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39-730: In June 1988, the property opened under the name Ramada Express. In 1993, an expansion was completed that included the Promenade Tower, the Town Square area, additional casino space and restaurants, and a parking garage. In May 2007, Columbia Sussex announced that the Ramada Express would change its name to the Tropicana Express. The hotel opened as the Tropicana Express on July 28, 2007. It was later renamed as Tropicana Laughlin in 2009. In 2018, Gaming and Leisure Properties (GLP) acquired

78-638: A Plymouth Locomotive Works engine named No. 11 Lucky Lady used as a spare. The lobby and casino floor was adorned and decorated in a railroad theme with various mementos and artifacts from the historical railroad lines and companies from throughout the United States. On April 14, 2012, Tropicana Entertainment donated the rolling stock to the Las Vegas Railroad Society. All equipment was trucked from Laughlin to be stored in Las Vegas . In April 2018,

117-681: A $ 150m deal. 2007 marked Columbia Sussex's acquisition of the Sanibel Harbour Resort and Spa from Liberty Mutual Insurance for $ 126m. The property was re-branded as a Marriott in 2009. In 2013 Columbia Sussex bought an historic building in downtown Cincinnati called the Bartlett Building. A former bank, the building was extensively renovated and converted into a hotel branded the Renaissance Cincinnati Downtown. The hotel opened in summer of 2014. Columbia Sussex entered

156-608: A Ramada Inn. Columbia Sussex then began a campaign of acquiring Holiday Inns and renovating them into properties featuring the Holidome concept. Together with the new loyalty program, Priority Club, which was a trailblazing concept at the time, market success followed. Holiday Inns were acquired in Dayton, OH, Springfield, OH, and a group of 4 Holiday Inns in Charleston, WV. In 1980 Columbia Sussex completed their largest acquisition to date with

195-480: A gaming license. According to a lawsuit filed by President, the Missouri Gaming Commission was set to reject the application for "flimsy" reasons, including an IRS audit of Yung's 2000 income tax return and his use of a corporate credit card for personal expenses. President eventually won a judgment of $ 28 million plus $ 14 million in interest, for breach of contract and for unreasonable fee increases at

234-570: A multi-brand hotel operating and ownership organization. The company also included several European properties, including the Great Eastern Hotel in London. However, the company's rapid growth drained cash and the firm was unable to continue to grow on its own. In March 1999, the group agreed to a $ 1 billion restructuring when a consortium of private equity firms, including Thomas H. Lee Partners and Apollo Real Estate Advisors , assumed control of

273-883: A riverboat in Greenville, for $ 42 million. In 2002, Columbia bought the closed Maxim Hotel and Casino near the Las Vegas Strip for $ 38 million. After a $ 90 million renovation, the property was reopened in 2003 as the Westin Casuarina, using the name of Columbia's resort in the Cayman Islands . In 2004, Columbia bought the River Palms in Laughlin, Nevada and the Harrah's Vicksburg casino in Vicksburg, Mississippi , which it renamed to

312-611: A separate company led by Canadian private equity firm Onex and former MGM Mirage president Alex Yemenidjian . The remainder of the company emerged on March 8, 2010, as Tropicana Entertainment , led by Carl Icahn . The Amelia Belle, which was not included in the bankruptcy, was sold in October 2009 to Peninsula Gaming , owner of the Evangeline Downs racetrack, for $ 107 million. The Westin Casuarina Las Vegas, which also

351-510: A single Days Inn location in Richwood, KY. Rapid expansion followed and by 1978 the company was renamed Columbia Sussex and was the largest Days Inn franchisee with 14 locations many with restaurants named after the founder's wife, Marty. In 1977 Columbia Sussex purchased their first full-service hotel, The President Motor Inn in Fort Wright, KY. The hotel was closed for renovations and re-opened as

390-461: Is slated to open March 1, 2024. At its peak in 2007, Columbia Sussex owned 86 hotels with 32,604 rooms and 13 casinos. The majority of the portfolio was lost during the great recession between 2008 and 2012. Included in the rooms lost by Columbia Sussex are 5,821 rooms (or 14 hotels) that were acquired by Blackstone after it bought out $ 300 million in debt on the 14 properties at a steep discount. Although Columbia Sussex made every payment required by

