HOLLYWOOD — The Guitar Hotel – all 450 feet of it shaped like back-to-back guitars – is now open at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Hollywood.
As the first guitar-shaped hotel in the world, it is now part of the ranks of out of the ordinary structures the world over.
At the grand opening celebration of the hotel and expanded resort Oct. 24, Jim Allen said the task was a difficult one, and he noted how many people thought it was a crazy idea to begin with.

“We had the most talented design and construction team in the world,” Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International and CEO of Seminole Gaming, said at the grand opening.
Steve Peck of Las Vegas’ Klai Juba Wald was the lead architect on the project.
Dave Miller, Hard Rock VP, and Joe Emanuele, SVP of design and construction for Hard Rock International, were key in bringing the Guitar Hotel to life as well, Allen said.

“It was an unbelievable commitment around the clock for three years,” Allen said. “It’s one thing when you build a resort, what we call a greenfield (previously undeveloped site) from the ground up, the bankers get a little nervous on that one.”
Allen recognized the Rockwell Group, Wilson Associates, EDSA, Cleo Design, Lawrence Associates, Wimberly Interiors, Sceno Plus, Wet Design Group and others for contributing to not only the Guitar Hotel, but executing an elaborately designed casino-resort from top to bottom and a state-of-the-art Hard Rock Live entertainment venue.

“When we decided to create this building, we needed a structural engineer that was world renowned,” Allen said.
He said he found DeSimone Consulting Engineers with an office in Miami to fill the role.
“The founder of that firm, Vince, unfortunately passed about a year and a half ago,” Allen said. “And I’ll never forget when he called me up and he used a few f-bombs and asked me if I was out of my you know what kind of mind trying to create a building that’s shaped like a guitar.”
The Seminole Tribune thought it would be fun to showcase some of the other unique hotels around the world that the Guitar Hotel now joins.

