Palms Casino Resort
Palms Casino Resort is a hotel and casino located near the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, United States. It is owned and operated by the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians. It includes 703 rooms and a 94,065 sq ft (8,738.9 m2) casino. It was originally owned by the Maloof family, and primarily overseen by George Maloof. He purchased the site in 1997, and construction began three years later. The Palms opened on November 15, 2001, with Station Casinos and The Greenspun Corporation as minority owners. It included a casino, restaurants, nightclubs, and a 42-story hotel. The resort catered to local residents and tourists, and also became popular among celebrities and young adults. It has made several television appearances, and was the main setting for the 2002 reality television show The Real World: Las Vegas, which contributed to its fame.
Palms Casino Resort
Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
4321 Flamingo Road
November 15, 2001
703
94,065 sq ft (8,738.9 m2)
Pearl Theater
Brenden Theatres
KAOS
Rojo Bar
- Alize (2001–17)
- A.Y.C.E Buffet
- N9NE (2001–17)
- Earl of Sandwich
- Garduño's (2001–13)
- La Popular CDMX
- McDonald's
- Panda Express
- Scotch 80 Prime
- Send Noodles
- The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
- Tim Ho Wan
Land-based
2005–2006, 2012–2013, 2017–2019, 2022
A second hotel structure, the 40-story Fantasy Tower, was opened in 2005. A recording studio was also added, making the Palms the first casino resort to include such a facility. The resort also includes a movie theater, which has hosted several film premieres. A Playboy Club opened in the Fantasy Tower in 2006, becoming the first such club to open in several decades. A music venue, the Pearl Concert Theater, was added in 2007. Palms Place, a high-rise condo hotel, was opened on the property a year later.
The Palms experienced financial difficulty during the Great Recession, and was sold in 2011, to Texas Pacific Group and Leonard Green & Partners. The Maloof family retained a two-percent interest in the Palms. A $50 million renovation took place in 2012, to help reinvigorate the resort's popularity. Red Rock Resorts, the parent company of Station Casinos, purchased the Palms for $312.5 million in 2016. The company launched a $620 million renovation which included new restaurants and nightclubs, but the changes failed to restore the resort's past prominence.
The Palms and other Nevada casinos were closed in March 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Red Rock sold the resort for $650 million to the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians, which reopened it on April 27, 2022. Under its new ownership, the Palms is the first Las Vegas resort to have a Native American owner.
Union controversies[edit]
When the Palms opened, none of its employees belonged to a trade union. Many employees at nearby Strip resorts belonged to the Culinary Workers Union.[15] A few weeks after the Palms opening, the Culinary union led a protest against the resort. The union alleged that Maloof paid his workers lower wages compared to unionized resorts, which he denied.[315] Maloof believed that he would eventually prevail against the union, which alleged that he had threatened workers who supported unionization.[316] In 2003, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) filed a 20-count complaint against the Palms, alleging that Maloof and resort managers made efforts to dissuade workers from unionizing.[317] Later that year, a federal judge ordered the Palms to reinstate a cook, who was fired for union organizing attempts. The judge also determined that the resort was violating various labor laws by questioning employees about union activities, and warning or discharging those who took part in such activities.[318]
In 2015, the Palms announced that it would outsource more than 200 food and beverage jobs to a third party operator, a decision that was criticized by the Culinary union.[319] That year, the union made attempts to unionize the Palms, but it later said that such efforts were not being acknowledged by the resort.[320][321] In 2016, hundreds of employees signed a petition seeking to retain their jobs amid Station and Red Rock's purchase of the property.[322] The Culinary union had previously been involved in frequent feuds with Station.[89] A union election was eventually held in 2018, with 614 employees taking part, out of approximately 900. The workers voted 84-percent in favor of unionization.[323] However, Station challenged the results of the election and declined to negotiate with the union. The NLRB determined that Station had been "failing and refusing to bargain collectively and in good faith" with the union.[324] In 2021, the union stated that the resort's impending sale would not affect ongoing worker negotiations.[325] When the San Manuel Band purchased the casino, it agreed to use union resources in rehiring workers and tentatively participating in the union's health plans until an agreement was reached. A union contract was ratified on May 23, 2023, which covers non-gaming employees.[326][327]
Television/Film history[edit]
The Palms increased its prominence after appearing in the reality television show The Real World: Las Vegas in 2002.[328][329][330] The series took place throughout the Palms, including the hotel. Maloof had six rooms reconfigured into a 2,900 sq ft (270 m2) suite for the cast, and other rooms on the same floor were occupied by the production crew.[331] After production concluded, the suite was rented out for up to $10,000 a night. It became popular among celebrities.[330][332][156]
Celebrity Poker Showdown was also filmed at the Palms from 2003 to 2005.[333] Another reality television series, Party at the Palms, aired for 12 episodes during 2005. It was hosted by Jenny McCarthy, who would tour the resort and interview celebrities in each episode.[334][335] The second season of High Stakes Poker was also shot at the resort.[336] In addition, the Palms appeared in an episode of The O.C.,[337] and in The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, starring Adrienne Maloof.[35]
The Pearl Concert Theater, as well as other areas of the resort, hosted the 2007 MTV Video Music Awards.[338][339][340] The resort also appeared in several music videos in 2009, including "Cause a Scene" by Teairra Marí and Flo Rida,[341] "We Made You" by Eminem,[342][343] and Katy Perry's "Waking Up in Vegas".[107] The theater was also used during the Vegas Round for the fourth and fifth seasons of America's Got Talent.
In the 2000s, the resort's Brenden Theatres facility hosted several film festivals, including CineVegas.[344][345] It also hosted film premieres such as Elektra,[346][347] Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo,[348] Rocky Balboa,[349][350] Love in the Time of Cholera,[351] and Michael Jackson's This Is It.[352]
