Westgate Planet Hollywood not opening now in fall

I had reserved my unit for November 9/09 as they informed me in July that they would be opening Nov. 1/09.
Today I get a call from westgate advising me that they will not be open now until a unspecified date in 2010.
Since i only have the odd year they offered me the same date at Flamingo Bay off the strip or to rebook in 2010.

Has anyone else been contacted yet? I don't see any news of the opening not taking place now either.

robb4640 said:

I had reserved my unit for November 9/09 as they informed me in July that they would be opening Nov. 1/09.
Today I get a call from westgate advising me that they will not be open now until a unspecified date in 2010.
Since i only have the odd year they offered me the same date at Flamingo Bay off the strip or to rebook in 2010.

Has anyone else been contacted yet? I don't see any news of the opening not taking place now either.

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No surprise. Just another in a LONG line of bad news about a bad timeshare that is star crossed from day one. Great place to avoid.

On this website when you click on accomodations, it shows rooms available starting Dec. 15.

Westgate, Planet Hollywood photo in today's paper

On the front of the business section in today's paper there is this article & photo about the opening in December.

During my Vegas trip the first week of August (and "near" purchase of a Planet Hollywood reposession unit which I timely rescinded) they promised an opening of Aug 28. Intersting how that has changed. I began my TS research the same day of my Planet Hollywood tour while staying across the street at Marriott's Grand Chateau on an AC; soon found & signed up to TUG, learned much & got assurance that my Vail MVCI ownership is good and subsequently worked a deal for a 3 bdrm at Grand Chateau off ebay--ROFR just came thru the other day; closing early Oct. (and MGC is open!).

I wonder if this is any way related to the article about Harrah's planning to buy Planet Hollywood. I started a thread about that a few days ago.

http://www.tugbbs.com/forums/showthread.php?t=106836

curbysplace said:

During my Vegas trip the first week of August (and "near" purchase of a Planet Hollywood reposession unit which I timely rescinded) they promised an opening of Aug 28. Intersting how that has changed. I began my TS research the same day of my Planet Hollywood tour while staying across the street at Marriott's Grand Chateau on an AC; soon found & signed up to TUG, learned much & got assurance that my Vail MVCI ownership is good and subsequently worked a deal for a 3 bdrm at Grand Chateau off ebay--ROFR just came thru the other day; closing early Oct. (and MGC is open!).

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Good for you! You are one of the fortunate folks who found TUG in time!
Welcome and congratulations on your purchase.

II or Rci for trades?

Is Planet Hollywood going to be trading with II, RCI or both? Thanks Funtime

funtime said:

Is Planet Hollywood going to be trading with II, RCI or both?

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I couldn't find it in RCI, but in a resale ad it stated this:

Affiliation

Interval International, Westgate

Resort Codes

PHW

I read in the article that only 20% of the 1200 units will be timeshare, the rest will be nightly rentals by Planet Hollywood. So that makes a lot of transients onsite...

Fern

funtime said:

Is Planet Hollywood going to be trading with II, RCI or both? Thanks Funtime

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Westgate had a falling out with RCI years ago. Anything new they build will trade with I.I. and not RCI........unless RCI pays King David enough cash to make him forget about all his issues with RCI.

Fern Modena said:

I read in the article that only 20% of the 1200 units will be timeshare, the rest will be nightly rentals by Planet Hollywood. So that makes a lot of transients onsite...

Fern

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I'm guessing that means that sales fell through the floor and they could not afford to have as many timeshares.

timeos2 said:

No surprise. Just another in a LONG line of bad news about a bad timeshare that is star crossed from day one. Great place to avoid.

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What do you mean? Don't you know PH is the #1 timeshare in the world?!?
I hear they even hand you a suitcase of money when you check in.

I wonder what effect failure of the resort to open might have on an owner's projected financial return on a preconstruction timeshare purchase?

T_R_Oglodyte said:

I wonder what effect failure of the resort to open might have on an owner's projected financial return on a preconstruction timeshare purchase?

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With the way things are now, one needs to consider the possibility that it might not open. In the case of Planet Hollywood, one has to consider also what Harrah's is up to regarding the PH.

We bought our first timeshare, San Luis Bay Inn, before it was converted from a hotel to a timeshare. We didn't even consider whether is may not open but that was over 20 years ago. It is a much different economic world now.

Have no idea why it was delayed but hearing about opening delays is nothing new in the construction business.

Saying you have a target date to open is not a guarantee in the construction business, and that is out of the control of the customer paying for the construction.

Having to rely on sub contractors and suppliers is problematic in construction. Typically the larger a project (and this one is huge) the greater chance that delays will occur.

Anyone booking something right at the beginning should be aware of potential delays. Would have been real helpful if reminded that when they booked however.

wcfr1 said:

Have no idea why it was delayed but hearing about opening delays is nothing new in the construction business.

Saying you have a target date to open is not a guarantee in the construction business, and that is out of the control of the customer paying for the construction.

Having to rely on sub contractors and suppliers is problematic in construction. Typically the larger a project (and this one is huge) the greater chance that delays will occur.

Anyone booking something right at the beginning should be aware of potential delays. Would have been real helpful if reminded that when they booked however.

