- One of the great things about Las Vegas is,
it's always changing.
There's always new things to see you whenever you visit.
In this video,
I'm gonna give you my annual update
of what's new in Las Vegas for 2022.
Sharing with you the new things
that opened in the past year,
and what's coming this year,
to help you plan your trips,
so you get to see the new stuff.
I'll be sharing with you the new hotels,
the new restaurants, new attractions, new entertainment,
and I'll also be sharing with you some of the, perhaps,
negative trends that are coming to Vegas
to make you spend more money quicker
as companies try to do here.
Now, if you're getting to Vegas by airplane,
the first new thing you'll notice is the airport.
Okay, the airport's not new, but the airport has a new name.
It used to be called McCarran International Airport,
and now it's called Harry Reid International Airport.
Okay, let's move on to new hotels.
And probably the most significant new hotel
to open in the past year is Resorts World.
This has been in development for a long, long time,
and it is the most expensive hotel
to ever have been built in Las Vegas at $4.3 billion.
It is epic; it is extravagant.
It hearkens back to the days when like the Bellagio
and the Mirage just captivated everybody.
That's how I feel about the Resorts World.
Inside, there's 40 restaurants and bars.
There's a really awesome food court
that specializes in Asian eats.
Now, while Resorts World is open,
it's definitely still in development.
They're opening new things all the time.
They're building the Vegas Loop to come here
that we're gonna talk about later.
You'll still see construction and lots of things
that say Coming Soon here.
If you wanna see more about what's inside Resorts World,
I'll have a whole video tour walkthrough coming up soon,
so make sure you subscribe for that.
Now, what may be a little bummer about Resorts World is
for hotel guests.
They used to offer free valet parking.
Unfortunately, that's no more.
If you wanna valet park as a hotel guest,
it will now cost you $21.
If you're wondering
where free parking still is along the Las Vegas Strip,
well, I have the answer for you.
You'll find it at the Tropicana, Treasure Island,
Venetian, Palazzo, Sahara, Wynn, and Circus Circus,
oh, and Resorts World.
Actually, Resorts World has free self-parking.
It's just the valet parking that's gonna cost you.
- In addition, Resorts World,
there's one other new hotel in town.
What, well, new-ish.
It's the Virgin Hotel, Las Vegas.
This replaced the former Hard Rock Hotel.
So it's not a new construction like Resorts World is.
It is a remodel, rebrand, refinish
of the former Hard Rock Hotel.
It has, kind of, a modern, funky vibe hip inside,
interesting to visit and walk around and see it.
It's also unique because the casino
is operated by a Native American tribe.
And you'll also find a lot of British elements in the room.
For example, the trash cans don't say trash or garbage
they say rubbish.
But if you're considering staying at the Virgin Hotel,
note that I did have some cleanliness issues in my rooms.
Yes, rooms.
Stay tuned for the full room reviews
to hear and see more about that.
And the Virgin Hotel, just like Resorts World,
is also affiliated with Hilton honors.
So if you're a Hilton honors member and you're staying here,
you'll get like 12 bucks for breakfast,
and you'll get Hilton points for your stay.
The Encore has decided it's gonna be a dog-friendly hotel.
What does that mean?
Well, it means that dogs are now welcome.
And if you bring your dog,
your dog will get a little welcome package,
including a dog neckerchief, a dog treat, and a dog toy.
So, dogs, welcome at the Encore.
Pay your respects to the Mirage Hotel while you can.
It's been sold.
The Hard Rock International Group has purchased the Mirage.
They intend to replace it with a guitar-shaped hotel,
which means the volcano's gonna be going away
within the next few years.
So make sure you check it out
while this classic piece of Vegas is still here.
Changes are coming to The Cosmopolitan
because it has a new owner.
MGM has purchased The Cosmopolitan,
which means it will likely be leaving
the Marriott affiliation and joining Mlife,
which means it's gonna be affiliated
with Hyatt Properties.
MGM has also announced that they may consider
developing another South Strip property.
Pretty much all their hotels are here in the South Strip.
They particularly mentioned that in front of the Excalibur,
there are some developable land.
What will it be?
Still not sure.
Caesar's Palace is getting a grand new entrance lobby.
This is supposed to be done before the 1st of January.
Construction was furiously underway when I was here.
What's gonna be in the middle?
There's gonna be a big statue of,
guess who, Julius Caesar.
