Nevada: Hard Rock Hotel & Casino to open at Lake Tahoe in January

The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe is set to open in January. It took $60 million to renovate the former site of the Horizon Resort Casino in Stateline, Nev. The redo brings 539 rooms -- and yes, an Elvis Suite! — new restaurants and bars, live concerts areas inside and out, and a casino with slot machines and table games.

Though no official opening date was announced, reservations are being accepted on the hotel’s website starting Jan. 9. (I found rooms available for that night starting at $149 plus tax.) Packages include Rock & Ride, a three-night stay with a three-day lift ticket at nearby Heavenly ski resort starting at $820 plus tax.

Now about that 1,800-square-foot Elvis Suite. The hotel’s website says it’s the very room where Elvis Presley stayed while performing at what was then Del Webb’s Sahara Tahoe in the early 1970s. The Del Webb morphed into the Horizon, which closed April 1.

Another hotel on Lake Tahoe’s south shore is being spruced up too. The MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa in Stateline is spending more than $24 million to renovate its rooms and add a “Scandinavian fantasy” motif, according to an announcement.

The upgrade includes the hotel’s 437 rooms as well as the casino and convention center. It begins now and is expected to last until May; the hotel will remain open while work is being done.

Info: Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Lake Tahoe, 50 Highway 50, Stateline, Nev.; hardrockcasinolaketahoe.com. MontBleu Resort Casino & Spa, 55 Highway 50, Lake Tahoe, Nev.; (888) 829-7630