Water Works

Escape from Dubailand successful--and switching hats to business-lifestyle journalist for the day, reporting live from the starry opening of The Water Club in Atlantic City, NJ.

Wolfgang Puck, Jimmy Fallon and Kyle MacLachlan are among the luminaries officially welcoming the fabled seaside casino-resort’s latest luxury opening, a 43-story, 800-room extension of the adjacent Borgata Hotel Casino and Spa and A.C.'s first non-gaming hotel.

After igniting A.C.'s continuing luxe makeover in 2003, the Borgata has been a runaway success, and expectations are high for the $400 million Water Club.

A.C. may still be fringed with decay, but with billions in capital investments behind and another $10 billion ahead over the next five years, is strutting comfortably in its new cosmopolitan shoes.

What can the executive or board team convening pre- or post-deal expect at the meetings-centric Water Club, which follows the model of NY- and Miami-style boutique-lifestyle hotels?

In a word, says VP and GM Drew Schlesinger, “personalization.”

800 staffers equals a 1-1 service ratio; a fully converged IP network equals plug-and-play capability and content distribution throughout the property (all TV’s are IP addressable, providing remote connectivity into the hi-tech, James Bondian-conference rooms); star NYC chef Geoffrey Zakarian commands the culinary console, and the Immersion Spa is a two-story, 32nd floor sky sanctuary done in stone and sunlight that equals a world of pleasure for execs, associates and spouses.

Stock price got your joints in a twist? That merger’s putting kinks in your back? Or just need to get your kink on? Then immerse in yoga-based massage, absorb the bio-energy of jade walls, lap it up in the 80-foot pool, or lock the door in the couple’s room and let your synovial fluid flow.

Tantalizing, too, is the whisper of “secret luxuries” for high-flying execs and celebrities—but I promised not to tell.

Jeff Heilman

6/27/08

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