Brand New Las Vegas Mega-Resort Casino Changes The Face Of The Strip
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As one of the world’s favorite tourism and vacation travel destinations, Las Vegas constantly has big, high-profile openings. But this week saw the biggest in many years.
Resorts World Las Vegas is an all-new build with more than 3,500 rooms, immediately making it one of the ten biggest in a city famous for having the largest collection of the world’s largest hotels. In comparison, most recent hotel openings in the city have been renovations like the recent off-Strip Virgin Hotels Las Vegas (formerly Hard Rock - read review here) and the transformation of the Monte Carlo into the Park MGM under its original ownership (MGM Resorts). In terms of new builds, the latest was last fall’s Circa with “just” 777 rooms, also well off the Strip in old Downtown Vegas ().
Resorts World Las Vegas is the first completely new true Vegas-style mega-resort to open in a decade, combining multiple hotels, restaurants, entertainment and gaming on a massive scale, all prominently located smack on Las Vegas Boulevard, aka “The Strip,” home to all of the other huge and famous properties. Still, it doesn’t have quite as prime a mid-Strip location as Caesars Palace, Bellagio, Bally’s or the Cosmopolitan, and is the northernmost of the main Strip casinos, just beyond the vast Fashion Show Mall, which separates it from Treasure Island on the same side of the Strip, and just beyond Wynn and Encore, the last notable properties on the east side of the Strip.
Resorts World Las Vegas was developed by Genting Berhad, a publicly traded Malaysian gaming (and much more) conglomerate with vast international casino operations and more than half a century of destination resort experience. In this country, they already operate the Big Apple’s only casino, Resorts World New York. For Vegas they partnered with Hilton to feature three of the hospitality giant’s top brands, the Las Vegas Hilton, the resort's full-service casino hotel name; the Conrad Las Vegas, using Hilton’s lesser known but top shelf luxury lifestyle brand; and LXR, Hilton’s new network of independent luxury properties. In this case, the LXR member will be Crockfords Las Vegas, a spin-off of Genting’s ultra-luxury boutique brand - the flagship Crockfords is the only hotel in all of Malaysia to earn a 2021 Forbes 5-Star rating, and features nothing but large suites with lavish touches like steam baths, in-room gyms and VIP check-in and staff. Most top Vegas hotels now feature a luxury hotel-within-hotel top option and Crockfords Las Vegas is the one here.
The Hilton partnership is especially important because most major casinos in Vegas operate their own loyalty programs, while this one ties redemption into the huge global Hilton Honors network, with more than 82 million members worldwide.
As the newest in town, Resorts World is betting big on its innovative, next generation gaming floor, including a Sin City first, cashless wagering at both slots and table games. An integrated and sophisticated app combines mobile gaming, frequent players club and the ability to purchase all hotel items, food and entertainment, in touchless, digital fashion. It will also be the first here with “Smart Tables,” using RFID embedded chips for every dollar denomination to provide 100% accurate tracking of guests’ gaming activity and loyalty program recognition. The large sports book offers statewide mobile wagering within Nevada, and the casino floor includes a 30-table poker room, 117 table games, more than 1,400 slot machines and high-limit areas across 117,000 square feet.
While there is no definition of a Las Vegas “mega-resort” the rule of thumb seems to be 3000+ rooms combined with a casino and lots of dining, shopping and entertainment. Resorts World joins this elite club with a 5,000-seat state-of-the-art theater with groundbreaking sightlines and sound system, one which opened with a star-studded series of top shelf residencies including the return of the Queen of all Vegas divas, Celine Dion, along with Carrie Underwood, Katy Perry and Luke Bryan ().
Not surprisingly, there are a lot of food and beverage options, most uniquely a Singaporean-style food court, Famous Foods Street Eats, with 16-stalls that include several first-in-the-U.S. outposts of Michelin Plate and Bib Gourmand-recognized hawker stands from Southeast Asia, alongside domestic concepts from celebrated chefs and restaurants including Marcus Samuelsson and Blood Bros. BBQ. Many of the featured regular restaurants are not quite open yet, but the lineup includes ¡VIVA! by chef Ray Garcia, several Chinese, Japanese, and fusion Asian eateries, a tapas specialist, and the prerequisite Italia and steakhouse options. One notable addition is Wally’s, a clone of the beloved LA institution, combining a restaurant, wine bar and specialty market with extensive wine retail. There are also a dozen casual bars and eateries, including tacos, pizza, burgers, ice cream and more, and finally, around 10 standalone bars and lounges.
What else? Well, there are seven unique pool experiences including what the hotel claims is the only infinity-edge pool on the Strip, a 27,000-square-foot full-service spa, day club, a nightclub and the typical Vegas curated retail collection of designer and boutique shops.
None of Las Vegas’ mega-resorts are ever really “finished,” as evolution is the key to survival in Sin City, and new additions, swaps and expansions are the norm, but that’s a lot for starters, and immediately places Resorts World among the most high-profile vacation choices in one of the world’s favorite vacation destinations.