429-769: The Blackstone Group for $ 1.4 billion cash plus $ 1.8 billion of assumed debt. The sale was completed in August 2005. Wyndham's portfolio at the time of the sale included ownership of 32 hotels, plus management agreements for 29 other properties and franchise agreements for 82 other Wyndham-branded hotels. In the months following the sale, Blackstone transferred 14 of the owned-and-operated hotels to its newly created LXR Luxury Resorts brand, and sold 14 others to Columbia Sussex for $ 1.4 billion. The Wyndham franchising operation and management business were sold to Cendant in October 2005 for $ 111 million. The Summerfield Suites brand

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468-765: The gaming industry in 1990, purchasing the High Sierra hotel in Stateline, Nevada from Del Webb Corporation for $ 19 million. The property was renamed as the Horizon Casino Resort. The Lighthouse Point Casino in Greenville, Mississippi was opened in November 1996. Columbia owned the riverboat casino and a 79% stake in its operating company. In March 2002, JMBS Casino, a Columbia Sussex affiliate controlled by William Yung's children, bought Bayou Caddy's Jubilee Casino,

507-697: The Boulders Resort which is formerly a Waldorf Astoria property now operating under Hilton's Curio brand and 1 DoubleTree Hotel. The Westin Dawn Beach in Sint Maarten has been closed due to damage from Hurricane Irma ; however, the adjacent timeshare buildings have been repaired and re-opened in December 2018. The company has redeveloped the property into the JW Marriott St. Maarten Beach Resort and Spa and

546-561: The Eclipse Bar and a premium slot lounge, the Grand Junction. The Tropicana formerly operated a 3 ft ( 914 mm ) narrow gauge train in a loop on the grounds that could be ridden for free. Rolling stock consisted of open passenger cars, a 4-4-0 locomotive replica of the Virginia and Truckee No. 12 Genoa named No. 7 Gambler powered by a diesel engine inside its tender and

585-642: The Grand Bay brand was canceled, and the brand's franchised limited-service offerings, Summerfield Suites and Wyndham Garden Hotels, continued to lose units as hotels converted out of the system. Many of the Summerfield Suites hotels were sold to the Intercontinental Hotels Group and were converted to the Staybridge Suites brand. In June 2005, Wyndham International agreed to be acquired by

624-555: The Horizon Vicksburg. In October 2004, Columbia agreed to buy the President Casino St. Louis from bankrupt President Casinos for $ 57 million. The company planned a $ 150 million residential and retail development around the casino, even though some of the land was already earmarked for Pinnacle Entertainment 's Lumière Place project. The sale collapsed a year later, however, when Columbia withdrew its application for

663-618: The MontBleu. Columbia bought the Argosy Casino riverboat in Baton Rouge, Louisiana from Penn National Gaming in October 2005 for $ 150 million and renamed it as the Belle of Baton Rouge. The sale assuaged FTC antitrust concerns about Penn's acquisition of Argosy Gaming , which would have resulted in the company owning the only two casinos in the city. The company made a second attempt to enter

702-789: The St. Louis market in May 2006, agreeing to pay $ 200 million for the Casino Queen riverboat in East St. Louis, Illinois , across the river from the President Casino. However, after ordering Casino Queen the following January to remove a minority shareholder with ties to an organized crime associate, the Illinois Gaming Board did not approve the sale by the February deadline set in the contract, and Columbia ended

741-554: The Yung family, owns and operates hotels in various parts of the United States. The current president and founder is William J. Yung III. As of March 2019 , the company operates 40 hotels under 3 different major brands and many sub-brands consisting of 30 full-service Marriotts including 1 JW Marriott and 3 Renaissance Hotels and 1 limited service Courtyard by Marriott , 2 Hyatt Regency Hotels, 2 Westin Hotels, and 5 Hiltons including

780-439: The all-suite Summerfield Suites and Sierra Suites Hotels brands, with a total of 40 properties, to Wyndham's portfolio. The firm grew rapidly in the late 1990s, acquiring multiple portfolios of hotels and renaming them Wyndhams. In 1998, the company introduced a short-lived luxury brand, Grand Bay Hotels & Resorts, which would include 11 hotels that the company had acquired over the past few years and would turn Wyndham into

