Mirage shutting down for three years, starting July 17, reopening as Hard Rock

[Dan Druff]

Mirage opened in 1989, developed by Steve Wynn as the strip's first megaresort.

It was originally predicted to be an expensive failure, as the amount of daily revenue to keep the doors open seemed unrealistic. Instead, it ended up highly successful, and transforming the Las Vegas strip into becoming the de facto center and tourist destination of Las Vegas.

Mirage was eventually rolled into MGM, and Wynn's involvement ended in 2000.

In December 2022, it was sold to Hard Rock, and became the first tribal-managed casino in Las Vegas.

The plan was to renovate and rebrand it into a Hard Rock property, similar to their guitar-shaped Seminole Hard Rock property in Florida. The previous Hard Rock in Vegas was sold to Virgin in 2020, and currently operates as the struggling Virgin Hotels Las Vegas.

The renovation plans of Mirage dragged, and instead it continued operating as Mirage for over a year and a half. A closure date was floated around as spring 2024, but never verified.

Now we have verification. Mirage will close on July 17, 2024, and will remain shut down for approximately 3 years.

The existing hotel will be renovated, and a second tower will be built to look like a guitar, and will be 700 feet tall. The casino size will be doubled.

In 2023, Mirage was a frequent destination of advantage players, who took advantage of generous offers made available to certain players.

https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment...orts-110276781

[kewlJ]

Goodbye Mirage. I always hate seeing one of the "iconic" places go. But that is the Vegas way of reinventing itself.

Just curious. Who owned the "Mirage" name or brand? MGM I guess?

[jdog]

I had a feeling this was going to be the last time I'd see the volcano erupt.

[MDawg]

I always hate seeing one of the "iconic" places go.

Shouldn't really bother you in that there's no view from the underground. You could (and probably do) stare all day at your left shoe (or foot, when times are especially lean and you are barefoot), and not care what's out there anyway.

[kewlJ]

I clicked on this thread and latest post by the troll Mdawg, thinking he might have some interesting experience about Mirage to share from his experiences as a higher limit -EV gambler. Silly me! It is just more of the Mdawg trolling.

That is ALL he contributes to this forum now. Even hijacking a thread started by the forum owner just to continue his trolling. And THAT is the legacy of the gread Mdawg and his "adventure".

[accountinquestion]

I clicked on this thread and latest post by the troll Mdawg, thinking he might have some interesting experience about Mirage to share from his experiences as a higher limit -EV gambler. Silly me! It is just more of the Mdawg trolling.

That is ALL he contributes to this forum now. Even hijacking a thread started by the forum owner just to continue his trolling. And THAT is the legacy of the gread Mdawg and his "adventure".

Yes but he made me audibly laugh. Thats not easy.

[accountinquestion]

How have you been doing Kewl?

Has your relative absence from here been a positive in the emotional/mood aspect of your life?

[accountinquestion]

I just feel like everything is so overbuilt.

They have a perfectly fine property in a primo location. You have these other places around LV on strip that didn't have enough prospect to be finished out on schedule. Delayed for years. Clearly there wasn't a lot of people lined up to back it.

So now you're going to shut this casino down for a loss for years just to open up 3 years from now with a guitar shaped building and no clue what the LV situation will be? I mean ok yea interior redone too which always makes a place worth a visit .. but I don't see it.

So it is reopened up.. "hey lets go check out the mirage" says everyone .. but does that mean people are going to stay there that much? Most people are just going to walk over there and the novelty is mostly spent.. maybe gamble a bit then go back to their hotel. I don't think people with deep pockets give a fuck about a guitar shaped building. They get rid of the cool shit in LV like that goofy statue of the woman and man... milllion dollar cash display .. the actual stuff that has a unique feel. I guess my sense of aesthetics are either too refined or not refined enough.

Hard Rock was tried off strip. You don't even have much of a new concept. Maybe they'll get the shirt Tupac was actually shot in this time and we can see the blood stains. Maybe the ultra-rare used condom of Liberace. Michael Jackson's collection of pre-teen undies. hopefully for their sake they find some magic.

That guitar shit didn't do it at the old Hard Rock.

Are there even any live shows anymore? The pirates gone, Rio's skycircus gone long time ago, Circus-circus.. now you get awkward half-assed strippers on blackjack tables with horrible rules. At least Bellagio will keep their fountain.. the day it goes out it will be the end of something significant... likely water related

[Cerveza Fria]

I'm actually looking forward to this. I frequently gamble at the Seminole Hard Rock in Hollywood, Florida, and now will be able to earn/use my comps in LV. Plus, since they have competition, they will have to be competitive with the comps unlike in South Florida.

