Hard Rock Las Vegas Says It Won’t Charge Resort Fees ahead of Closure

Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas is bidding farewell to its patrons by removing resort fees, known to be one of the biggest nuisances Las Vegas visitors are faced with when booking their stay in the city.

Hard Rock Las Vegas has less than a month before closing doors for good and undergoing a planned $200 million renovation and transformation into Virgin Hotels Las Vegas. To mark its final days in Vegas, the property has unveiled a No Resort Fees! offer for new reservations. The offer will be valid through January 31 and will apply to all new reservations through February 2.

Resort fees have become increasingly common in Las Vegas, particularly at properties on the Strip where these charges exceed $50 per night at some resorts. And their rise in recent years has become increasingly irritating and frowned upon by visitors.

Most recently, casino powerhouse Caesars Entertainment Corp. stacked up resort charges at on-Strip Caesars Palace and Nobu Hotel at Caesars Palace from $44.21 per night (including tax) to $51.02 per night, saying that the fees were brought in line with relevant competitors.

MGM Resorts International, another operator with solid Las Vegas presence, raised last summer resort fees at its Aria, Vdara and Bellagio resorts to $45 per night.

Virgin Hotels Transformation

Hard Rock Las Vegas is set to undergo an eight-month revamp and then be rebranded as Virgin Hotels Las Vegas after the hospitality business of British billionaire Richard Branson purchased the property in the spring of 2018.

Work on the hotel and casino complex’s transformation will kick off on February 3, that is to say the Monday after this year’s Super Bowl. The renovated and rebranded property is expected to open doors sometime in November 2020.

Hard Rock Las Vegas will remain closed during its transformation. Commenting on the upcoming closure of the property, Richard “Boz” Bosworth, CEO of JC Hospitality, the company that acquired the resort in March on behalf of Virgin Hotels, said late last year that “by 4 o’clock the day after the Super Bowl, the last guest will be leaving, and the construction fences will be going up, and the doors will be locked.”

When it resumes operations this coming fall, Hard Rock Las Vegas will feature a hotel with 1,500 renovated rooms and suites, a new 60,000-square-foot casino that will be managed by Mohegan Gaming & Entertainment, five acres of pool space, 130,000 square feet of meeting and event space, and multiple food and beverage facilities.

As part of the transformation, workers demolished in November the property’s Hard Rock Cafe to allow room for parking and ride-share space. The restaurant originally opened doors in 1990 and was shuttered in late 2016. No demolition work would be done on the main hotel building.

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