Vegas renovates for the young and hip

LAS VEGAS -- Vegas is ever changing to woo visitors and their wallets.Lately, it has been courting the young and festive who have the bucks to pay $300 and skyward for bottle service at clubs and like to stay in luxurious hotel rooms. (We're not talking the Spring Break crowd packed eight to a room, who cart in coolers and do Vegas on the cheap.)

It didn't hurt that younger celebs from Kim Kardashian, to rappers, to royalty are making headlines in Vegas (think Prince Harry and his recent romp at Vegas party pools and naked shenanigans in a suite at Steve Wynn's upscale Encore resort).

Vegas' newest Strip megaresort -- The Cosmopolitan -- and its Marquee Day Club are magnets for the young, and work it with sexy ads and atmosphere.

The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino has revamped its dining and nightlife, including a Guns N' Roses "residency" series of concerts starting Oct. 31 and an intimate music venue called Vinyl (I didn't know this, but deejays like the sound of vintage records, and those old albums and singles are in again.)

Now the Palms Casino Resort, credited by many with attracting the young to Vegas with its "Fantasy Suites" and youthful vibe after the success of the season of MTV's Real World filmed there, is reinventing itself again in a $50 million renovation.

Today, it is unveiling newly redone rooms in the Palms Tower that look like cool boutique accommodations with a whimsical twist:-- the faces of sexy women emblazoned on the walls behind the beds. The rooms are available for booking starting this weekend, and if you're lucky, you can get one for $79, depending on availability.

"The original Palms customer has grown up and matured," says Joseph Magliarditi, president of Palms, who gave me a tour. "We're not saying we don't want 21-year-olds," he adds, but the target audience is 35-43. Rooms feature 42-inch flat-screen TVs and minibars with hangover kits. There's a new poker room/sports book with walls of high-def screen to watch, and Magliarditi says a new "chocolate bar" serving all things cacao (chocolate martini and more, baby) is coming.

Much more is happening all around Vegas to lure the young. If you haven't checked out the cutting-edge cocktail bars downtown filled with the trendy (many from the Zappos shoe company), they're far different than the average Strip bar.

Readers, what do you think of the youth trend, and what are your favorite new spots in Vegas?