering official certificates for couples renewing their matrimonial commitments, which could help make up some of the difference, Alba says. “If we did 1,000 annually and we charge, say, $45, that would still be some revenue that we didn’t have before,” she says. The certificates under consideration would be optional and would display the couple’s original wedding date. “We want it to be something fun,” Alba says. “There is a market among tourists, particularly from foreign countries, who want … a certificate that contains an official seal that says Las Vegas.”

Chapel operator Evarts is lobbying local officials to issue the certificates. Since 78 percent of visitors are married, he says, it’s smart to shift the focus away from weddings. That would allow companies such as his to market to some 30 million potential customers a year, as opposed to the far smaller number of single visitors. “There’s a real opportunity,” Evarts says, “for Vegas to reinvent itself as the vow renewal capital of the world.”

The bottom line: As the economy suffers, Las Vegas is seeing fewer quickie weddings, but at one chapel vow renewals now make up a third of business.

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Luxury PadMany Las Vegas visitors already know they can receive the limit Vegas experience during MGM Grand as well as with rates starting during $60 per night, its hard to beat. To have their stay the bit more luxurious, guest can opt to ascent to the luxurious Deluxe Suite during The Signature during MGM Grand where rates start during $99 per night. With the separate sitting area, high-tech party center as well as kitchenette, travelers can enjoy the personal oasis in the non-smoking, non-gaming environment with easy access to all of MGM Grands amenities.Guests with the bit more flexibility will want to splurge on the lavish ascent to HOTEL32 during Monte Carlo with nightly rates starting during $170 thats the mere $100 more per night than the average standard room in Las Vegas. At HOTEL32, an disdainful boutique hotel located on the top floor of Monte Carlo, travelers can enjoy the private check-in within the comfort of their room as well as the courtesy of the Suite Assistant, who provides butler as well as concierge services throughout the stay. In addition, guest enjoy elevated amenities including the choice of twelve pillow types as well as the television embedded in bathroom mirrors for the ambience of the celebrity lifestyle.Relaxation on DemandWant to spend some quality tim! e alone as well as unwind during the spa? A day spa pass, offering access to exercise rooms as well as the variety of spa amenities, is the perfect answer. For $25, guest can enjoy the day of relaxation in the eucalyptus steam room as well as redwood sauna during the BATHHOUSE during THEhotel during Mandalay Bay. Or, guest can breathe the air of the Shio salt infused-room as well as unwind on the Japanese stone beds during The Spa & Salon during ARIA the only spa in the country to suggest both of these amenities for $30.Who doesnt love the massage that doubles as object protection? Bellagio as well as Mandalay Bay Beach suggest mini-massages with sunscreen (SPF 15, 30 or 45) that assistance to protect whilst providing the relaxing touch to the muscles. For some after-sun comfort, guest can get the reprieve from the heat with an Aloe Vera application during Mandalay Bay Beach.Stay Cool during the Pool Poolside cabanas have been popular with guest as well as tend to book up quickly. As an alternative, try the premium poolside seats now available during some of the hottest Strip properties. Starting during $25 per day, object lovers can haven as well as relax on the cushioned lounge chair whilst enjoying elevated amenities such as chilled fruits, tropical drink tastings as well as Evian misters. Hotel guest can find these seats offered during Bellagios Cypress Pool, The Mirage, Mandalay Bay, Luxor as well as New York-New York.Or return to the basics with the pool tube or raft. This verified method of aquatic relaxation costs only $10-$16 per day during MGM Grand, The Mirage, Monte Carlo as well as New York-New York, though guarantees lots of fun.