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On projects this big, delays imperil the project because the added financing costs are tremendous. These projects are built with a lot of leverage and when the project doesn't open on time, the revenues are delayed while finance charges continue to accrue. Also since the project is nearly complete that is when all portions of the financing have been activated, meaning the leverage is at it's highest.

One time on a flight out of Las Vegas I ended up sitting next to a guy who was the overall project manager for construction of the Venetian. He had been retired, but the company that was the project manager brought him out of retirement to handle this project for them because the schedule was slipping; his primary focus was to get the project back on schedule.

As we were talking he gave me a figure for what it was going to cost Sheldon Adelson's companies for each day of delay. I no longer remember what the exact number was, but I do recall that losses well into the multi-millions would accrue with every day of delayed opening, and that sometime before four months of delay occurred the project financing would collapse.

T_R_Oglodyte said:

On projects this big, delays imperil the project because the added financing costs are tremendous. These projects are built with a lot of leverage and when the project doesn't open on time, the revenues are delayed while finance charges continue to accrue. Also since the project is nearly complete that is when all portions of the financing have been activated, meaning the leverage is at it's highest.

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Then it would seem that the provider of the financing would really want the place to open so that it could generate some cash coming in. I don't see how failing to open the Planet Hollywood/Westgate would benefit anyone.

Karen G said:

Then it would seem that the provider of the financing would really want the place to open so that it could generate some cash coming in. I don't see how failing to open the Planet Hollywood/Westgate would benefit anyone.

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Lenders generally don't want to own buildings. They will always try to work something out, as long as they get their money back. Foreclosing is a last resort.

But Karen, weren't you still in Bellevue when things went bust about eight years? Remember all of the half-completed projects around downtown where construction simply stopped? The developers that went bankrupt?

That's what happens when the financing on a project collapses. When the developer no longer has money to pay the contractor, work stops.

T_R_Oglodyte said:

But Karen, weren't you still in Bellevue when things went bust about eight years? Remember all of the half-completed projects around downtown where construction simply stopped? The developers that went bankrupt?

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I lived in Bellevue from 1982-2007, but I don't remember a situation like that. Was it before 1982? When we left, the place was booming with cranes all over the place and buildings going up everywhere downtown. Have things slowed down now?

curbysplace said:

During my Vegas trip the first week of August (and "near" purchase of a Planet Hollywood reposession unit which I timely rescinded) they promised an opening of Aug 28. Intersting how that has changed. I began my TS research the same day of my Planet Hollywood tour while staying across the street at Marriott's Grand Chateau on an AC; soon found & signed up to TUG, learned much & got assurance that my Vail MVCI ownership is good and subsequently worked a deal for a 3 bdrm at Grand Chateau off ebay--ROFR just came thru the other day; closing early Oct. (and MGC is open!).

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I keep waiting to buy a resale unit there but with all the delays in opening??? No rush for me though. Not to mention all resales are still above 20k so patience is the name of the game

I would not rush to get even a resale unit there. I'm pretty sure it won't be that difficult to trade into it with even average traders.

Karen G said:

I lived in Bellevue from 1982-2007, but I don't remember a situation like that. Was it before 1982? When we left, the place was booming with cranes all over the place and buildings going up everywhere downtown. Have things slowed down now?

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You seriously don't remember when Lincoln Tower, on the corner of Bellevue Way and NE 8th - across from Bellevue Square - sat for about three years with a partially completed parking garage and half the concrete tower on one half of the site while the other half of the site was just a hole in the ground? That doesn't ring a bell????

Then there was the hole in the ground at 110th and NE4th that sat there so long (at least three years) that the City of Bellevue was preparing to condemn the property because the shoring used for the excavation until was beginning to deteriorate after being exposed to the weather for so long (and if it failed NE 4th Street would have disappeared into the ground).

Then there was the "Saran Wrap" condo project on Bellevue Way and NE12th, where the builder one week simply wrapped the building top to bottom in plastic sheeting, then shut down the job and walked away. And when that project was finally restarted they razed everything that had been built previously.

Those are three that I remember off the top of my head; there were at least two more projects in downtown Belleve that went into extended hiatus.

Getting back to the key point, when a developer busts lenders generally won't put in more money to finish the project. They seem to be contenct to let the property sit in an uncompleted state and wait for another developer to come along who will finish the project. So if the financing on PH fails, don't expect the lenders to step forward to complete the project.

Karen G said:

On this website when you click on accomodations, it shows rooms available starting Dec. 15.

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Looks like they've given up on the Dec 15 date, and haven't decided on a new opening date yet. The page still says Dec 15, but when you actually click through to the calendar, nothing is available for any date in the future. Dec 15 was around City Center opening. They're probably rather anxious to be open for New Year, but it will probably slip 6 weeks again (original open date was around start of Nov)


PH Towers does seem very close to completion on the outside at least, they've had the lights on in the pool on the Wesgate construction webcam for a few weeks, and the palm trees have been opened up. (are they real palm trees? They match the illustrations so well, even down to the angle of the trunks!)

Its not going to surprise me if they declare bankruptcy. Several Vegas hotel/condo projects are sitting empty with construction halted due to bankruptcy or lack of financing.

While it seems to make sense that they would want the resort to open to start generating cash that doesnt always work. If the projected occupancy levels/room rates are too low, opening could cause negative cash flow versus positive cash flow.