By upping the luxury amenity experience - with opulent hotel suites, gourmet dining options, tricked-out pool complexes and swanky spas - local casinos have also captured a slice of the market that once would have only looked for such extravagances in Las Vegas. Intense competition for gamblers and resort guests extends beyond San Diego into L.A., Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, Northern Baja California and out to Arizona.

The region’s newest casino, Hollywood Casino Jamul-San Diego, last week celebrated its first anniversary. Additionally, Harrah’s Resort SoCal recently finished the final phase of a $160-million overhaul, which added a craft brewery and a larger, modernized spa, salon and barber shop. In addition to Pala, Pechanga, Viejas Casino & Resort, Sycuan Casino and Barona Resort & Casino are under construction to varying degrees. An estimated $1 billion is currently being spent to enlarge and upgrade five of the area’s 10 casinos. Having raised the bar by introducing an Indian casino hotel to an area more accustomed to bingo tents and modest, single-story facilities, Pala now finds itself in the midst of a casino expansion arms race of sorts. When completed, Pala will be the third-largest casino hotel in the region, after Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula and Harrah’s Resort Southern California in Valley Center. “When you do an expansion like this, obviously you want it to stand the test of time well into the future.” We’re exploring all the technology we can,” Bembenek said. “We’re still, especially in the hotel, in the early stages of design, and we’re still determining what we’ll provide. Several of the renovated hotel suites will have balconies overlooking the pool and entertainment complex.īembenek said Pala officials are working with the architectural and design team to select the “elevated finishes” and next-gen electronics that will distinguish the resort from its competitors.

“You’ll feel like you’re not confined in a building but actually on a mini-vacation.”

“We think one of our greatest assets is our natural setting, and we’re really conscious about pulling the outside view inside wherever you are,” Bembenek said. Bembenek said the added hotel tower will give Pala a total of 854 rooms and suites, with several existing hotel rooms being converted into suites, including two 10th-floor presidential suites, with pool and mountain views.

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