Step Up the FunWhy see just one show in the party capital? Explore the choice of outstanding performances including ZUMANITY, the Sensual Side of Cirque du Soleil during New York-New York, K during MGM Grand as well as CRISS ANGEL Believe during Luxor. See two thrilling acrobatic shows for $100 or all three for $150. Fine art connoisseurs will be pleased by the lates! t collec tion during the Bellagio Gallery of Fine Art, though nothing spells indulgent like Art & Wine: The Perfect Pairing, on the second Wednesday of every month. For $38, guest can enjoy entrance in to the gallery, unlimited tastings of the wine selections that have been paired with art, as well as view the collection from the different perspective.Taste the High LifeThe most appropriate way to sample tasty creations by critically acclaimed chefs is the pre-theater menus on The Strip, even if you dont attend the show itself! At LAtelier de Jol Robuchon during MGM Grand, gastronomes can ambience the masterpieces of Chef Jol Robuchon, named Chef of the Century by Gault Millau, in the casual environment with the unique menu that includes an appetizer, entre as well as dessert for $59.

Its only the true vacation when visitors can shrug off their responsibilities as well as lose themselves in the moment. A good way to start is by eating as well as drinking beyond satiation with weekend brunch as well as bottomless cocktails. For an additional $5 above the brunch price, spice it up with never-ending mimosas during Border Grill during Mandalay Bay as well as champagne during The Buffet during Bellagio.Media ContactClara TsangKirvin Doak Communicationsctsang@kirvindoak.com / (702) 737-3100

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The retail outpost will cost the high street magnate approximately $10 million to build, but he was sanguine about the move. He told WWD, “Dress Up, is just that: very elaborate, embellished pieces in fine silks and satin with beading and sequins. It will probably do quite well in Las Vegas, where we’ll have a bigger assortment of ‘going out’ apparel. Dresses is one of our strongest areas and evening shoes is also one of our strongest sellers. We’ll buy deeper into those categories.”

The UK’s largest privately owned clothing retailer with more than 2,500 outlets is striking while the iron is hot. Operating profit for Arcadia Group which includes Topshop and Topman as well as Miss Selfridge, Wallis and others was up 10 percent to £279.6m, with cash generation of £386.2 million, up £43 million for the fiscal year ended August 2010.

Sin City’s economic woes aren’t lost on Sir Philip, either. Tourism rates have been slow to return to pre-recession levels with visitor numbers still down 1.2 percent through May compared to the same period in 2007, according to data from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

But high and low rollers are still making Vegas a destination – to the tune of 40 million in the past three years. Couple the fact that many of these visitors come from international destinations with falling lease rates on retail space and Sir Philip is holding a royal flush.

The Las Vegas location is just one part of a larger expansion plan for the chain that includes Toronto (opening in September), a Chicago flagship on Michigan Avenue, another outpost in New York City and a new shop in Miami. Topshop/Topman stores will be coming soon to Brazil and Australia and a new flagship in the UK to cozy up to the 2012 London Olympic Park. As rumors continue to fly about a collaboration with chic celeb Gwyneth Paltrow, Topshop is going to be a retailer to watch closely in 2012.

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So says the co-author of a study released today by the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington on the nation’s clean economy, made up of industries that help save energy and water, support renewable resources and boost mass transit.

But green architecture jobs make up only a sliver of the clean economy. Brookings found that both the Las Vegas metropolitan area and Nevada as a whole are below average when it comes to creating jobs for the entire clean economy.

Brookings senior fellow Mark Muro said Las Vegas has one of the nation’s highest concentrations of jobs devoted to green architecture and construction versus the overall job market. There were 2,507 such jobs in Southern Nevada as of last year, producing a concentration seven times higher than the national average.

Muro, who doubles as co-director of Brookings Mountain West, a research collaboration with UNLV, said construction of the massive CityCenter on the Strip likely had a lot to do with the presence of such employers in Las Vegas. Since 2003, when there were just 157 green architecture and construction jobs in town, that employment sector has grown by more than 48 percent annually, Brookings found.

“You have an astonishing concentration of those jobs,” Muro said. “CityCenter was a massive LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) project that brought green architecture and construction companies to the region. So you have the talent in place. You may want to market that expertise both regionally and globally to other places that are arid, like the Middle East and Asia. You should build on your strengths based on the concentrations you have.”

The global architecture firm Gensler, cited by Brookings, is an example of a green architecture and construction company that has thrived in Las Vegas. Gensler served as CityCenter’s executive architect, helping the project become the world’s largest sustainable development that stresses energy savings.

