Shangri-La and Boyd Gaming Corp. are to operate a 400-room hotel in Las Vegas. The property is scheduled to open in early 2010.

The hotel is Shangri-La’s third hotel project under development in the United States.
The Shangri-La Hotel, Las Vegas will be part of Boyd Gaming’s recently announced 63-acre masterplanned Echelon Place development on the Las Vegas Strip.

Shangri-La will manage and operate the hotel, including its CHI spa, restaurants and meeting facilities.

Echelon Place will include four hotel properties, an anchor casino, two entertainment theaters, a retail complex, plus substantial meeting and convention facilities.

The Shangri-La Hotel, Las Vegas will have its own landscaped driveway and porte cochere within the Echelon Place development.

In true Shangri-La style, the lobby entrance will be surrounded by lush gardens, while the lobby lounge will feature a music room and library—as was found in the original “Shangri-La” in James Hilton’s Lost Horizon novel.

The hotel’s restaurants will include a signature restaurant with Asian influences and an all-day restaurant with seating indoor and outside by the pool.

The planned 300 guestrooms will be a minimum of 550 square feet, while the hotel’s 100 suites will measure a minimum 900 square feet, with both room types offering commanding views of the surrounding mountains and the Las Vegas Strip.

The guestrooms’ oversized bathrooms of 150-plus square feet will deliver a luxurious spa-like experience.

Shangri-La’s spa brand - CHI, The Spa at Shangri-La - will feature Chinese and Himalayan healing therapies inspired by the origins of the Shangri-La legend. It will be the largest CHI spa in North America with 16 treatment suites.

The private CHI spa suites provide a “spa within a spa” atmosphere, offering guests privacy, space and a sanctuary of tranquility in which to be revitalized. The hotel will also have a fitness center with separate sauna, steam and solarium facilities for men and women.

The Shangri-La will also feature 20,000 square feet of function space, with elegantly appointed rooms for groups from 12 to 300 guests, plus an adjacent business center and meetings concierge.

“Las Vegas is one of the most dynamic tourist and convention destinations in the United States, providing a high profile presence for the group in North America that will complement Shangri-La’s developments in Miami, Chicago and Vancouver,” said Giovanni Angelini, Shangri-La’s chief executive officer and managing director.

“Guests at the Shangri-La Hotel, Las Vegas will experience a new brand of sophisticated hospitality - warm, distinctively Asian, with highly personalized service.”

Boyd Gaming Corporation’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William S. Boyd said, “We are extremely delighted to have Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts bring its award-winning style of authentic Asian hospitality to Las Vegas and Echelon Place. The luxurious hotel will be a magnet both for travelers seeking to experience the group’s renowned hospitality and the increasing number of Asian travelers to Las Vegas.”

The Shangri-La Hotel, Las Vegas is Shangri-La’s third hotel project confirmed in the United States this year. Currently under development are the Shangri-La Hotel, Miami, which will open in 2008, and the Shangri-La Hotel, Chicago, which will open in 2009. The group is in advanced negotiations to open properties in other strategic North American gateway cities.

All North American Shangri-La hotels are new developments, allowing the group to influence not only the style, but also the layout and scope of the facilities and to ensure the company’s U.S. properties reflect the warm and gracious hospitality of Shangri-La.
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