But my favorite thing
to happen in any hotel in Las Vegas, this year,
is at the Bellagio.
Finally, they got rid of the revolving door from the bridge,
at the Caesar's Palace.
And so now it's really nice.
You can get into the Bellagio without
having to wait in the line for five minutes
to go through the revolving door.
The Bacchanal Buffet has reopened at Caesar's Palace,
and it's been reopened for a little while.
But actually, the most exciting part about its reopening is
it now takes reservations.
You no longer have to stand in
the really long line to eat here.
Instead, you can make a reservation on open table.
Prices have gone up.
Dinner is $81,27.
And if you do wanna eat here,
you might wanna make a reservation about
two months in advance because it's that popular.
Now, there's other buffets that have reopened in Vegas,
but if you're looking for the top-end buffet,
look no further than Bacchanal.
At the Wynn, they recently did a remodel
of their Parasol Up Lounge.
It's now called the Overlook Lounge.
A little bit more of a moody vibe.
Why is it called the Overlook Lounge?
Well, it overlooks their nighttime show.
The lake that's in the sun of the Wynn.
It's also right above Parasol Down,
which has these really neat circular escalators.
They're not new, but I just loved to ride them.
Up, down, up, down, up, down.
You can take those a few times if you want to.
That's a free ride in Vegas.
The other new eating establishment at the Wynn is
the Delilah Supper Club.
What is a supper club, you ask?
Well, it's a place that kind of has a 1920s vibe to it.
They have entertainment,
they have dancing, and they have expensive prices.
Fish and chips here is gonna cost you $72.
You can also get a caviar service for $2,25.
Interesting note, they do not allow photography,
posting or, of course, video inside,
but you know it's cool
because it's got this little green velvet rope around it.
This place is so popular
that reservations are booked out for months.
And if you do get one,
they limit the table time to only two hours.
Now, if you thinking of moving Delilah at the Wynn,
you got another new supper club option,
the Mayfair at the Bellagio.
This one actually has some windows so you can see inside.
And it's also got that 1920s swanky vibe.
Now, quite at the other end
of the spectrum from supper clubs is the Olive Garden.
And the Olive Garden actually,
just opened a new location here on the Las Vegas Strip.
It's actually right up above me,
right there in the Showcase Mall,
which is like the big Coke bottle behind me right there.
And now foodies may scoff at the Olive Garden,
but they're all-you-can-eat soup,
salad, and breadsticks for $12,49, I think is one
of the best all-you-can-eat values on the Strip right now.
Also, right next to Olive Garden,
there's a new Target store,
which if you're looking for provisions,
I always used to recommend Walgreens or CVS,
but this Target is where it's at.
And if you wanna pre-fuel for a night on the town,
well, they've got a walk-in beer cave
with quite a big selection
of cold beers at reasonable prices.
And if you wanna do
this kind of neat immersive fly override,
it's called Flyover.
It's right next to the Hard Rock Cafe,
which is like two doors down from the Olive Garden.
34 Bucks, and you can like fly over some varied sites.
It's sort of like soaring at California adventure,
but here in Las Vegas.
Now, if you're looking for delicious Chinese food,
look no further than Din Tai Fung,
newly opened at the Aria Hotel.
And this is Northern Chinese food
from Din Tai Fung chain from Taiwan.
They specialize in Xiao Long Bao,
which are small juicy soup dumplings.
And you can see their chefs making them here,
with the holidays, so they're wearing Santa's hats.
At Harrah's, you'll find a new celebrity chef outpost at
Bobby's Burgers by, guess who, Bobby Flay.
You'll find this in the Fulton Street Food Hall,
right to the entrance of the Caesar's Forum.
A burger here's gonna set you back a cool 13 bucks.
Add fries that'll be another A$6.
And also, fairly new to the Grand Canal Shop,
is Smith and Wollensky and you might be thinking,
"Chris, why are you showing me Gondolas?"
Smith and Wollensky is right up there,
right above the main Gondola turnaround.
This is a classic steakhouse that used to be on the Strip,
Now here in the Venetian's Grand Canal shops.
There's another celebrity chef restaurant opening at
The Linq Hotel, you know,
right next to this high roller here.
The star of the Cake Boss reality series on TLC
is opening a restaurant in the back called the Boss Cafe.
Look for it towards The Linq entrance to the Caesar's Forum,
Dominique Ansel, the creator
of the Cronut in New York City,
that super popular pastry is gonna be opening a bakery
at Caesar's Palace in 2022.
