I never even heard of this company until this morning when (1) I read they were the parent company of Columbia Entertainment which just bought Aztar and (2) they are supposedly the company that will be building the condo project on the Klondike site. I haven't been able to confirm that, but the two mentions got my interest.

They are a major player in hotels, with 83 units from Super 8 to Marriott and Sheraton (and I've stayed in some of their properties<g>) ... and they have an interesting list of casinos. They own the Vicksburg Casino, Lighthouse Point and Jubilee in Mississippi ... the Belle of Orleans and Belle of Baton Rouge in Louisiana ... the Horizon and Mont Bleu (formerly Caesars) in Lake Tahoe ... the River Palms in Laughlin ... the Westin Casinaura in Las Vegas and now the Tropicana with their Aztar purchase.

Regardless of whether or not they are building those condos on the Klondike site, this appears to be a name we might be hearing more often in the future of Las Vegas!

Columbia Sussex just finalized the purchase of the Tropicana and is expected to spend $2 billion to renovate the Trop to over 10,000 rooms and close to 1000 condo units.

I've been browsing their web site:

They own a Courtyard by Marriot here in Columbus.

If you look at their list of HOTELS, they list The Ramada Express (which has a casion) in Laughlin. Also listed are the Atlantic City Tropicana, Las Vegas Tropicana and the Las Vegas Westin.

If you look at their list of CASINOS, they list the River Palms in Laughlin and the Westin Casuarina in Vegas. (the Ramada Express and both Tropicanas are NOT listed under casinos)???

I'm glad to hear someone is going to renovate the Trop rather than tear it down. I used to stay there a lot.