Coming Las Vegas Attractions

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Back to Las VegasComing Las Vegas Attractions

Part of the reason that we patiently tell people they haven't really been to Vegas, even if they have, is because if they haven't been by in the last, oh, week -- okay, let's say 2 or 3 years -- they might find several surprises awaiting them on the Strip. And if it's been more than a decade, well, forget it. All of the classic old hotels are either gone (Sands, Hacienda) or renovated virtually beyond recognition (Caesars, The Flamingo). In their place rise bigger and better and trendier resort hotels, changing the landscape and altering the welcome that Vegas visitors receive.

The new era of Vegas hotels was ushered in by The Mirage, and since then, everyone has been trying to up the ante. The year 1997 began with the opening of New York-New York, which set yet another level of stupendous excess that remained unmatched for, oh, at least 18 months.

The fall of 1998 saw the official beginning of the new era of Vegas luxury resorts (many with themes), with the opening of the opulent Bellagio, followed by Mandalay Bay and Four Seasons. And then these took a back seat (sort of) to The Venetian, which combines the jaw-dropping detail and extravagance of New York-New York (complete with canals and gondolas) with the luxury of Bellagio. Could anything top it? Possibly -- hot on its heels was Paris, themed as you can imagine, and just a few months later, the new and improved Aladdin, with its desert-fantasy decor.

The last couple of years have been less about new stuff and more about old stuff getting bigger and/or better. Sure, Caesars opened its Roman Colosseum replica, built just to house Céline Dion's new show, but other than that, no grand new hotels or major expansions arrived, unless you count (and we sure do) the arrival of a true luxury resort, the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas, over in nearby Henderson.

One old hotel, The Maxim, was reborn as a swank Westin complete with their trademark "Heavenly Beds." The rest of the action was all about expansions: The Venetian added 1,000 rooms, a new pool, a fancy restaurant, and more in their new Venezia Tower; Mandalay Bay added over 1,000 rooms and other goodies in a facility they call THEhotel; Bellagio joined the fray with over 900 new rooms and a swank new spa in a new tower; and Caesars Palace added a new 700-room tower to their empire.

Most notably, of course, 2005 brought the eagerly awaited Wynn Las Vegas, the latest hotel concept from Steve Wynn, the man behind Mirage Corp., at a mere cost of $2.7 billion. But that won't be the end of it, not hardly. After all, Wynn's already at work on an addition to his brand new hotel, the Encore, set to debut in 2008. Sometime during 2006, Planet Hollywood will have completely revamped the old-turned-new-turned-bankrupt Aladdin into something less Eastern-evocative and more Hollywood memorabilia-starstruck. The creaky old San Remo is going pneumatic, as it becomes a Hooters hotel and casino. (No, really.) The Palms is adding a new tower. Most intriguingly (well, apart from that Hooters, but that's different), a new Station hotel is going up out at Red Rocks.

Looking farther down the road, 2007 should bring yet another Venetian expansion, the Palazzo, plus the new Conrad Majestic hotel, on the site of the old La Concho, just south of The Riviera. 2008 is supposed to bring the ambitious new Project CityCenter from the MGM MIRAGE group, on the site of the Boardwalk hotel. Somewhere in here, Donald Trump is going to enter the Vegas market with his hotel/condo combo near the Frontier, while the group behind the Turnberry condos has announced plans for a $1.5-billion 4,000-room hotel/condo near The Riviera, to be called the Fountainbleau after the venerable Miami hotel.

Speaking of condos, that seems to be the property development trend right now, so if you haven't been to Vegas in a while, and you wonder what that, and that over there, and also that, really big tall tower is, it's more than likely a condo building. Finally, there remain possible wrecking balls in store for the Stardust, the Tropicana, and The Riviera. Of course, another economic downturn of even the slightest size could prevent all of it. Stay tuned.