“Nevada instituted a series of tax incentives to encourage the major employers in Nevada to undertake sustainable development,” said J.F. Finn III, a Gensler principal and managing director. “Green development quickly begets green consultants and contractors to service them.”

And energy savings is often motivation enough for businesses to hire green architects.

“Most companies right now are not increasing profits, but if they can drive down costs of operations, then they can still increase their bottom line,” Finn said.

Southland Industries, a national mechanical engineering firm with about 80 employees in Las Vegas, was also cited by Brookings as an example of a green architecture and construction employer. The company performed the energy-saving air conditioning work for M Resort and also designed its water-efficient plumbing system.

Mark Crawford, the company’s principle engineer in Las Vegas, said the city has an unusually large number of big buildings for its size, which probably explains why so many green architecture and construction companies have offices in the valley.

“There’s a real appetite from casinos and hospitals for energy savings,” Crawford said. “I would like to see pilot projects where we can test technology on those buildings that looks promising.”

He said such projects aimed at increasing energy efficiency possibly could create more jobs for the valley. So would increased incentives from NV Energy and the federal government to have building owners upgrade their facilities to save on energy and water use, he said.

“There’s a healthy use of NV Energy’s incentive programs now, but if there’s a possible way to increase those incentives, they would be used too,” Crawford said.

Brookings also found that Southern Nevada employers pay better-than-average wages to clean-economy workers, $46,590 versus a major city average of $43,133. One explanation could be that Las Vegas has a relatively high percentage of clean-economy jobs that require advanced education. With 24 percent of its green workforce in science or engineering-related occupations, Las Vegas ranks second among cities in that category in the nation, trailing only Knoxville, Tenn. Those are among the highest-paying jobs in the clean economy, with average wages of $68,790.

But the Las Vegas metropolitan area devotes a minuscule percentage of its economy to clean-economy jobs, despite the high concentration of green architecture and construction work, which represents just a sliver of the clean economy.

Although Nevada has abundant solar, wind and geothermal resources, both the state and Las Vegas are barely in the middle of the pack nationally in terms of the number of green energy jobs available. Nevada, with 16,578 such jobs through the end of last year, ranked 39th among the states and District of Columbia. That included 9,797 jobs in Las Vegas, ranking the city 54th among the nation’s 100 largest metro areas.

One reason these rankings aren’t higher is the relative lack of manufacturing jobs in Southern Nevada, a phenomenon that spreads over all industries, not just clean economy work. Muro said other areas of the country, such as the Rust Belt, have a far greater pool of skilled factory workers, making them more ideal for manufacturing than Southern Nevada.

“Las Vegas has always had a service-oriented economy,” Muro said. “Nevada is not a major manufacturing center, which also depresses your exports.”

That explains why Las Vegas produces only $5,937 in exports for each clean-energy job, 87th among the nation’s top metropolitan areas.

On the bright side, Las Vegas added 3,125 clean-energy jobs from 2003 through 2010 for an annual growth rate of 5.6 percent, 23rd best among the cities. Nevada had the nation’s eighth highest green jobs growth rate during that period.

But the clean economy accounts for only 1.2 percent of the jobs in Las Vegas, compared with an average 1.9 percent among the nation’s largest metros. Statewide 1.5 percent of the jobs are in the clean economy, compared with a 2 percent average among the states

A closer look at the five other states that Brookings defines as being in the Intermountain West shows that Nevada’s 1.5 percent is equal to that of Arizona and Utah but below that of Idaho (2.7 percent), Colorado (2.2 percent) and New Mexico (2.1 percent). Among cities in the region, Las Vegas has a more intense green economy than Colorado Springs, Colo.; and Ogden and Provo, Utah; but trails Albuquerque, Boise, Denver, Phoenix, Tucson and Salt Lake City.

One way to lure and keep renewable energy developers, generators and manufacturers in Southern Nevada is to ensure that regulations and laws governing that industry are predictable, said Greg Rice, vice president of asset management at Acciona Energy North America. His company operates the Nevada Solar One power plant in Boulder City, employing 24 workers and an engineering and development staff.