It's supposed to be somewhere near
the Gordon Ramsey Pub and Grill.
I'm looking forward to some tasty Cronuts in Las Vegas.
Nobu plans to open its third Vegas location
at the Paris Hotel, sometime in 2022.
Other two locations,
you'll find it at Caesar's Palace and at the Virgin Hotel.
The Circus Circus Hotel,
there's new food corp
where you'll find an Einstein's Bagels,
or Popeye's, a Pickup Stix, a Dairy Queen,
and then there's also a new arcade,
which I find a little bit more interesting.
This is underneath the Midway.
So lots of fun, crane games for kids,
driving games, and shooting games for the bigger kids.
Now, Las Vegas' coolest new attraction
is definitely Omega Mart.
This is in the Area 15 complex,
which opened about a year and a half ago.
But Omega Mart opened in 2021.
It is a supermarket.
It is a museum.
It is an art exhibit.
It is trippy.
It is a crazy thing.
It's really hard to explain,
but you definitely should come and see it.
It's not cheap, it's $49, but I think it's worth it.
If you wanna see more of my walking tour through it,
now, that'll be coming out soon,
you'll find the link to that in my whole of Vegas playlist.
If you wanna see more on Omega Mart
to decide whether you really wanna come or not.
But I think you should.
And while you're at Omega Mart,
definitely check out the rest of Area 15.
There are like 10 or 15 different attractions in here.
You can throw axes.
There's an arcade.
You can go on like a new school type of,
sort of like, zip line thing
that runs around the roof of it.
You could easily spend a whole day in Area 15,
but I would say no less than three hours,
no less than two in Omega Mart,
and then another hour browsing Area 15 itself.
Now, while you're at Area 15,
check out the new restaurant in it
that recently opened called The Beast by Todd English.
They specialize in barbecue.
Right here, I've got their Brisket Sausage Sandwich,
and I've got their Mac and Cheese in a skillet.
Let me tell you this is pretty tasty.
I already took one bite, so I know it's tasty but,
inside, you can see there's a hotlink
and there's the brisket.
Really good.
One attraction that I'm particularly excited for is
the opening of the Pinball Hall of Fame Museum
on the Las Vegas Strip.
This is located just about a quarter-mile south
of the Mandalay Bay.
It used to be a couple of miles off the Strip,
but they just opened this location
with their really huge sign that says, Pinball.
This place is a museum and an arcade.
There's no admission fee.
All of the machines take quarters.
If you love Pinball, definitely check out this place.
Now, if you find yourself in town for a convention,
you might find yourself at Caesar's Forum.
This is the newest convention center.
It is located right between Harris and The Linq Hotels.
And with the opening of the Caesars Forum,
they built a new little shortcut area
that you can take to go between Harris
and The Linq on the backside.
Planet Hollywood is gonna be remodeling
their Miracle Mile shops.
It's probably about time because a portion of it
is still from the old Aladdin Hotel right here,
the old desert passage.
But if you liked the rain shower show that was here,
check that out now, because there's gonna be construction
throughout the next year to overhaul this whole thing.
Also, kind of bad news about Planet Hollywood,
the free parking that they've always had is finally gone.
They're charging for parking here.
So, rest in peace for free parking at Planet Hollywood.
And coming to the City Center complex
is an entirely new shopping center known as Project 63.
It's currently under construction.
When it does open, it'll be right next to
the existing shopping center, Crystal.
On the subject of entertainment,
Adele is getting her first Las Vegas residency.
It's gonna be at the Caesar's Palace Coliseum,
January through April 2022.
Now over at Resorts World,
Celine Dion recently announced the cancellation
of her residency there,
but they quickly replaced her with the announcement
of Michael Bublé's residency in April and May of 2022.
So now that we know about all the new stuff coming to Vegas,
I wanna share with you about some of the trends,
you'll see in 2022.
The first one is
that international visitors are back,
international travel returned to Vegas in November of 2021,
which is a good thing
because international visitors spend 50% more
then us domestic visitors.
So that is good to Vegas.
Conventions, I think, will start to come back in 2022,
but I don't think we'll see a full return
to conventions in 2022.
We can expect that in '23 or '24.
Some of the negative trends poker rooms are closing.
