I just got back from another trip to Vegas. The logo is still on the outside sign, which did surprise me since their attitude towards the Ent-A was such that i thought the sign would be the first to go!
How much of their "attitude towards the Ent-A" can be confirmed, and how much of it has been manufactured by fans who feel somehow heroic by pretending that the Hilton is some faceless, corporate evil villain that is out to get us and our beloved franchise? (As opposed to a hotel chain that was bold enough to host a really cool Star Trek theme park for a decade.)
Hilton Hotels and Paramount Parks originally partnered to create STTE and for that they deserve to be lauded and thanked... but the people who shut it down are not the people who opened it.
Several years ago, the Las Vegas Hilton was purchased by Resorts International, a division of Colony Capital, which pays Hilton Hotels for the right to continue using the Hilton name. It is no longer a Hilton hotel. Resorts International has been hostile toward STTE since purchasing the hotel and when the opportunity arose, upped the lease on the space by 10x in an effort to make it impossible for STTE to remain.
Further, The Paramount Parks divison of Paramount was sold off in preparation for the CBS/Paramount merger and the purchaser, Cedar Fair, got STTE along with the large amusement park properties they were actually after. Cedar Fair never knew quite what to do with STTE and merely upped ticket prices, cut back on staff and upkeep and more or less milked it for a profit for as long as it would last.
Despite this, Cedar Fair did indeed try to negotiate with Resorts International to keep the place open... with their cutbacks and higher ticket prices it was still profitabe... but Resorts International had always frowned on STTE and the crowd it attracted and made it impossible to reach a deal.
So Cedar Fair does indeed deserve some measure of derision for allowing the place to atrophy to the degree it did, and Resorts International has been flat-out hostile to STTE since they took over the LV Hilton. It's not fanboy hysteria and it's not a case of biting the hands that fed us for so long. The "good guys" to whom we owe thanks for STTE were long gone from the scene by the time the gold curtain dropped.
Regarding the hotel's hostility to the Enterprise A... it was the only thing they had any right to address as it protruded from the leased space and out into their casino, and address it they did, threatening to have it demolished despite the fact that they have no immediate plans for the space or the area around it. That seems a bit hostile to me. Cedar Fair, meanwhile, is the leaseholder for the space that was once STTE through the last day of December '08, at which point they lose control over it and anything which has not been removed from it.
And so, while I may indeed stay in a true Hilton Hotel in the future, I will most definitely not do business with the Las Vegas Hilton or any Resorts International property. They have made it quite clear to me that they do not value my custom and do not want my business.