819-648: The casino parking lot, which Columbia had already purchased. In 2005, Columbia bought the Bally's New Orleans casino from Caesars Entertainment for $ 24 million. Caesars needed to sell the casino to avoid antitrust concerns in its acquisition by Harrah's Entertainment , owner and operator of Harrah's New Orleans . It was later renamed as the Amelia Belle . The same year, Columbia bought Caesars Tahoe in Stateline from Caesars Entertainment for $ 45 million, and renamed it as

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858-718: The casino, Aztar allowed the Gaming Commission to appoint a supervisor to operate it, effective when the merger closed. Casino Aztar was finally sold in June 2007 for $ 45 million to Isle of Capri , which renamed it as Lady Luck Casino. At the time of the Aztar acquisition, the Tropicana Atlantic City was placed in a trust pending Yung's licensing by the New Jersey Casino Control Commission . Yung's license

897-719: The company's flagship for a few years. Also constructed in 1984 was a 400-room motel in Kissimmee, FL which carried the Best Western Flag. This was the last exterior corridor property ever constructed by the company. Columbia Sussex also opened the newly constructed Hilton Louisville East and purchased the Plymouth, MI Hilton. In 1985 Columbia Sussex purchased 3 Holiday Inns in the Chicago Area in Glen Ellyn, Itasca and Hillside. 1985 marked

936-493: The company. As part of this transaction, Patriot and Wyndham merged and dropped their REIT status, forming a single company under the Wyndham International name. From 1999 to 2004, the firm struggled to pay down debt and was forced to sell off many of the hotels it had acquired in the late 1990s, often at a deep discount in an industry still suffering from the effects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The effort to expand,

975-892: The deal in March. In December 2006, Columbia opened a 317-room $ 150 million Westin resort with a casino on the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten . In January 2007, Columbia acquired Aztar for $ 2.1 billion, after winning a bidding war against Ameristar Casinos and Pinnacle Entertainment. Aztar owned five casinos: the Tropicana Las Vegas , Tropicana Casino & Resort Atlantic City , Ramada Express in Laughlin, Casino Aztar in Evansville, Indiana and Casino Aztar in Caruthersville, Missouri . A new subsidiary, Tropicana Entertainment LLC,

1014-553: The dispute by agreeing in July to step down, leaving the other four board members in place. In May 2009, Tropicana, seeking to focus its Tahoe-area efforts on the MontBleu, transferred the Horizon Casino to a Columbia Sussex affiliate. Table games at the casino were eliminated, with a possible downsizing of slots also planned. The Tropicana Las Vegas, which had a $ 440 million secured loan against it, emerged from bankruptcy in July 2009 as

1053-858: The end of the Holiday Inn focus for the company and the beginning of the Radisson Era. Columbia Sussex became the first franchisee of Radisson hotels with the purchase, renovation and re-branding of the Americana Hotel at the Cincinnati Airport located in Northern, KY. At the time of its opening the Radisson CVG was the 14th hotel with the Radisson brand in the US. Development of many new construction hotels followed in

1092-634: The largest independent hotel operator in the country, for $ 2.1 billion. Interstate's portfolio included 40 owned-and-operated hotels, most of them in the upscale segment, and 182 other hotels under lease or management. Many of the Interstate hotels were planned to be converted to the Wyndham brand, to strengthen its name recognition. Later that month, the company acquired the Summerfield Hotel Corporation for $ 299 million. This acquisition added

1131-702: The late 1980s and early 90s of mostly Radisson branded hotels. In 1994 Radisson hotels in 5 cities were converted to Marriott. These were the first of many as Columbia Sussex transitioned from the largest Radisson franchisee to the largest full service Marriott Franchisee. In 2005 Columbia Sussex substantially upgraded their portfolio by acquiring 14 properties from Wyndham International for $ 1.4 billion. Columbia Sussex repositioned these properties into 3 Hiltons, 2 Marriotts, 2 Sheratons, and 6 Westins after significant remodeling. In 2006 Columbia Sussex purchased 2 Hiltons in Arlington, VA and Sacramento, CA from Blackstone in