If a renewable energy generation project is developed based on current pricing and other assumptions, he said there is a risk the project will later fail if there are changes to tax laws or regulations. He also said such unpredictable changes can discourage further renewable energy development.

Utility ratepayers also need to be educated that if NV Energy uses 100 megawatts of higher-priced renewable energy as part of its total power demand, “the amount billed to the average customer is negligible,” Rice said.

“There has to be a statewide renewable energy policy that is inclusive of all state agencies, developers, generators, utilities and ratepayers,” Rice said.

Better public relations could help, Finn said.

“If there was a public relations campaign for locating green businesses here that rivaled the tourism PR campaigns, that would be a big help,” he said. “We have to approach attracting businesses the same way we do tourism, and we really have to tout all our advantages to come here.”

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Just to walk in the door at Rehab will cost you more than $100 on a busy weekend. Let me repeat that: $100 just to walk in the door. A place to sit? That’s going to cost you extra. A bottle of booze will run you hundreds more and somewhere to put that bottle, a cabana perhaps, costs thousands more. It’s easy to see why these pool parties are the new revenue darlings of casino operators.

Today’s Strip pool parties are a much different scene than the resort pools of yesteryear, where the high roller’s wife might park herself for a tan and an umbrella drink before meeting her husband for a show and dinner after a day of gambling. Now, it’s the place for the high roller to be and be seen and yet another sign of their temporary wealth, renting miniature suites in the form of cabanas with bed, flat-screen TVs, around-the-clock bar service and a flock of pretty girls. In the cabana next door, you might find the Kardashian du jour, Holly Madison or Jersey Shore’s The Situation, all cashing in on their 15 minutes of fame.

These pools have their own entrance lines with velvet ropes at the door and have the ability to charge night life prices, raking in as much as, if not more, than some of the city’s biggest nightclubs on busy weekend afternoons. It’s a trend that started on the yachts of St. Tropez and of Miami’s South Beach, where the partying starts during the morning hours and the booze flows straight through sundown, and has made its way to Las Vegas in recent years. They blur the lines of the city’s megaclubs and hotel pools, creating a whole new category of entertainment: The dayclub.

To outsiders, spending a Sunday packed in like sardines in the heat with nowhere to sit hardly seems like a pleasant way to spend a weekend. So what’s the appeal?

That’s the thought that ran through my mind as I stood in the middle of Tao Beach shortly after my arrival to Las Vegas in the summer of 2008. The scene was right out of MTV’s Spring Break circa 1997 with partyers dancing in the tiny pool and unnaturally proportioned women lounging in cabanas. It was my “We’re not in Kansas anymore” moment. I went only once. I might not be their target market (even though I’m their age demographic), but plenty of the “new Vegas” crowd is.

“People want to come out and get some sun by the pool no matter what, but making it a nightclub atmosphere just entices them more. Everybody wants to party and they want to be in the sun while they do it. A lot of pools are kick back and relax pools but these people came to Vegas for a reason,” says Ian Kohoutek, director of night life for Hard Rock, who helped launch Rehab in 2004.

It was like nothing Las Vegas had ever seen. Rehab became an instant hit first among locals, and soon out-of-towners were flying in just to get a piece of the debaucherous scene. The weekly party is now in its eighth season, but sans the reality show that gave it its bad-boy image, and draws as many as 5,000 partygoers on a busy Sunday. Even Rehab’s competitors give it credit for kicking off the daylife trend in Las Vegas.

“What’s driven this over the last eight years is the name has established itself in the market. We can open the door on a Sunday and people flock to the doors, despite who we might have as a DJ or hosting. The biggest thing for us is trying to work our way into the other days of the market. Everyone caught on to the trend that these pools parties actually work and we can make a ton of money with very little investment,” Kohoutek says.

