http://www.mnn.com/lifestyle/eco-touris ... h-a-death-
When hotels attack: The Vdara in Las Vegas comes equipped with a death ray
One shiny-shelled Las Vegas hotel reflects the sun into a 150 square foot death ray aimed right at the pool area.
By Jeffrey DavisWed, Sep 29 2010 at 4:20 PM EST Comments
HOTEL HOSTILITY: The shiny facade of a Vegas hotel is reflecting the sun with enough intensity to singe human hair (photo: sirsnapsalot/Flickr)
There’s no shortage of sun in the fun-filled desert destination of Las Vegas. Next to the entertainment and the gambling, lounging poolside at lush Las Vegas hotels is one of the premiere activities.
While a person may be in the mood to soak up some rays, they don’t want to have their hair singed or flip flops melted by them. But according to Discovery Magazine, that’s the exact problem that one Las Vegas hotel is having.
Chicagoan Bill Pintas was relaxing by the pool at the Vdara hotel when he realized that he was beginning to get hot – really hot. He jumped out of his deck chair to put his flip flops on so that he could move to a cooler spot when he discovered his flip flops were to hot to even touch.
Upon making it to a shaded area, Pintas detected a strange aroma about him. It was his hair that had been singed by the sun’s reflection off the hotel’s shiny-façade.
Bill Pintas is just one of the most recent in a string of incidents with Vdara’s “death ray”.
It’s always important to protect your skin from the sun, but there’s no escaping the wrath of Vdara’s hot spot, except to stay out of it.
After hearing Pintas’ story, The Las Vegas Review-Journal sent reporters undercover to ask hotel employees and patrons about the phenomenon:
“The ‘hot spot’ was visible during one of the visits, but no guests were in its reach. An employee pointed out the zone and said it was ‘like a magnifying glass that shines down’ over a space about 10 feet by 15 feet, which moves as the Earth rotates. At this time of year, the bright reflection is present for about an hour and a half, both before noon and after, according to the young man.”
The hotel has reportedly known about the issue since its construction. Vdara has attempted to deal with the hot spot by putting up a special film that blocks about 70 percent of the reflection from the south-facing section of the building. Unfortunately that reduction hasn’t been enough to stop the steady stream of complaints coming from pool patrons.
AOL News talked to hotel spokesperson Gordon Absher about the issue:
“Hotel management is dealing with our corporate designers to find ways to create a little more consistent shade, but pools are tricky,” Absher said. “Building a huge shade structure is not the answer because some people want the sun. And the sun is constantly moving. It’s quite literally an astronomical challenge.”
Inquiries into other methods of thwarting the hot spot’s attack on Vdara pool-goers have resulted in quotes that run up to millions of dollars. Until a more effective fix is implemented, the best advise for Vdara guests is to simply to beware and avoid the death ray in the pool area.
Anyone recall this:
