The closing of the Ritz-Carlton is the latest in a string of troubles for the Lake Las Vegas 3,600-acre resort community, which is built around a 340-acre man-made lake. Employees of the Ritz Carlton at Lake Las Vegas were informed that in less than three months, they’ll abruptly be out of a job. The Ritz Carlton says of all of its 73 hotels, there is no question that their resort in Henderson has been hit the hardest by the economic troubles of late. Located just 20 miles from the Strip, Lake Las Vegas has been a popular vacation spot for many looking to get away from the action of Sin City.

Transcontinental Corp. opened the 349-room hotel in 2003, but Deutsche Bank took over ownership of the property last year through an affiliated company called Village Hospitality and decided to stop funding the resort.”Our owners, Village Hospitality, decided they could no longer fund the hotel,” said Ritz-Carlton spokeswoman Vivian Deuschl. “As a result of that, we can no longer operate the hotel without adequate funding.” This is some disheartening news for about 350 to 400 employees will be out of work as a result of the closure. However, Deuschl made it clear that efforts are being made to relocate them to other Ritz-Carltons, Marriotts and other hotels in the Las Vegas area.

The Ritz-Carlton is one of eight Southern Nevada hotels with AAA’s highest five-diamond rating for 2010. The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company is an independently operated division of Marriott International who stated that it will remain fully operational until the May closing date. Deuschl went on to say, “We have asked employees to stay on until we can serve our last guest in the type of manner that a AAA Five Diamond hotel is expected to deliver, while they are obviously sad, they took the news with a commitment to continue to serve guests until the last day and we are very proud of them.”

Individual travelers and groups who have booked past May 2 are being notified about the recent news and the Ritz-Carlton is working with them to relocate their business to other hotels. This closing is just the latest setback to the Lake Las Vegas development which remains in bankruptcy with $728 million in liabilities and debt. The hotel has two restaurants and a spa, but two of the golf courses at Lake Las Vegas have been shut down during the luxury community’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. It’s possible that this property gets re-branded and re-opened to a Marriott or something similar. It’s a beautiful property and way too nice to go to waste. The reality is that high-end hotels are not as much in demand as mid-priced family hotels, it’s time to adapt to what people want.