These days you can get a fancy room just about anywhere, so what can you add on that will make your vacation truly luxurious? How about your very own Mercedes-Benz?

The Ritz Carlton-Lake Las Vegas is taking part in the corporate chain's Keys To Luxury package, which includes a club-level room (those are the ones on the bridge over the lake, with upgraded amenities and free beverage and snack service) and use of a new Mercedes with unlimited mileage, free overnight valet parking and a full tank of gas each morning.

Yes, I hear you saying, "I can't afford that!" Well, I picked a date at random and checked rates at the Ritz, Bellagio, and Wynn Las Vegas. For a Saturday night in July, a Bellagio lake-view room was $349. A panoramic view room at Wynn Las Vegas was also $349. Meanwhile, the much nicer room and the Mercedes at the Ritz was -- $349.

That's right, for the same amount of money you'd pay for a room with a view of a fake lake, you can get a room over a real one and a luxury automobile to get yourself back and forth to the Strip. I know which one I'd choose.

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"We just can't get people into town fast enough."

That seems to be the message behind the recent announcement that expansions of McCarran International Airport will be done faster than originally planned. Among the projects on the drawing board are adding another eight gates to the new D concourse, a brand-new terminal (the third) with 14 gates, an expanded security area for the C-gates, and a bridge between the B and C concourses. The expansions are expected to cost several billion dollars.

The whole thing should be done by 2011, three years earlier than the original estimates. When complete, the airport should be able to handle as many as 53 million passengers annually.

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Because Las Vegas apparently doesn't have enough places for you to spend your money, a 1.3 million square foot shopping and entertainment complex has been approved for the far south Strip area. Located near the junction of Interstate 15 and I-215 where Vacation Village used to be, the new center will have stores both big and small, movie theaters, a 230-room hotel, restaurants, nightclubs and a fitness center -- but no casino.

Construction is imminent and should be completed by late 2006.

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Following a trend of announcing expansions before a hotel even opens (Wynn Las Vegas, Red Rock Station), Coast Casinos has announced plans to start on the second phase of its Southcoast hotel project, currently under construction a few miles south of Mandalay Bay on Las Vegas Boulevard.

The first phase (featuring 650 rooms, an 80,000-square-foot casino, restaurants, nightclubs, a bowling center and an equestrian arena) is expected to open in early 2006. The second phase, which wasn't supposed to get under way until after the first one opened, will add another 700 rooms to the inventory and additional public space. That expansion is expected to open in late 2006.

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The famed Miami Beach resort Fountainbleau will get a Las Vegas sister, with the announcement of a $1.5 billion development on the Strip just north of the Riviera and south of the Sahara. Set for the now vacant land that used to be home to the Silverbird (and later El Rancho) and Algiers, the project will evoke the namesake original, with a luxurious Miami Beach theme, 4,000 rooms (include many condo units), a casino and all of the requisite Strip resorts bells and whistles. It's still in the planning and money-raising phases, so anything could happen between now and shovel turning, but if all goes according to plan construction will commence later this year and be complete by 2008.

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The venerable downtown landmark Lady Luck has changed hands several times over the last few years.

Each time a new owner comes on board they talk about the grand plans for the place. So how seriously are we to take the news that the hotel has been sold yet again and, according to company officials, big changes are in store.

The Henry Brent Co. is a new player in Vegas, but it hopes to make a splash with the remodeling and expansion of the casino, new room towers and additional on-site amenities. There was no timetable laid out for the construction, so let's just take a "believe it when we see it" approach.

The Full Story

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In Next Week's Column

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