Ah, Las Vegas. Gambling, gluttony, and…death rays? That’s the affectionate nickname being given by hotel employees to a strange phenomenon that is happening at the new Vdara Hotel & Spa in Vegas, but guests aren’t laughing.

The hotel, owned by MGM Resorts International, magnifies and reflects the sun’s rays onto an area of the pool, which causes temperatures to rise to the point where they can melt plastic cups, and singe human hair.

“My head was steaming hot. In fact, my hair felt like it was burning … I could actually smell my hair burning,” said Bill Pintas to NBCs Today Show, a recent guest to the Vdara and Chicago lawyer and businessman.

The design flaw in the massive glass skyscraper causes the suns rays to bounce off the curved glass and heat up a 10-by-15-foot area of the pool deck.

Although architectures of the hotel foresaw this blunder, they thought they solved it by placing a high-tech film on the glass windows. They were wrong. Currently the area is heated for 90-minutes around noon, and until they can come up with a permanent solution to the problem, the hotel will place thick umbrella’s, shade structures, or maybe even some large plants to shade the area. They’re not quite sure yet.

“The sun is constantly moving, not only across the sky during the day, but it changes with the seasons,” said Gordon Absher, a spokesman for MGM. “We’re dealing with a moving target.”

The Vdara opened in December of 2009, so in their defense this was the first summer for them to recognize the problem, but something tells me that this little “death ray” of theirs isn’t exactly going to be a selling feature. Sure it’s only on a small portion of the pool deck and for a limited time, but rectifying the problem with large plants doesn’t do much to instill my faith in the customer service at the Vdara. I mean, what are they going to do if I find a cockroach in my room? Put a glass over it and say, “Problem solved?”

I’m sure it’s a lovely hotel, but for my next trip to Las Vegas, I won’t be staying at the Vdara Hotel & Spa. I’ll stick with blue chips like the MGM Grand or Bellagio, thank you very much.