Resorts World Las Vegas, seven years and $4.3 billion in the making, will finally open its doors on June 24.
Reservations are already being taken for the more than 3,500 rooms and suites at the first ground-up casino hotel to open on the Strip in more than a decade.
“We are filled with gratitude and excitement as we approach our opening this June and hope to play a role in Las Vegas’s rebound after what has been an incredibly challenging year for the destination and greater hospitality industry,” said Scott Sibella, president of the 88-acre complex.
It’s been a long time coming.
For nearly half a century the North Strip site was home to the legendary Stardust, which Boyd Gaming had owned and operated since the mid-1980s and demolished in 2007 to make way for a multibillion-dollar casino hotel, Echelon, it was to be called, that was scrapped when the global financial crisis hit.
In 2013, Malaysia-based resort conglomerate Genting Group paid Boyd $330 million for the land, which was vacant save for some of the early shoots of Echelon’s steel skeleton, and immediately announced plans for an elaborate Asia-themed destination that was to feature everything from live pandas to a replica of the Great Wall of China.
But two years passed before construction got under way, and it proceeded slowly as various completion dates were announced and canceled and plans for the development were gradually scaled down.
What’s taken shape is impressive nonetheless.
The curved red structure stands 59 stories high behind a massive Strip-facing LED façade and houses three Hilton-branded hotels covering a range of price points and amenities: from a 1,774-room Las Vegas Hilton at Resorts World to a 1,496-room Conrad Las Vegas reported to be the largest Conrad in the world, to a high-end Crockfords Las Vegas/LXR Hotels & Resorts, one of the first LXR locations in the U.S. and featuring 236 luxury rooms and suites that top out at 7,000 square feet.
The casino, which stretches across 117,000 square feet, will support a similar array of attractions: a state-of-the-art 5,000-seat entertainment venue operated in partnership with AEG Presents and Concerts West; 70,000 square feet of retail shops; a nightclub and day club operated in partnership with Singapore’s Zouk Group; more than 40 food and beverage venues; a 5.5-acre pool complex; a 27,000-square-foot spa; and 250,000 square feet of meetings and conventions space.
Sibella described the complex as a “monumental property with some of the most innovative partners in the industry.”
“Resorts World Las Vegas will redefine the hospitality standard in Las Vegas with unmatched dining and entertainment, more variety of hotel accommodations than anywhere else on the Strip and the city’s most progressive technology”𑁋highlights of which include mobile check-in and digital keys, an AI-powered concierge named “Red” and the first underground people mover to connect to the Las Vegas Convention Center.
It remains to be seen how the property will fare out of the gate in the midst of a global tourism environment severely hampered by the Covid pandemic.
Nevada governor Steve Sisolak has set June 1 as the date for the casino industry’s return to 100 percent capacity for the first time in more than 14 months, but social distancing and other safety guidelines will stay in place.
Debt-monitoring agency Fitch Ratings estimated in a March report that it could take a few years for Resorts World Las Vegas to hit its full earnings stride.
“The pandemic is likely to delay operational ramp-up, as we expect inbound flights and demand for large-scale conventions in Las Vegas to remain soft.”