Soon, Wet Republic popped up at MGM Grand, the topless pool party Bare opened at the Mirage and Ditch Fridays launched at the Palms, along with a dozen others. It was like a light bulb went off with night life operators: They realized the same deep pockets that were spending at nightclubs in the evenings were going untapped during the day.

“There are these high rollers who are staying at the Mansion at MGM Grand or the Emperor’s Suite at Caesars Palace and they want to come play at our pool party. They could have lost a bunch of money but they’re still paying cash here for their tab at Rehab,” Kohoutek says. “I’ve had investment bankers from New York, or celebrities or these guys from Silicon Valley who have just sold their companies and now have all this money to spend. These girls see these guys in the cabanas and think ‘I don’t need to buy drinks for the rest of the day.’”

Kohoutek remembers the days when pool parties first came on the scene and you could rent a cabana for $300. Now, everything has a food and beverage minimum, he says. Hard Rock’s Rehab requires its VIP cabana patrons to spend between $1,000 and $20,000 in food and beverage minimums.

Last summer, casino mogul Steve Wynn stepped into the pool party game, in true Steve Wynn fashion, spending $68 million to turn the former entrance of his $2.3 billion Encore Las Vegas into the massive and ultra luxurious Encore Beach Club. The party pool complex features 26 cabanas, many of which are Strip-front, and eight two-story, 350-square-foot bungalows with private pools and private bathrooms that garner five-digit tabs on some weekends. As a result, Wynn Resorts reported a 16 percent increase in food and beverage revenue in the third quarter of 2010 after Encore Beach Club’s opening, surpassing revenue generated in other departments, with the exception of gambling.

Other Strip casinos that have hopped on the night life and daylife trend are also reaping the benefits. According to an annual report from the Gaming Control Board released in February, beverage revenue rose seven percent during the 2010 fiscal year to $909.6 million, for the 39 casinos generating annual revenue of at least $1 million. That number compares to a two percent increase in fiscal 2009.

“The same way that during the recession, nightclubs really helped Vegas survive, the next step of that is the pool clubs, which really makes Vegas a summertime destination,” says Bryan Bass, a former UNLV night life management professor and marketing director of Las Vegas Nightlife Group, which runs Encore Beach Club. “I remember when I first moved here, the summers were dead. Now, summer is almost one of the best times to come to Vegas because of the pool clubs. You’re seeing Las Vegas become a player on a global level and competing with places like Ibiza.”

Bass says the growth of the pool scene has been an indication of the changing demographic coming to town and what that demographic is looking for. Twenty-somethings aren’t looking to sit at the slots all day, so the partying poolside has been their answer—and they continue that partying straight through to the evening.

Kohoutek says he’s seen the same patrons in line for the Hard Rock pool in the morning, at the clubs at night and right back in line at the pool in the morning, with a bathing suit slung over their shoulders and no break in between. Other pool operators are seeing the same.

“It’s really become a tradition to enjoy night life during the day and at night. At Tao, it’s that same customer who came to Tao Beach, went back to their room, took a nap, ordered room service and is coming back to Tao at night. It’s the same for Marquee,” says Jason Strauss, co-owner and operator of the Tao Group.

Tao Group recently opened its second pool party venue, Marquee at the Cosmopolitan. The $60 million venue is part pool club, part nightclub with 22,000 square feet of the 60,000-foot facility dedicated to daylife. Marquee dayclub has two main pools with eight additional private pools in the VIP cabanas.

But if you think all pool parties are the same, you’re wrong. Like nightclubs, they cater to different clientele—like the Midwesterner who wants to tell her friends she partied next a Hilton sister or the high roller from Europe who wants his privacy. Or maybe they’re ravers from Southern California who want to listen to the thumping beats of house music DJs, which more and more pool parties seem to be catering to.

“The whole brand of Marquee is really a house music-driven brand. We’re going to stick strictly to international, electronica DJs. At Tao Beach, we really segment both celebrity events and DJs. The programming brings a different demographic on each side,” Strauss says.

Encore Beach Club is also going after that market, Bass says, bringing in big name DJs such as Kaskade, Steve Aoki and Afrojack, who all have a fan base as large as some of today’s top musical acts.

