The five-diamond-rated Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas is to close on 2 May, affecting 340 employees.

Transcontinental Corp. opened the 349-room hotel - situated in the resort community of Henderson, Nevada, US - in 2003, but Deutsche Bank took over ownership of the property last year through an affiliated company called Village Hospitality and decided to stop funding the resort. Vivian Deuschl, corporate vice-president of Ritz-Carlton, blamed the closure on a decline in individual visitors and an even bigger drop in group business. "It's not a reflection on the hotel," she said. "The entire Las Vegas region has been financially impacted, probably more than any other region in the United States."

The hotel, one of eight in southern Nevada with AAA's highest diamond rating for 2010, has two restaurants and a spa. Local media reports that an unnamed local developer was offered the opportunity of buying it for US$20m but turned it down.