Hard Rock Las Vegas Removes Resorts Fees Amidst Virgin Rebrand

Visitors to Las Vegas have long been plagued with annoying resort fees. When booking a stay, visitors never know what fees they will face and how much they will pay extra to stay within a venue. The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas has announced this week that they are doing away with resort fees, allowing players to stay at a lower price point before closing to become the Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.

No Fees

In less than one month, the Hard Rock will close and begin a renovation process that will cost $200 million. For their final days in operation, the hotel is hoping to see players visit and are enticing them with no resort fees on new reservations. The offer is valid for a short time frame and will be valid through January 31st on stays through February 2nd.

The change should help the venue to see a nice uptick in stays as they move into their final weeks of operation. Resort fees can be as high as $50 a night, so players will be more willing to stay at the Hard Rock than their usual spot due to the no resort fee change.

Fees have a been a point of contention in Las Vegas for quite some time. Caesars Entertainment recently increased their fees to just over $51 a night, stating the change to be in line with their competitors. MGM Resorts also upped their fees to $45 a night at their properties like the Aria.

Impending Rebrand

Once the Hard Rock takes their final guest in early February, the property will undergo a renovation that will last for eight months. The transformation is set to take place after the Super Bowl on February 3rd. The property should be ready to reopen as the Virgin by November.

Once the construction phase begins, the property will be shut down. Construction fences will be put in place and the doors locked. Players will be unable to visit the property for quite some time, but once reopened, a brand-new experience will await.

The Hotel of the new Virgin property will have 1,500 renovated guest rooms and suites. The casino will offer 60,000 square feet of space and the Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment group will be in charge of the gaming operation.

The property will also include five acres devoted to a swimming pool space as well as several food and beverage areas. The meeting and event space will be 130,000 square feet in size.

Back in November, the Hard Rock Café was demolished to make way for parking as well as ride-share options. The restaurant opened in 1990 and was closed towards the end of 2016.

It will be interesting to see how much foot traffic the Hard Rock sees now that they are offering no resort fees. It’s a nice way to bring in traffic as the property prepares to shut down for several months before becoming a new Virgin branded space.

Rebecca Kont
Rebecca Kont

Rebecca lives in Las Vegas and after completing her degree at Reynolds Journalism school joined the USGS team to pursue her journalism dreams.