“I think last year and this year as more venues open, you find that they’re really starting to identify what their niche is and what the programming for that niche is. You can’t be everything to everybody. We’re a house music-focused venue. We don’t do the reality TV star, socialite celebrity thing.” Bass says.

But Angel Management Group, which runs Wet Republic, the Venus Pool Club at Caesars and the VIP operations for Rehab, thrives on it. This season, its Wet Republic pool club has hosted Kim Kardashian, Avril Lavigne and Hugh Hefner’s ex-fiancee Crystal Harris, along with slew of reality television personalities.

“The celebrity aspect works really well for us. When a celebrity visits the venue, they end up on E!, MTV and TMZ and people realize how close they can get to these celebrities. They’re right in front of them, so the perception is like they’re partying with Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton,” says Omar Gutierrez, director of operations for Angel Management Group.

Meanwhile, owners of Nikki Beach Club, which opened Memorial Day weekend at Tropicana, is going after a different market: the 30- to 40-year-old jet-setter crowd. The brand operates clubs in Miami, St. Tropez, Cabo San Lucas and is opening several luxury resorts in Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Nikki Beach co-owner Mike Penrod said you won’t hear DJs blasting thumping electronic dance music to the point of nausea or see a billboard for Kim Kardashian hosting her birthday at Nikki Beach, yet on the weekend of June 25, the club was advertising Britney Spears’ official after party for her concert at MGM Grand. Penrod said the vibe at Nikki Beach is more “discreet” but its new marketing seems to say otherwise.

“We’re not for everyone. The people who want to go listen to the top DJ who’s cranking it at a dance party—that’s a little bit a younger clientele, that’s not us,” Penrod says. “In Vegas, it’s very popular to rent a celebrity for an event and market it. We actually do the opposite. We don’t tell you who’s coming; we tell you who was there.”

Penrod says they’re pulling from their vast database of high-end clients and celebrities from their clubs and resorts around the world to market the Las Vegas venue.

“Most of the people who come to our clubs around the world are a lot older. At these megaclubs in Vegas, people wait in lines and save up all their money all year to blow it in one day. We’ll have some of that, but most of our customers are CEOs or own companies,” Penrod says. “We aren’t going to be the most expensive in town, but we will be more mature. A lot of these companies in town are really great operators but our brand is very specific.”

With casinos investing millions into building daylife venues and their patrons spending millions a season to match, it’s doubtful that the pool party trend is going anywhere anytime soon. It’s the next step in Las Vegas growing up and catering to its increasingly younger market.

“Right now, you would never think of opening a casino without at least one major nightclub,” Bass says. “I think you’re going to see dayclubs continue to add to that requisite.”

Even local hotels like Ravella at Lake Las Vegas are hopping on the trend but with a family-friendly twist. There’s a venue for everybody. Just add water.

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Las Vegas is a traditional vacation destination, but now they are hopping to attract a new kind of visitor, one who makes their travel plans through social networking.

Want to know what’s going on inside all the hotels? Just head to their Facebook pages, twitter, or youtube to find out.

“Social media in Las Vegas is remarkably important,” says David Koloski, Director of Social Media, Caesar’s Entertainment.

That’s because in Las Vegas there are so many options to chose from.

Caesar’s Entertainment has formed a new social media nerve center.

The conglomerate has eight hotels on the strip, and at the nerve center Twitter and Facebook pages of each property are monitored 24/7.

Guests can think of the web specialists who work there as a quick-responding, yet invisible, concierge.

“It’s the best way for them to actually get information in real time,” according to Koloski.

“Anything that really is going to enhance your overall trip, we look for technology to help serve that,” says Neal Narayani, Director Strategic Marketing, Caesars Entertainment.

Soon, all you may need in the desert oasis now is suntan lotion, and a cell phone.

“It’s really going towards mobile. Everything is looking towards technology that’s in your pocket,” says Narayani. “Everything is heading toward the app direction.

So now, nearly everything a visitor needs while in Las Vegas is now just a hand-held device away.

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