It’s a new year and there will be plenty of new things to do, see, and experience in Las Vegas. Here’s a quick overview with some of what you can expect to see this year.
1. New Hotel Rooms
There has been a slew of hotel room renovations in Las Vegas over the past few years. Caesars Entertainment alone renovated 5,000 rooms in 2016 across their properties! Room renovations and upgrades are a rare win-win for both the casino operator and their customers. The operator generates more revenue with a new product, meanwhile, the customer has a better hotel room experience.
The Cosmopolitan has new penthouse suites opening later this year and Planet Hollywood will finish their renovations. Monte Carlo will be entirely in 2017 renovated to become Park MGM in 2018. They might have some room renovations available before the year is over.
It wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see Caesars Entertainment renovate more hotel rooms as they begin charging for parking. If you’re going to hit guests with new fees, you might as well give them something new to enjoy. For starters, Bally’s old North Tower rooms could use an upgrade.
2. New Restaurants
The Cosmopolitan has been in a transition phase for the past year and 2017 will see a slew of dining changes. Blue Ribbon Sushi will close and be replaced with Blue Ribbon Brasserie (Modern American) later this year. Milk Bar (sweets, desserts) and Momofuku (Asian) are opening in January while Zuma (sushi) is scheduled to open this spring.
Across the street, The Linq and Bally’s Grand Bazaar Shops are welcoming a handful of new dining options for Las Vegas in 2017. Giordano’s Pizza just opened outside of Bally’s. Down the street, Virgil’s Real BBQ has already opened at The Linq. In-N-Out Burger will be opening its first Vegas Strip location at The Linq any day now and Canter’s Deli will be opening later this year.
There will be many more new restaurants opening this year. The restaurant that has my curiosity is Chica. The latin restaurant will open later this year at The Venetian. You can read more about it here.
3. New Bars
El Cortez in downtown Las Vegas just opened a new casino bar. Half of the bar is for their existing customers who prefer to play video poker while enjoying a drink. The other side of the bar is to draw younger customers who just want to hang out and enjoy the cheap drinks. It’s a perfect marriage between new and old Vegas.
Country music star, John Rich, has brought his country music bar, Redneck Riviera, to Las Vegas. The new bar at the Bally’s Grand Bazaar features live country music. Losers Bar opened at MGM Grand at the end of 2016 and we should expect to see continued growth of country music bars opening.
4. New Shows
There are new shows in Las Vegas every year and 2017 will be no different. New residencies include Backstreet Boys at Planet Hollywood, Cher and Ricky Martin at Monte Carlo, and Keith Sweat at Flamingo.
The very popular, Raiding The Rock Vault closed at the Tropicana in 2016 and will re-open at the Hard Rock in March. The Hard Rock will also become home to Magic Mike Live in late March.
The Improv at Harrah’s closed last year, but the comedy continues. Ralphie May will begin a standup comedy residency that continues through the entire year. Head north on the Vegas Strip for another comedy residency. Jon Lovitz and Dana Carvey are “Reunited” at SLS Las Vegas and will be performing at The Foundry throughout 2017.
5. New Experiences
Part of the appeal of Las Vegas is that it’s always changing. Trends and tastes change every year. The newest visitors to Las Vegas are millennials. Their tastes are different than previous generations. Generation X and Baby Boomers have different preferences and the new trends will ruffle some older feathers. New technology, gaming (and gambling), drinking, and dining experiences will continue to take over for some passing trends. I’m looking forward to everything new that Las Vegas has to offer in 2017 and beyond!
