Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts announced a management agreement with Boyd Gaming Corporation to operate the 400-room Shangri-La Hotel, Las Vegas.

The property is scheduled to open in early 2010, and is Shangri-La's third hotel project under development in the United States.

The Shangri-La Hotel, Las Vegas will be part of Boyd Gaming's recently announced 63-acre masterplanned Echelon Place development on the Las Vegas Strip.

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts will manage and operate the Shangri-La Hotel, including its CHI spa, restaurants and meeting facilities.

Echelon Place will include four hotel properties, an anchor casino, two entertainment theaters, a retail complex, plus substantial meeting and convention facilities.

The Shangri-La Hotel, Las Vegas will have its own landscaped driveway and porte cochere within the Echelon Place development. The lobby entrance will be surrounded by lush gardens, while the lobby lounge will feature a music room and library — as was found in the original Shangri-La in James Hilton's Lost Horizon novel.

Shangri-La's spa brand – CHI, The Spa at Shangri-La – will feature Chinese and Himalayan healing therapies inspired by the origins of the Shangri-La legend. It will be the largest CHI spa in North America with 16 treatment suites.

The Shangri-La will also feature 20,000 square feet of function space, with elegantly appointed rooms for groups from 12 to 300 guests, plus an adjacent business center and meetings concierge.

Las Vegas is one of the most dynamic tourist and convention destinations in the United States, providing a high profile presence for the group in North America that will complement Shangri-La's developments in Miami, Chicago and Vancouver, said Giovanni Angelini, Shangri-La's chief executive officer and managing director. Guests at the Shangri-La Hotel, Las Vegas will experience a new brand of sophisticated hospitality – warm, distinctively Asian, with highly personalized service.

Boyd Gaming Corporation's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer William S. Boyd said, We are extremely delighted to have Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts bring its award-winning style of authentic Asian hospitality to Las Vegas and Echelon Place. The luxurious hotel will be a magnet both for travelers seeking to experience the group's renowned hospitality and the increasing number of Asian travelers to Las Vegas.

The Shangri-La Hotel, Las Vegas is Shangri-La's third hotel project confirmed in the United States this year. Currently under development are the Shangri-La Hotel, Miami, which will open in 2008, and the Shangri-La Hotel, Chicago, which will open in 2009. The group is in advanced negotiations to open properties in other strategic North American gateway cities.