Two Way Hard Three | Las Vegas Casino & Design Blog

December 21, 2007

Mirage Room Remodel to Start in February 2008

Posted by Hunter

Thanks to reader Andy who spotted this on The Mirage's official Web site. It seems the rooms are getting a full on make over starting in February and based on the pictures, they are totally tossing the current room decor.

http://www.mirage.com/hotel/hotel_remodel.aspx

Wow, that's drastic. Now, I totally think the rooms need to be redone but honestly, I think this design goes a bit too far for my tastes. I love the amenities they are adding - that's great... and, I think generally the vibe is okay but this is like cranked too far. It's as if they had one or two many committees weigh in on this, each tweaking the design a bit to the point that there's no longer any cohesion.

Thoughts?



Comments

Read archived comments (20 so far)
December 21, 2007 3:47 PM Posted by Rose

I agree, they are a bit too Jetson/ retro modern for my tastes. Geeze, this is light years away
from the original tropical decor.

December 21, 2007 6:58 PM Posted by detroit1051

Wow! Very disappointing to me, but The Mirage is reinventing itself as the place for the young party crowd. I prefer the remodeled standard rooms at Treasure Island:
http://www.treasureisland.com/pages/accom_main.asp
What will Mirage do with the Penthouse Suites? Will they remain more traditional as are the Penthouse Suites at TI?
Oh well, at least the Mirage rooms will be better than the "Go Rooms" at Flamingo.

December 21, 2007 7:06 PM Posted by steve_c

detroit, I stayed at TI in late August and they were in the process of completely gutting the suites on the penthouse levels (it woke us up at 8am!!)... and honestly the decor from what we could see was very modern and bright (think apple reds, slate blue, and lots of brown).. quite different from the standard fare at TI.

I for one, am very pleased with the redesigned rooms. I was told back in August that Mirage would be remodeling their rooms, and was skeptical of it actually happening in the near future. I think the color schemes will be great, and the new features will once again make Mirage a prime Strip property. While I think they may be going overboard detheming the property, I think they are doing a great job of incorperating all the new elements with the original.

I just wish they would create some kind of new "awning" system to go over the casino games. I do miss that "Wynnesque" feature from the old design.

December 21, 2007 7:25 PM Posted by Mike E

Yeah, there's no sense of restraint, but I'm sure they'll look much better when done; PR images always tend to be on the "vivid" side of things. In this case, the doctored-up photos aren't helping much.

The new penthouses at Bellagio are fantastic, dare I say, vastly superior to the original Wynn product. Let's hope MGM Mirage can hit another home run with Mirage's suites.

December 21, 2007 7:32 PM Posted by detroit1051

Steve_c, that's interesting about the TI Penthouse floors renovation last summer. The website doesn't show new decor for the Luxury, Premier and Penthouse Suites yet.
I'm sure a lot of people will like the new rooms at The Mirage. It is interesting how MGM Mirage has changed the entire look and ambience at The Mirage to more high energy; everything from Jet to the restaurants like Japonais to the high limit casino areas. MGM knows exactly how to market each property to appeal to all groups of clientele. I wonder what the decor at the CityCenter hotel/casino will be? I bet high-end contemporary.

December 21, 2007 8:29 PM Posted by mike_ch

If you look at decor stores in high-end places in cities, most of what's sold is pretty contemporary looking. If you get something that looks like it raided an antique shop, but you didn't actually raid an antique shop, it seems disingenuous. That was my problem with the original Bellagio casino design, some of the lighting looked like chandeliers pulled out of your grandmother's attic, except in huge quantities.

I spent some time in a TI room this summer. It had more greens and purples than the pictures in the web site suggest.

December 22, 2007 2:29 AM Posted by Andy S

I dont think they look that great, definately a bit 60s/retro inspired. In my opinion they should have gone for more modern version of what they had, with a light and muted tropial feel. The hallways also don't look good, but the doors seem to have survived. I however agree with Detroit at leaset they look beter than the Go rooms at Flamingo!

The Mirage needed updating to compete with all the new developments, Jet and the new restaurants were a good idea. However they should have kept the lobby and the tiki huts in the casino.

Will be interesting to see what the new volcano is like when they redo it and if at the same time they clear every thing else from outside the property.

Cheers, Andrew

December 22, 2007 5:19 AM Posted by Brian Fey

This just isn't my style. These give me flashbacks of the Flamingo Go Rooms. I just can't say that I care for these.

December 22, 2007 12:22 PM Posted by Jeff in OKC

First, I like the new look. I wouldn't want to live there, but for a 3 or 4 day stay it's cool in a cheesy, let's go see Shecky Green kinda way. It's over the top like the designers didn't live way back in the 60's (I was born in 1958), but they think most everything was like that then. It reminds me of the movie Hollywoodland, where all the characters smoked (Which most everyone did in the 1950's), and they had them hold their hands high and broadly wave them and exhale their smoke with big puffs.

