Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, the former Hard Rock casino resort, will welcome its first guests on January 15, 2021.
Owners and developers behind the massive resort-wide renovation of the off-Strip property originally hoped to open its doors this fall. They cited COVID-19 as the reason for the opening delay.
Richard “Boz” Bosworth, who acquired the resort in March of 2018 along with flamboyant Virgin Group billionaire Richard Branson and real estate investment firm Juniper Capital Partners, said cancellations of conventions and ongoing coronavirus concerns warranted “a little more time” before cutting the red ribbon.
If we’re watching our competitors and other members of the hospitality community, it’s to learn from their safety practices and how they address the safety of their guests, and we’re going to use those best practices,” Bosworth said this week.
Bosworth and partners purchased the resort for $500 million. They’re spending another $200 million to transform the property into the Virgin Hotels brand.
Visitors Needed
Hard Rock Las Vegas is long gone, and Bosworth said the “new shiny property” will make the resort “very attractive” once tourism rebounds, whenever that may be.
Visitor traffic to Southern Nevada presently remains light. With no conventions, casino resorts have slashed their room rates, and have been criticized by some for an increase in recent violence on and around the Las Vegas Strip.
The cancellation of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Las Vegas’ largest annual convention, was a devastating blow to Virgin Las Vegas. Bosworth revealed the exhibition had been Hard Rock’s No. 1 client over the years.
Visitor volume January through July to Las Vegas is down 55 percent. The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) reports that 13.65 million fewer people have traveled to Southern Nevada in 2020 than did in the same seven months in 2019.
Bosworth believes Virgin will appeal to both travelers and locals.
“We’ve really created a full resort setting we think is going to be really well-received, not only by the traveling consumer, but also by what I would call our most important microphone, and that’s the local Las Vegas community,” Bosworth declared.
Extreme Resort Makeover
Virgin Hotels Las Vegas will come with a 60,000-square-foot casino operated by Mohegan Gaming, a 4,500-seat live music and entertainment theater (formerly known as The Joint), a five-acre pool complex that includes a promenade of outdoor dining, and 12 food and beverage establishments.
Each of the property’s 1,504 hotel rooms has been made over. Los Angeles hotel designer Studio Collective handled the refresh. Virgin will feature 323 executive suites with 700-750 square feet each and 79 Luxury Suites with 900-5,000 square feet.
“The hotels’ design is a departure from the ultra-glitz that is overused and overrun in Las Vegas, and instead will be a breath of fresh modern desert cool,” a Virgin handout detailed.
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