Final foray
Final foray
L'Auberge du Lac Hotel & Casino, Louisiana's final riverboat license, debuts in Lake Charles
The much-anticipated L'Auberge du Lac Hotel & Casino, representing Louisiana's 15th and final riverboat gaming license, is now open in Lake Charles.
The $365 million resort, owned by Pinnacle Entertainment, takes a different approach than the state's other casino properties in that it is aiming to deliver a Las Vegas feel to its guest and it's not shying away from the "high roller" business.
The resort owns a seven-passenger amphibious private plane that will pick up high-end customers from primarily the Dallas and Houston markets. L'Auberge du Lac also has its own fleet of three 36-passenger deluxe motor coaches based in Houston that have twice the room as normal buses and feature personal video screens with a network of programming in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. There is also a 15-passenger executive motor coach with features like heat massage chairs and private bathrooms to cater to high-end clientele.
The goal, of course, is to get these customers to Lake Charles, where the 26-story, 743-room and suite hotel and 30,000-square foot casino with 1,600 slots and 60 table games await them. Other features of the resort include an 18-hole Tom Fazio-designed golf course, full service spa and fitness center, a large pool with its own beach and "lazy river," 26,000 square feet of meeting and convention space, retail stores and 10 restaurants and eateries.
Despite all of its focus on lavishness and high-end clientele, executives with the resort said it will also embrace local clientele.
"We don't want anyone to think we have forgotten our (typical) bus customers; they will have a sheltered area to disembark in and a lounge inside the casino," the property's vice president and general manager, Larry Lepinski told Southeast Texas' Orange Leader.
L'Auberge du Lac opens in an already crowded Lake Charles market. Already operating, and taking in $40.3 million of the statewide $189.4 million gaming win in April, are Harrah's Lake Charles, Isle of Capri Lake Charles, Grand Casino Coushatta and the Delta Downs Racetrack and Casino.
Isle of Capri, which took in a paltry $1 million last month, has been attempting to leave the Lake Charles market, but plans to move to another Louisiana parish have failed.
Pinnacle owns two other Louisiana casino properties-Boomtown Casino in Bossier City and Boomtown Casino just outside New Orleans.
-Andy Holtmann
L'Auberge du Lac Hotel & Casino, Louisiana's final riverboat license, debuts in Lake Charles
The much-anticipated L'Auberge du Lac Hotel & Casino, representing Louisiana's 15th and final riverboat gaming license, is now open in Lake Charles.
The $365 million resort, owned by Pinnacle Entertainment, takes a different approach than the state's other casino properties in that it is aiming to deliver a Las Vegas feel to its guest and it's not shying away from the "high roller" business.
The resort owns a seven-passenger amphibious private plane that will pick up high-end customers from primarily the Dallas and Houston markets. L'Auberge du Lac also has its own fleet of three 36-passenger deluxe motor coaches based in Houston that have twice the room as normal buses and feature personal video screens with a network of programming in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. There is also a 15-passenger executive motor coach with features like heat massage chairs and private bathrooms to cater to high-end clientele.
The goal, of course, is to get these customers to Lake Charles, where the 26-story, 743-room and suite hotel and 30,000-square foot casino with 1,600 slots and 60 table games await them. Other features of the resort include an 18-hole Tom Fazio-designed golf course, full service spa and fitness center, a large pool with its own beach and "lazy river," 26,000 square feet of meeting and convention space, retail stores and 10 restaurants and eateries.
Despite all of its focus on lavishness and high-end clientele, executives with the resort said it will also embrace local clientele.
"We don't want anyone to think we have forgotten our (typical) bus customers; they will have a sheltered area to disembark in and a lounge inside the casino," the property's vice president and general manager, Larry Lepinski told Southeast Texas' Orange Leader.
L'Auberge du Lac opens in an already crowded Lake Charles market. Already operating, and taking in $40.3 million of the statewide $189.4 million gaming win in April, are Harrah's Lake Charles, Isle of Capri Lake Charles, Grand Casino Coushatta and the Delta Downs Racetrack and Casino.
Isle of Capri, which took in a paltry $1 million last month, has been attempting to leave the Lake Charles market, but plans to move to another Louisiana parish have failed.
Pinnacle owns two other Louisiana casino properties-Boomtown Casino in Bossier City and Boomtown Casino just outside New Orleans.
-Andy Holtmann