[jdog]

My guess is they want to go more 'over the top' than the original plan and decided it wasn't cost effective to keep it open during the remodel. The guitar hotel at the Hollywood Seminole is pretty damn impressive, so a 700ft version on the strip would dominate aesthetically. But I agree it is ambitious without knowing the state of the economy upon completion. This is always how developers get themselves into trouble in Vegas. It's almost as if it has become the place for corporations to compare their dicks.

With so many trips over the years LV feels like a second home, so I can't help but get nostalgic every time something goes away never to be seen again. Things like the Treasure Island pirate show and a fake volcano are cheesy but unique experiences. Won't be long before Wayne Newton stops doing shows...

[Dan Druff]

Mirage has the benefit of a good location, so properties there can't be a complete failure. Hard Rock purchasing Mirage was a lot smarter than Mohegan's fail partnership with Virgin at the former Hard Rock (off strip), or San Manuel/Yaamava buying Palms.

In fact, you'd think San Manuel would be very aware of how much location matters. Their tremendous success with Yaamava stems almost exclusively from their great location -- located close to the populous areas of San Bernadino and Riverside counties. They've got a virtual monopoly on that area, for people who don't feel like driving to Temecula or wherever.

Bad locations are killing Fontainebleu and Resorts World.

The rule of thumb since the 2000s in Vegas: Properties in or near center strip succeed, and properties anywhere else fail. I'm not talking about locals casinos, which are a different animal entirely.

I can tell you from experience that Mirage has been mismanaged by the Seminoles thus far. Maybe they'll get it together after the renovation, but I'm not holding my breath. Laughably, you usually couldn't even see your Mirage reservations on their website after booking them. Can you imagine? That functionality has been around for 25 years. They just never integrated their system properly with Mirage.

And the parking lot? Same thing. You can't swipe your card in and out, if you're of a tier status getting free parking. You need to take a ticket, and then flash your card to an employee they had to place there during peak hours. During non-peak, they just left the exit gate open. Epic fail.

I could go on and on regarding the disorganization I saw there. They made Caesars look competent operationally, and that's saying a lot. There were some nice/helpful employees who were a pleasure to deal with, but a lot of people who were super clueless, especially in the rewards club.

Doesn't bode well for future operations, but maybe they were just going through the motions until the closure and renovation.

[MDawg]

Hard Rock did great at that location while it was hot. Palms did great at its location as it took over as the hot spot after Hard Rock started to fade.

In the long run, both did falter - at least partly due to location.

What about places like Mandalay Bay? People said it would never succeed that far up the Strip. And, although a completely different animal - South Point.

South Point is obviously doing well with all the new towers being built - is Mandalay? I don't go there anymore other than for House of Blues concerts, last time I played there was in the early 2000s, so I wouldn't know.

[Rob.Singer]

In it's day HRH was tough to stay away from. The restaurants (especially Mortoni's, and beloved Pink Taco with their great high-end tequila selection), the video poker, the player's events, the very interesting memorabilia, and of course the classic music was always playing. My fondest memory is getting to know and occasionally dine with their casino manager--all while I was emptying some of his vp machines about once every 3 months as I continuously traveled the entire state.

The Mirage, aside from all the beautifully majestic tigers Siegfried & Roy brought in for their shows, offered all black background vp machines in their HL room which I preferred. It's also where I met and chatted with vp addict/bad guy Stephen Paddock. Overall I liked the place, and I'm sure being closed for 3 years to copy an Indian casino/hotel from Florida will be a big mistake. But with that poorly run Virgin and the over-hyped Fountainbleau both likely to fail--and quite possibly RW with them--there remains a sliver of hope for the place.

Somebody please answer kew's question so we can get him outta here and back over to his latest concocted tale thread.

[jpfromla]

My guess is they want to go more 'over the top' than the original plan and decided it wasn't cost effective to keep it open during the remodel. The guitar hotel at the Hollywood Seminole is pretty damn impressive, so a 700ft version on the strip would dominate aesthetically. But I agree it is ambitious without knowing the state of the economy upon completion. This is always how developers get themselves into trouble in Vegas. It's almost as if it has become the place for corporations to compare their dicks.

With so many trips over the years LV feels like a second home, so I can't help but get nostalgic every time something goes away never to be seen again. Things like the Treasure Island pirate show and a fake volcano are cheesy but unique experiences. Won't be long before Wayne Newton stops doing shows...

Wayne stopped doing shows awhile back. Just, nobody told Wayne.

[jpfromla]

I just feel like everything is so overbuilt.

They have a perfectly fine property in a primo location. You have these other places around LV on strip that didn't have enough prospect to be finished out on schedule. Delayed for years. Clearly there wasn't a lot of people lined up to back it.

