June 25, 2008

US & CANADA | US | ATLANTIC CITY

New Game in Town

By Matt Schneiderman

Atlantic City raises the stakes without a casino in sight.

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When it opened in 2003, the Borgata led the charge to reinvent Atlantic City: the casino hotel widened the city’s expanse beyond the Boardwalk, brought in celebrity chefs and nightclubs, and set about beckoning young and wealthy weekenders over thrifty day-trippers (previously, the average visitor spent only six hours in town). Tomorrow, the operators behind Borgata aim to usher in another new chapter in Atlantic City’s upscale metamorphosis: the grand opening of the Water Club, the city’s first non-gaming hotel.

The timing of the new lifestyle lodging comes, not coincidentally, at a time when Atlantic City’s gaming revenues are down for the first time since its birth as a casino town 30 years ago. In August, a second luxe hotel, the Chelsea (exterior pictured), opens without a casino — but with the lure of a nightclub run by the hipsters behind Beatrice Inn, Manhattan’s boîte du jour. And Harrah’s Resort Atlantic City — the largest hotel in New Jersey — recently gave away free rooms to trumpet this month’s grand opening of its 44-story waterfront tower.

But it’s the $400-million Water Club that is reaching for high luxe. During a pre-opening peek, globorati got to tour Borgata’s sister property, which, to put it mildly, is set to provide something of an alternative to the city’s garish Boardwalk stalwarts. As its name suggests, the new 800-room “boutique” hotel (ahem) is all about water — which translates to five indoor and outdoor pools (pictured). One of those forms the centerpiece of the hotel’s “sanctuary in the sky,” a two-story spa that commands fishbowl views of the ocean through 40-foot-high floor-to-ceiling windows.

Though the Borgata is next door (connected by a marble arcade of posh designer shops), there’s none of its razzle-dazzle entertainment. Instead, the Water Club’s focus is centered squarely on comfort and style: Poolside and in-room eats are concocted by Town and Country uber-chef Geoffrey Zakarian. A one-to-one staff-to-guest ratio meant that globorati was greeted by a phalanx of beaming valets in the parking lot, and ushered to the check-in by two concierges. The interiors boast Bolivian tiles, Italian marble and dark French wood, while $18,000 per week alone is spent on fresh-cut flowers. If all that sounds like it’s taking a leaf from the latest Las Vegas makeover, well that’s because it is: this spring, Palms Place and Trump International Hotel & Tower opened in high style — and not a casino in sight.