Las Vegas Loses Thousands Of Hotel Rooms With Tropicana, Mirage Closings

In 2024, the closing of two longtime Las Vegas Strip resorts — the Tropicana and Mirage — cost the region more than 4,500 hotel rooms.

The bulk of that room loss was at the Mirage, which had more than 3,000 hotel guest rooms.

Some of that overall room loss was regained with a remodeling project at Circa Resort and Casino in downtown Las Vegas, adding 106 rooms, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported. Also, two nongaming hotels opened in 2024, one in Henderson and another in North Las Vegas, adding a combined 213 rooms. These additions put 2024's total hotel room loss at 4,195, according to the newspaper.

The region expects to make up more of the 2024 lost room total with new construction in 2025 and beyond, the Review-Journal reported.

Major League Ballpark Planned For Tropicana Site

The closing of the Tropicana and Mirage not only shuttered thousands of rooms in the popular tourist destination but also highlighted the overall importance of those two hotel-casinos in Southern Nevada history.

The Tropicana, which first opened in 1957, was demolished in October 2024 to make way for a Major League Baseball stadium planned as the new home of the Athletics, beginning in 2028. Until then, the American League’s former Oakland Athletics are set to play in a minor league ballpark in Sacramento. The team will be known only as the Athletics, without a city designation, until moving to Las Vegas, officials said. A Bally’s Corp. resort also is planned for the site.

The arrival of the A's will add to the area's evolution as a sports destination, joining major pro-sports teams such as the NFL's Raiders, NHL's Golden Knights and WNBA's Aces.

Because of the Tropicana, the stadium site will be remembered for its role in shaping the Las Vegas Valley's history.  

Once known as “The Tiffany of the Strip,” the Tropicana was one of the last of the former Mob-linked properties with original construction on the resort corridor. A few formerly Mob-connected properties with original construction are still in business on the Strip, including Circus-Circus, Slots-A-Fun and Caesars Palace.

However, most of the Mob-era resorts on the Strip, such as the Desert Inn, Riviera, Sands, Stardust, Dunes and Hacienda, have been demolished. The Flamingo is at the same location the east side of the Strip as when gangster Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel first opened it in 1946, though the last original building was torn down in 1993.

In downtown Las Vegas, the Fremont and El Cortez are examples of formerly Mob-linked resorts still in operation with original construction.

Former Mirage Site Slated For Hard Rock Resort

The Mirage hotel-casino closed last summer on the west side of the Strip, but when casino developer Steve Wynn first opened it in 1989, the Mirage sparked a boom in megaresort construction along the highway. It was the first new hotel-casino on the Strip in more than 15 years. 

Now, the Seminole Tribe of Florida plans to build a Hard Rock hotel-casino at the former Mirage site. A guitar-shaped hotel is planned for the space once occupied by the Mirage volcano, which fired off flames that, in the early days, were piña colada-scented.

The Hard Rock is slated to open in 2027 with 3,640 rooms.

Before that happens, the region is expected to add even more rooms in 2025 from six projects, the Review-Journal reported. This new construction includes the largest of that half-dozen, the 384-room tower at M Resort in Henderson. That project is excepted to be completed this summer.

Las Vegas Area By The Numbers

• Hotel rooms: 154,662
• Average daily room rate: $191.29
• Occupancy rate: 83.4%
• Visitor volume: 40.8 million

Source: Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, 2023 figures