Many of the Strip hotels have closed their poker rooms,
in particular, the poker rooms at the Flamingo, Rio, Linq
Planet Hollywood, and Binion's are no more.
So now you might be asking yourself,
"Chris, if the Rio closed their poker room,
where's the World Series of Poker gonna be for 2022?
It's gonna be at Paris and Bally's
for 2022 World Series of Poker.
Keno rooms are another Vegas trend going away of The Dodo.
This past year, we've seen the closure
of the Keno rooms at the Fremont, the 4 Queens,
and the El Cortez.
If you do wanna play Keno,
there's three left downtown at the California,
at the D and the Plaza Hotel.
The three remaining keno rooms on the Strip
are at the Excalibur, Bally's, and Harrah's.
Now a trend that only has one data point,
but I don't like, it is on the note
of those voucher ticket redemption things
that you get out of the slot machine,
where they don't give you coins.
They don't give you your money back,
but you can typically go to a machine,
the casino and get your 50 cents.
While at Caesar's Palace Hotel,
there's no more coins in the redemption machine.
If you wanna redeem it,
you have to take it to the Casino Cage Counter
and have the cashier give you your 50 cents.
Who's gonna do that?
That's just them, nickel and diming you for 50 more cents.
Speaking of coins, slot machines that give out coins,
and that's another one that's going away in The Dodo.
There was only one hotel left on the Strip
that dispenses coins,
that is the Circus Circus.
You'll find those slot machines,
right as you come in from the Slots of Fun.
There are still two hotels in Downtown Vegas
that do coin slots, the El Cortez and the California.
Now the latest fee to hit Las Vegas
is reservation fees at restaurants.
If you want a view table in particular,
at the Top Of The World restaurant at the Strat,
if you want a view table,
you'll have to pay $25 to make that reservation
to get a guaranteed view table.
Giada also charge you with $25.
Al Fresco dining fee for that $25 view.
If you wanna view table at the Paris,
at the Eiffel Tower restaurant,
that one's gonna cost you $40.
That doesn't go to food or anything,
that's just the reservation fee to get that choice table.
We're also seeing table games start to disappear
from the smaller casinos.
For example, at Casino Royale,
the Center Strip Mainstay, all of their table games
used to be by the food corp are gone completely.
Good news, the $2,49 Hot Dogs are still here.
A trend in hotels that the pandemic
has certainly accelerated are self-check-in kiosks.
If you find the human check-in lines are too long,
definitely try to give one of these a go.
They don't always work, but you know,
if the line looks like a half hour.
It's worthwhile talking to Mr. Machine instead.
And one positive trend we're seeing in Vegas for sports fans
is Vegas is becoming a major sports city,
capped off by the fact that the NFL just announced
that the Super Bowl in 2024,
is gonna be hosted in Las Vegas at Allegiance Stadium.
And finally, I wanna share with you some news
about projects that people always ask me about.
These are future projects coming in 2023 and beyond,
but what better place to talk about the future of Vegas
than in front of the past in front of the Plaza Hotel?
The first one is the Las Vegas Loop by The Boring Company.
That just received approval
from the Las Vegas governing bodies to move forward,
building 29 miles of tunnels under Las Vegas
with 59 stations connecting the airport
to the Convention Center to Downtown Las Vegas.
That'll be pretty cool, no firm timelines on that yet.
One that does have a more firm timeline is the MSG Sphere.
This is the concert area, the $1.8 billion project.
That's a dome concert hall
but it will be pretty cool in 2023.
There are some rumors that The Tropicana might be purchased
and replaced with a ballpark.
No firm news on that yet.
And finally, everybody always asks,
"Chris, what about the train from Los Angeles to Las Vegas?"
You know, the news reports all talk and say,
it's still in progress,
but I don't think we're gonna see that one
anytime in our lifetimes.
The latest news is, it's gonna go
from Las Vegas to Victorville,
but who's actually gonna ride that
if those are the stations?
And then, of course, there's this project
The Drew Fountain Blue Kitty Corner from Circus Circus.
This thing is in a never-ending state of never happening.
So it's another one that's like changed hands 27 times.
Construction is still sort of underway.
Now, fellow explorers, if you enjoyed this video,
you'll definitely enjoy more of my videos on Las Vegas.
You can click here on the screen for my whole playlist,
or there's a few other ones here in the screen
you might enjoy watching.
You'll also find the link subscription below.
As usual, I won't say goodbye
because I'll see you in one of these videos.