December 22, 2007 12:49 PM Posted by Nathan Boone

This is a little off topic, but when hotels on the strip remodel - where do the old furnishings go? Are they just thrown away or are there gigantic hotel/motel liquidation stores in las vegas? Somethings I'd like to get, but then when you think about how MANY people have done who knows what on those beds, chairs, and such.

December 22, 2007 1:22 PM Posted by Joey from Boston

The rub on Mirage for the past few years has been that the rooms were small by today's standards and were well worn.

Evidenced by TI room rates that have been very close even though Mirage had always been thought to be a better property.

I have assumed lately that the comparable room rates for TI and Mirage are because the rooms at TI have been redone while Mirage reviews have consistently pointed to dated, tired rooms.

Mirage had spent the money making the casino and hotel outside of the rooms hip now it has finally gotten around to the rooms.

Less tacky than Flamingo Go rooms, but not nearly as subdued chic as Red Rock, Wynn, or THEHotel.

December 22, 2007 3:17 PM Posted by casinocon

A few years ago I wondered why a casino/resort in Vegas didn't exist along the lines of a W, or the Standard in L.A. -- you know modern, boutique-y. Little did I know by 2008 half of Las Vegas would look like this. I grew up with this junk, from the 1950's to the 1970's, a mixture of mid-century modern and kitschy colors like avocado green, harvest orange and sh*t brown. Well, howdy-do! everything old is new again. The best of this look is Red Rock Casino, the worst is Planet Hollywood, and soon every traditionally themed casino like the Luxor, Treasure Island (oops, I mean TI or T&A as I like to call it -- from booty to booty) will fall somewhere in between. The bright spot is that it is so weird, that it will really age quickly, and ten years from now will be redone again. One day we will look back fondly on it all, as it is relegated to the dustbins of history along with bellbottoms and poodle skirts. Why they didn't keep the Maxim just as it was is beyond me, today it would be the hippest joint in town.

December 26, 2007 12:22 PM Posted by Boox

How long would people guess that it takes to complete the renovation? I am staying there the last week of Mar...will it be done by then?

December 26, 2007 12:25 PM Posted by Hunter

It will take several months to complete but some floors will be done by then.

December 26, 2007 1:04 PM Posted by steve_c

Boox, Usually the people at the front desk at Mirage are very accommodating to most requests. I would suggest letting them know that you are interested in staying in one of the newly remodeled rooms, and if they have any available, I am sure they will be able to do something.

December 26, 2007 2:40 PM Posted by KY

I love Mirage, and it's weird to watch MGM/Mirage work on it. They haven't totally butchered its original intent, like Luxor, but it definitely needed an update. I'm glad the rooms have kind of a retro feel, which is at least a little bit different than the same ol contemporary THEHotel look they're doing everywhere else. A little over-the-top, maybe, but keeping a tropical theme also would have been over the top. It's not perfect, but it seems to fit the Mirage better than I would've expected.

December 26, 2007 3:42 PM Posted by mike_ch

"They haven't totally butchered its original intent, like Luxor"

Huh? Luxor is improving. Try Treasure Island.

December 27, 2007 1:35 PM Posted by GregoryZephyr

The new designs remind me of my grandparents house--they bought a brand new ranch house in 1954 and my grandmother decked it out with all of the most modern designs from the time. I always thought it looked cool because my own parents went with that awful 1970's "Early American" look. However, I don't care much for the carpet design and the furniture looks like something from Ikea. On the other hand, the TV wall and cabinetry looks very sleek. I will be at Mirage in early March for a conference, I'll see if they can get me one of the remodeled rooms. (Although for conventions they usually stick you with the cheapest rooms!)

December 27, 2007 2:03 PM Posted by KY

mike_ch: Fair enough. I didn't necessarily mean drastic improvement or worening, just major change. Both TI and Luxor are changing a lot, and I agree with you that Luxor looks better now (or looked better when I saw it in October) than with the heavy theming. I was just trying to indicate that the Mirage rennovations don't seem totally un-Mirage. To me.

December 29, 2007 6:31 PM Posted by steve_c

KY, I guess we are in the minority here on the Mirage renovations. I agree, that I have enjoyed most of the changes that have been made. I do think the casino could use some more tropical theming perhaps adding some more tropical plants and such in the southern parts of the casino.

I cannot wait to see the place in a year.

On the topic of tropical theming, I stumbled across this model of a remodeled Tropicana.
http://www.howardmodels.com/architectural-models-07/Tropicana/index.html

Looks somewhat different from the early render. I bet this is project is in jeopardy due to the current issues with Columbia/Sussex.