So now you're going to shut this casino down for a loss for years just to open up 3 years from now with a guitar shaped building and no clue what the LV situation will be? I mean ok yea interior redone too which always makes a place worth a visit .. but I don't see it.

So it is reopened up.. "hey lets go check out the mirage" says everyone .. but does that mean people are going to stay there that much? Most people are just going to walk over there and the novelty is mostly spent.. maybe gamble a bit then go back to their hotel. I don't think people with deep pockets give a fuck about a guitar shaped building. They get rid of the cool shit in LV like that goofy statue of the woman and man... milllion dollar cash display .. the actual stuff that has a unique feel. I guess my sense of aesthetics are either too refined or not refined enough.

Hard Rock was tried off strip. You don't even have much of a new concept. Maybe they'll get the shirt Tupac was actually shot in this time and we can see the blood stains. Maybe the ultra-rare used condom of Liberace. Michael Jackson's collection of pre-teen undies. hopefully for their sake they find some magic.

That guitar shit didn't do it at the old Hard Rock.

Are there even any live shows anymore? The pirates gone, Rio's skycircus gone long time ago, Circus-circus.. now you get awkward half-assed strippers on blackjack tables with horrible rules. At least Bellagio will keep their fountain.. the day it goes out it will be the end of something significant... likely water related

Hell, the Bellagio fountains were down several months due to the Grandstands and F1.

[jpfromla]

At some point, some mogul/developer needs to understand there are not enough whales to fill every new mega-resort. That's why Resorts and Fountaineblow are struggling. The "we will build it and they will come days are over". They build these places with no other mindset.
Meanwhile, places like South Point - Caesars Palace for the mid-west, thrive. Bowling and horses, with reasonable priced everything else.
Palms did well under the Maloffs, locals joint weekdays and party central weekends. They blew it by really bad timing and over extending.
CET pretends to be top tier, but their properties are mostly second and third tiers and they have chased away a good chunk of their Total Rewards members - mid-tier players who were loyal and filled the place mid-week. How can you have a 10% loss, LV market, 1st quarter and the Super Bowl is in your backyard.

[Cerveza Fria]

I visited the Hard Rock when it was located off the strip. I was staying at the ARIA with some friends (we there to celebrate a birthday.) Anyway, one night we went to an Eric Church concert at the Hard Rock and my reaction upon walking in the front door was "What a Dump!". Couldn't wait to leave right after the show. Didn't stay and gamble. The Hard Rock in Hollywood, FL is much better and if they can duplicate what they've done with the Guitar Hotel and do it on the Vegas Strip, I think they will have something good. The Guitar is an attraction in and of itself, and will draw folks from some of the older stale hotels on the strip. A friend of mine once said the Guitar Hotel was the "8th Wonder of the World." I had to correct him, stating "...Andre the Giant" was the 8th Wonder of the World.

[MDawg]

Aria opened in 2009, so if you went to Hard Rock Vegas anytime after that, it was already far past its prime.

While the HRLV never had the largest or most luxurious suites in Vegas (the balconies were nice, and at the time the only Vegas casino hotel with balconies until Cosmo came along), and its casino was dark and oddly shaped with not much of a high limit salon (the Peacock Lounge was even darker than the rest of the casino, to where it was hard to see the cards unless you were right under a light), still the place was packed including with skinny hotties constantly during its early years, from opening to around 2001, when it started to fade, and Palms took over the limelight for that young hip crowd, until it too capitulated.

At that time, the very end of the 90s when I was just starting to be of legal gambling age, there was nothing like the HRLV in terms of hip cool and directed to the young good looking set, and it had its share of high rollers too (although - they were never much into the very high limit action, unless you had special limits as I did, they didn't want anyone betting more than $5K a hand, at any game).

I visited the Hard Rock when it was located off the strip. I was staying at the ARIA with some friends (we there to celebrate a birthday.) Anyway, one night we went to an Eric Church concert at the Hard Rock and my reaction upon walking in the front door was "What a Dump!"

That is almost like saying, "I went to the Sands in 1996 - what a dump!" - versus what was going on there in 1966.

[MisterV]

It would be a marketing boon for the new revamped Hard Rock to be "420 friendly."

Sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll...

[MDawg]

Not happening anytime soon on the Strip.

As I mentioned at WOV once, even the "dispensaries" on the Strip are just selling CBD based products to unsuspecting tourists with no THC whatsoever.




BTW I was wondering about somepin over there in Oregon, or Washington state, where the weather is pretty bad year round. V, do you have a gardener? At our homes if the weather is inclement for example rainy, we assume that our once a week gardener is off the hook and doesn't show up that week. When it happens rarely we just pay him anyway the usual monthly with no deduction for that no show. What about you? Do you or your neighbors have a gardener, and if so, is he expected to just show up rain or shine?