Hopes of a return to “normal” for Sin City get stringer as the Encore Las Vegas has set a date to return to full time service. The luxury resorts says that they will resume 24 hour a day operations on April 8th, which will include expanded operations for many of their amenities as well. In addition to world class restaurants, Encore boasts a Beach Club that is operating as a lounge and pool without the parties for now. There is also the XS Nightclub, which has been running more as a lounge without big-name deejays during the pandemic. Encore joins…

A pandemic that caused lock-downs, masks, and capacity limits delayed the opening of the Virgin Las Vegas hotel and casino. Now, however, is the time when things are starting to move toward normalcy. More casinos are reopening, and Virgin will be joining them. Their grand opening will be this week, on March 25th, and will include live entertainment and street performances starting at 6 p.m. Their new, state-of-the-art casino will be run by the Mohegan Gaming, making them the first Native American casino in Sin City. The 60,000-square-foot floor will have 650 slots and over 150 table games. Richard Bosworth,…

The vaccine has been rolling out and recovery is underway. But despite the good news, many Las Vegas casinos are still dark. Thirteen, to be exact. And while some properties are waiting for restrictions to lessen, others have closed their doors forever. Some of the more popular properties on the “still closed” list include Main Street Station, Eldorado, Texas Station, and The Palms. It has already been announced that Main Street Station will reopen, but the question is when. The best answer is ‘when it’s profitable’, and that means when tourism returns. The Eldorado Casino is gone forever… sort of….

The Rio Las Vegas started to welcome guests back recently, and hosted the World Series of Poker. Now, the announcement has come that the property will be rebranded, with at least one of the towers named the Hyatt Regency. The move comes as part of a franchise agreement between Hyatt and Dreamscape Companies. The Rio was sold by Caesars Entertainment in December of 2019. “We are thrilled that Dreamscape will help us bring multiple Hyatt full-service brands to Las Vegas, starting with a Hyatt Regency hotel…” said Kimo Bertram, Hyatt’s Vice President of real estate and development. “We know Las…

The Las Vegas Strip looks to be getting “back to normal” as massive crowds of tourists descended on Sin City this past week. All as a reaction to Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak raised the capacity limit of casinos to 50%. They had previously been set at 35%. Additionally, the Governor is allowing some larger gatherings, including conferences, conventions and trade shows with a maximum attendance of 250 people. Various social media posts show pictures of the large groups of people close to one another on the Vegas Strip. Some were dancing and some were drinking, but at least most were…

Caesars Entertainment has announced that their Planet Hollywood and LINQ casino properties on the Vegas Strip will resume 24 hours, 7 day a week operations. This is in response to the surge of new visitors to Sin City as the COVID-19 restrictions are eased. Both resorts announced that they are following the new set of advanced health and safety standards from Caesars, which includes frequent cleaning and sanitation guidelines, social distancing, and a mandatory mask policy for their guests and employees. Sean McBurney, Regional President of Las Vegas Operations for Caesars Entertainment, said “We are excited to welcome even more…