After a softer 2025, Las Vegas has roared back into investment mode.
The payoff for luxury travelers: newly polished rooms, more high-end suites, splashy restaurants from globally celebrated chefs and another round of day clubs and nightclubs redesigned for maximum spectacle.
Industry observers say 2026 is shaping up as a transformation year for the city — maybe the most consequential one in more than a decade. “The beginning of 2026 is off to a rip-roaring start,” said Derek Stevens, owner and CEO of the Circa, The D, and Golden Gate casinos.
Driving the excitement is a mix of things: performances by The Backstreet Boys, Metallica and The Eagles at The Sphere; home NFL games with the Las Vegas Raiders; and the return of Formula 1 racing on The Strip.
Then there are hotel renovations and openings, starting with the Vanderpump Hotel, which converts the former Cromwell into a resort designed by “Real Housewives of Beverly Hills” and “Vanderpump Rules” star Lisa Vanderpump and her business partner Nick Alain.
Caesars Palace opened the year with two newly designed rooftop Presidential Villas and 29 Sky Villas designed by Peter Silling & Associates. It is now planning to convert the 1,000 rooms in the Augustus Tower into an all-suite hotel. The Cosmopolitan recently updated 24 penthouse suites and 14 entourage rooms. Encore is renovating all its suites, while Aria and the rest of the Cosmopolitan have room refreshes coming soon. And looming over The Strip is the guitar tower of the Hard Rock hotel, rising at the former Mirage site.
This follows recent renovations at Wynn Las Vegas, its Fairway Villas, Bellagio and MGM Grand. Park MGM just redid the former Nomad hotel-within-a-hotel as The Reserve.
The new Caesars suites help celebrate the hotel’s 60th anniversary, said Sean McBurney, chief commercial officer and regional president of Las Vegas for Caesars Entertainment.
“The premium market continues to grow, demand there is very strong, and we simply just didn’t have enough product. So, the opportunity to introduce a new category of villas effectively doubled our amount of premium inventory,” McBurney said.
Next door, Bellagio is remodeling its 55,000-square-foot spa with upgraded facilities, co-ed lounges, and enhanced wellness amenities.
Across the city, new restaurants are opening. Cantina Contramar from Gabriela Cámara brings vibrant Mexican seafood; Copper Sun from the Happy Lamb Hot Pot team offers immersive fine-dining hot pot; Carbone Riviera is the latest outpost of the famous New York restaurant; Gymkhana brings Michelin-starred London Indian cooking to the Strip; Maroon from Kwame Onwuachi blends American steakhouse swagger with Afro-Caribbean flavor; and Sartiano’s Italian Steakhouse, with culinary direction from Alfred Portale, leans into prime cuts, American Wagyu and Milanese polish.
There’s been much talk about the death of Vegas — and 2025 was a down year, with overall visitors down 7.5 percent, according to statistics published by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. Yet the amount each visitor spent was up. With fewer visitors, overall gaming in Clark County still rose 0.9 percent to $13.7 billion. Hotel operators say spending is also up on rooms, food and just about everything else.
“You’re seeing a much higher level of spend and on higher-end items,” said Stevens. “You’re seeing more spend on cabanas and more spend on champagne and more spend on big celebrations and more expensive celebrations.”
Hotels sold 88 percent of their rooms over weekends during the first three months of this year. For big events, they are selling even more — especially high-end and specialty suites.
“More people walk in and want to upgrade to a suite than ever before. More people ask for a chef’s table at the restaurant,” Stevens said. “People are making it more of a celebratory trip than they ever have before.”
Big events at Allegiant Stadium or The Sphere are bringing people to the city. And since those ticket prices are generally high, they drive wealthier visitors who want a five-star experience, said Erin Naeve, vice president of revenue management and distribution for Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
That has boded well for the hotel, especially for the Fleur de Lis collection of suites and penthouses — 76 different room configurations on the top five floors.
Travelers used to book flights first, then a hotel, then figure out what they wanted to do in town.
“That’s really entirely reversed over the last few years,” Naeve said. Now it’s: “I’ve got to get my tickets first, and then I’ll do hotel, and then I’ll do airfare.”
That’s why Fontainebleau now offers themed activations throughout the property to match major events in town, from a series of Marc Anthony concerts at the hotel to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in December.
“You have to capitalize off of why a customer is coming here and why they’re choosing Las Vegas,” she said.
Addie Bell Zackon, founder of Jetset & Travel, a travel agency affiliated with Virtuoso, agrees that events are driving travel. Gambling often isn’t even part of the itinerary.
“It’s going for a reason,” Bell Zackon said. “They’re not just going to Vegas to go to Vegas and to sit by the pool.”
Her clients typically book a group of standard rooms and one suite for entertaining. They want to get into the latest restaurants plus hot private members clubs, like the Poodle Room at Fontainebleau Las Vegas or the new Zero Bond at Wynn.
“That’s huge right now,” Bell Zackon said. “They want the things that people can’t get.”
The Formula 1 Heineken Las Vegas Grand Prix returns to the Strip for its fourth consecutive year, with more than 300,000 people expected for the Nov. 19-21 race weekend. This year, organizers connected the three fan zones to expand access to driver interviews, concerts and other activities.
Three-day general admission tickets start at $809, but prices climb quickly. Advisors need to understand just how much access their clients want.
“Do you want to be sitting with other fans shouting on a bleacher and then escape to get a little hospitality? Or do you want something a little cushier than that even,” said Alli England, vice president of premium sales and service for the race.
Skybox seats, with views of the start and finish lines, start at $8,377 for three days. At the top end is a food-focused trackside experience led by Gordon Ramsay, with paddock access, pit lane views and a rooftop overlooking the course. Three-day tickets, including driver meet-and-greets, pit lane walks and autograph sessions, start at $28,885.
Back at Caesars Palace, there’s a new VIP check-in area and a fleet of electric Cadillac Escalades to supplement the new villas. Privacy remains central to the high-end guest. Hidden elevators whisk guests directly to the Octavius villas. Some even have access to private corridors to get VIPs in and out of the complex without being seen by the public.
McBurney notes that 20 years ago, the Presidential Villas were given away exclusively to high-end gamblers. Today, 65 percent of the company’s revenue comes from non-gaming spend, and the suites are often rented by customers paying $1,500-plus a night for the Octavius Sky Villas and $35,000 or more for the Presidential Villas.
Across the street is the Vanderpump, which McBurney said will be “unlike anything in Las Vegas.” Most Vegas hotels have thousands of rooms, but the Vanderpump will have only 188.
“To go to a boutique, a true boutique hotel, in the single best location on the 50-yard line of the Las Vegas Strip is going to be really special,” he said.
Guests should expect a special welcome drive, “a clever turndown service” and other touches designed by Vanderpump, and, McBurney said, “that sort of naughty, witty experience” woven throughout their stay. It’s Vegas after all.
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