Westgate Removes LVH Sign, Plans to Remedy Drought of Timeshare Units in Las Vegas

By Scott Roeben, on July 01 2014
2 min read 5 comments
Las Vegas Las Vegas Hotels

Well, this is all a little surreal. LVH, the former Las Vegas Hilton, and before that the International, is no more.

LVH (Las Vegas Hotel) has been purchased by timeshare company Westgate Resorts, and the new owner has wasted no time getting settled in, including updating the hotel’s once-iconic marquee.

First, a blast from the past. Here’s the sign when the Hilton was still the Hilton.

Las Vegas Hilton
The International, and later the Las Vegas Hilton, hosted more than 800 sold-out Elvis Presley concerts during the ’60s and ’70s.

Below, the LVH sign, voted one of the most boring in Las Vegas by this blog. The Las Vegas Hilton became LVH in January of 2012.

LVH
The only constant in Las Vegas is change, and, apparently, Benihana.

We recently wrote about the sale of LVH to Westgate, but had no idea things would move so quickly! Then again, it’s Vegas.

LVH was sold for between $150 and $170 million. Yes, that’s a $20 million difference, but what’s a few million between delusional timeshare hucksters and investment banking firms, both of whom have stellar track records when it comes to not being sexual harrassers and screwing the little guy?

Here’s the LVH, sorry, Westgate Las Vegas, sign today.

Westgate Las Vegas
You go, Benihana.

If Westgate sounds familiar, it’s because that was the name on PH Towers Westgate, the timeshare building at Planet Hollywood which Westgate gave up when the economy tanked. (It’s now Elara.) Westgate has been so busy spending money it probably doesn’t have, it hasn’t had time to take down the PH Towers Westgate Web site.

If Westgate sounds familiar (other than the PH Towers Westgate connection), it may be because the company’s CEO, David Siegel, were featured in a documentary, “Queen of Versailles.” The movie chronicled Siegel’s failed attempt to build a ridiculously huge mansion in Florida, inspired by the palace in Versailles, hence the flick’s name. The movie is notable for having inspired this Las Vegas blog to facepalm more than any other documentary in history.

Westgate will presumably invest quite a bit of money into renovating Westgate Las Vegas, and will add a coffee shop, a steakhouse called The Edge, new bars, a nightclub (in the space formerly used by “Star Trek: The Experience,” and a day club.

It’s the end, and potentially beginning, in another fascinating chapter in the story of Las Vegas. Then again, when it comes to timeshares, we’d love to just be able to skip to the end.