1170-473: The property to Stein constituted a technical default on the bonds. Stein asked to transfer the title back to Tropicana to cure the default, but the Commission roundly rejected the request. With no other options remaining, Tropicana Entertainment filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May. Debtholders viewed Yung's presence as a "distraction" and asked a court to appoint a trustee to run the company. Yung settled

1209-530: The purchase of the 400 room Holiday Inn in Southfield, MI. In the early 1980s Columbia Sussex continued to grow mainly through acquisition while focusing primarily on the Holiday Inn brand. In 1983 a 400-room Holiday Inn was purchased and renovated in Louisville, Kentucky. In 1984 Columbia Sussex began expanding through construction of new hotels. Major projects included a Holiday Inn Rochester, NY which served as

Tropicana Laughlin - Misplaced Pages Continue

1248-425: The real estate of the Tropicana and Eldorado Resorts (later Caesars Entertainment) acquired its operating business, under lease from GLP, as part of the two companies' acquisition of Tropicana Entertainment . In 2019, the Tropicana's buffet closed permanently. The Tropicana has the Pavilion Theater, a 9,000-square-foot (840 m) indoor entertainment venue. It also has Tango's Lounge, which has live entertainment,

1287-434: The rolling stock was placed on display at the Craig Ranch Regional Park in North Las Vegas . The tracks have since been torn out and all of the railroad memorabilia removed. 35°9′28″N 114°34′32″W  /  35.15778°N 114.57556°W  / 35.15778; -114.57556 Columbia Sussex Columbia Sussex is a privately owned hotel company based in Crestview Hills , Kentucky . The company, owned by

1326-416: The terms of the loan, Blackstone seized the portfolio via a "deed in lieu of foreclosure" in December 2010 after the loan securing the portfolio had hit maturity and Columbia Sussex was unable to re-finance due to the credit crisis. Blackstone had previously sold the same hotels to Columbia Sussex for $ 1.4 billion in 2006. Columbia Sussex began operation as Columbia Development in 1972 with the construction of

1365-411: Was appointed as trustee and conservator of the property, with a mandate to find a new buyer. The loss of the Atlantic City property led Tropicana to default on its bank debt. Yung tried to sell the Vicksburg and Evansville casinos to raise cash to appease creditors, but it was not enough to prevent a lawsuit by bondholders. The Delaware Court of Chancery ruled in February 2008 that the transfer of

1404-411: Was created to hold Columbia's and Aztar's casinos. Columbia Sussex did not want to make another try for a Missouri gaming license, so Aztar agreed before the acquisition to sell the Caruthersville casino to Fortunes Entertainment, the company of Argosy Gaming co-founder Lance Callis. The deal fell through because the licensing process for Fortunes could not be completed on schedule, so to avoid closing

1443-407: Was denied in December 2007 due in part to complaints about the Tropicana's maintenance and sanitation after Yung laid off 1,300 staffers. The commission declared that the company displayed a "lack of business ability, a lack of financial responsibility, and a lack of good character, honesty and integrity," and a "defiance of the regulatory process." Former New Jersey Supreme Court Justice Gary Stein

1482-574: Was formed in April 1995 as a real estate investment trust (REIT) and made its initial public offering in October 1995. In 1997, Patriot American combined with the parent companies of the Bay Meadows Racetrack in a reverse merger , effectively splitting into two companies under the same ownership: a REIT and an operating company. In January 1998, Patriot American bought Wyndham Hotel Corporation for $ 1.3 billion, and changed its operating company's name to Wyndham International. In June 1998, Patriot American and Wyndham acquired Interstate Hotels,

1521-460: Was not included in the bankruptcy, defaulted on its mortgage in April 2010, and lenders, led by CW Financial Services, filed for foreclosure the following November. The hotel's general manager said in October 2011 that Columbia Sussex would not fight the foreclosure. Wyndham International Wyndham International , previously Patriot American Hospitality , was an American hotel company based in Dallas, Texas . Patriot American Hospitality

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