On a seasonably blustery Tuesday, the calm tranquility of a typical afternoon at the off-Strip Elara by Hilton Grand Vacations was shattered—literally—when a hefty plate-glass window detached from its perch high above and plunged toward the pool area, injuring a guest whose identity remains undisclosed. A spokesperson for the upscale property swiftly confirmed the unsettling occurrence, reassuring that the afflicted guest had fortunately suffered only minor injuries.
This wasn’t an isolated incident—an alarming number of damaged windows adorned the side of the upscale hotel facing Harmon Avenue, their shattered contents a stark contrast to the usually pristine façade of the massive building. One noticeably stood out, shrouded in a white tarp as a blatant mark of the day’s misfortune.
A bystander and Twitter user, @ShawnaKhalafiTV, offered firsthand testimony, claiming that the wind began howling fiercely, prompting the windows to shudder ominously. “That’s when we heard the loud bang and saw the glass all fall,” they reported. The account escalating the gravity of the incident beyond what was initially expected.
In a detailed statement, the Hilton Grand Vacations spokesperson sought to quell any encroaching panic. “The safety of our members, guests and team members is always our top priority. We are investigating the cause of this incident while making the necessary repairs,” the statement reads, emphasizing their commitment to identifying the root cause, effecting necessary reparations, and doing their utmost to ensure the continued comfort of their patrons during the course of the ordeal,
In a witty play on the incident, the Twitter account ‘Las Vegas Locally’ humorously quipped that in response to his scare, the injured guest’s “resort fee was waived,” —an amusing nod to the property’s status as a timeshare establishment.
However, this isn’t the first time toppled window glass has provoked fear on the Las Vegas Strip. Back in September 2018, a window dislodged from the 23rd floor of the renowned Waldorf Astoria, showering more than 200 feet of glass onto the hustling, bustling strip below. Thankfully, no injuries were reported from that incident. Likewise, in October 2023, glass tumbled onto the Fontainebleau Las Vegas’ pool deck from a dizzying height when the casino resort was still in the throes of construction. On this occasion, an errant piece of scaffolding was found to be the culprit, colliding against the building’s curtainwall.
Elara by Hilton Grand Vacations, formally known as PH Towers, is a sleek, towering 50-story timeshare complex and non-gambling hotel, whose neighbors include Planet Hollywood. The $660 million development boasts an impressive cache of 1,201 rooms, with a scant 200 being utilized as Planet Hollywood hotel rooms. Owing to the Great Recession, the then-owners Westgate Resorts were compelled to sell to the Hilton Grand Vacations Company, triggering a rebranding and transformation of all the rooms to timeshares in March 2012. The Elara today stands as a sobering reminder of the resilience and tenacity of the hospitality industry in the wake of adversity.
