STATESIDE
employees to wait
All cannot be totally erased. If you like trivia, pay attention the next time, or the first time, you watch the brilliant 1989 film Rainman, with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. When they take the “people mover” into Caesar’s Palace, the Mirage’s construction cranes and building are visible in the distance.
According to company officials, the Venetian’s “largest and most expensive hotel renovation in history” will create a new “energy, spirit and warmth” for its 25th anniversary. The Venetian will spend $1.5 billion on a top-to-bottom redevelopment project. The 4,000 guest suites, logo and every other area of the magnificent property will be redesigned.
At a cost of $1.5 billion, the Venetian opened in May 1999. It replaced the round 1950s-style Sands hotel/casino. Prior to its mid-1990s closure and implosion, I stayed there.
The Mirage volcano also inspired other Strip casino developers to highlight their sidewalk attractions. Bellagio’s exterior dancing fountains and the Venetian’s canals and gondolas are prime examples. When Wynn sold Mirage Resorts in 2000, MGM Grand paid $4.4 billion. In 2022, Hard Rock International (HRI) purchased just the Mirage property for $1 billion. By opening day in 2027, HRI will have converted the resort into its own signature brand, complete with a 700-foot guitar hotel that replicates its Florida resort. Any traces of the Mirage, including the volcano, will virtually disappear.
Operations will cease on July 14 and all reservations will be cancelled and refunded. Treasure Island will honor unused chips for 120 days. 3,000-plus employees scheduled for layoffs will share in an $80 million severance payout. They may have priority when the Hard Rock reopens, but HRI probably shouldn’t hold its breath for
Once the Mirage opened, almost every new casino adopted its own architectural theme. Las Vegas Sands owner Sheldon Adelson built his elegant Venetian to honor the iconic city of Venice.
Current executives claim the new design will still reflect Venice, but will “reimagine” how it might look in the “modern age.” Venetian President/CEO Patrick Nichols calls the project a “deep understanding of our guests”
What does that even mean? Why must everything about a property and its historic architectural presentation must change after only 25 years? The uniqueness of the real Venice-dating back centuries-is why it ranks among the world’s top tourist destinations and has attracted countless millions of tourists like me.
Upgrade, yes. Add the best current technology and amenities, yes. But, change it all? The first generation of then-21-year- old customers in 1999 are still only in their 40s.
Years ago, former Harrah’s President Gary Loveman said “a billion dollars is really a lot
of money.” He was right then and is right now. In Las Vegas, the word “billion” doesn’t have the shock value of before, but it still takes my breath away.
One improvement will be the $188 million upgrade to the convention center where G2E has been held for years. I hope that reconstruction includes the one-way in/ one-way out underground garage. My sole parking experience there on the lowest underground level meant an hour’s wait to exit. That was enough for me to park elsewhere.
My family did business in Las Vegas in the late 1980s/early 1990s and I watched several beautiful facilities go up. It saddens me that some will be relegated to the “once upon a time” category.
Yes, there is a time for everything. Sometimes you just “can’t go home again,” even if you want to. Good luck to Hard Rock and Venetian. I wish them both profitability and success.
Sharon Harris
Sharon has worked in the casino and coin- operated amusement industries since the 1980s. In the early 1990s, Sharon transferred her public relations and journalism skills to the gaming industry. She wrote her fi rst feature for Casino International predecessor EUROSLOT magazine in 1994.
As Associate Editor, North America for Casino International, Sharon has chronicled the explosive growth of U.S. gaming and reported on its most signifi cant changes. She has traveled across America to participate in dozens of industry events and has interviewed
hundreds of gaming operators,
executives and suppliers.
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