Las Vegas Hotels
By Name

Casino-Resorts of the Las Vegas Strip,
Downtown, and Valley

Photo © Andrew Hudson

Welcome to fabulous Las Vegas

By Andrew Hudson

Last updated:
First published: October 2005

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The major Las Vegas casino-resort-hotels sorted alphabetically by hotel name showing year opened, room count, and ownership. For more details about ownership, click here. By Andrew Hudson Created for the book A Photo Tour of Las Vegas List | Notes | Links Home | Introduction | Top Players | New Projects | News Hotels | Index | Timeshares | Links | Email

There are over 100 major hotels in Las Vegas. Let's take a look at them.

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Notes:

• Bally's was opened as the original MGM Grand Hotel (1973). After Kirk Kerkorian sold the hotel to Bally Manufacturing, it was renamed Bally Grand (1986) and Bally's (1996). It may be imploded and rebranded as a Horseshoe.
• Bill's Gamblin' Hall was previously known as Barbary Coast. The hotel was acquired from Boyd Gaming in March 2007 in a land swap for Westward Ho.
• Binion's dropped "Horseshoe" from its name in 2005. The hotel was owned by Horseshoe founder Benny Binion, then his daughter Becky Binion Behnen, then Harrah's Entertainment (2004), then MTR Gaming (2005).
• Budget Suites Las Vegas was originally known as Malibu Bay. There were once Budget Suites locations at Boulder Strip, Flamingo, Paradise and Stardust.
• Encore has also been known as Wynn North.
• Conrad Las Vegas proposed but cancelled in 2007.
• Fitzgerald's was previously known as Sundance (1979-1987).
• Golden Nugget has 1,907 rooms and is adding a 400-room tower (2008).
• Hard Rock Hotel: Morgans agreed to buy the hotel from Peter Morton in May 2006. In 2007, Morgans announced an expansion with two new towers, increasing the room count from 647 to about 1,500 by 2009.
• Hooter's was originally opened in 1974 as a 322-room Howard Johnson motel. New names followed: 20th Century, Treasury, Pacifica, and San Remo (1989-2007).
• Imperial Palace (1979-2007, 2,640 rooms) was bought in 2005 by Harrah's for $370 million from the estate of Ralph Engelstad. It may be redeveloped.
• Lady Luck was opened in 1964 as Honest John's (a newsstand and smoke shop), renamed Lady Luck in 1968. Hotel rooms were added in 1972, 1983 and 1989. Owners were Andy Tompkins (1964-2000), Isle of Capri Casinos (2000-2003), Steadfast Cos. (2003-2005).
• Las Vegas Hilton was opened as the International Hotel (1969-1971). Renamed in 1971.
• Loews Lake Las Vegas was previously the Hyatt Lake Las Vegas (1999-2007).
• Main Street Station originally opened in 1991, closed in 1992, and was remodeled and reopened in 1996.
• Mandalay Bay room count includes THEhotel and the Four Seasons.
• Maxim (300 hotel rooms + 1,860 condo-hotel rooms) was announced in 2006 but abandoned and the land sold to MGM Mirage. Was to be owned by Concord Wilshire Partners with the name licensed from Dennis Publishing Inc.
• The New Frontier (984 rooms) was sold in 2007 by Phil Ruffin to Elad Properties, which plans a 3,500-room replacement based on New York's Plaza hotel. The New Frontier was known as the Last Frontier (1942-1955), New Frontier (1955-1967), The Frontier (1967-1999). Named the New Frontier since 1999.
• Palace Station was previously known as Bingo Palace (1976-1984).
• Paramount Vegas is proposed for the site of the old Klondike Inn (153 rooms, 1962-2006).
• Planet Hollywood was previously known as the (new) Aladdin (2000-2007). The previous Aladdin (1963-1998) was known as Tally-Ho (1963-1965), King's Crown (1965-1966), and Aladdin (1966-1998).
• Plaza was known as Union Hotel (1970-1971), Union Plaza (1971-1992), Jackie Gaughan's Plaza (1992-2005). Named the Plaza since 2005.
• Project CityCenter: The main hotel has not yet been named.
• Rio was built and originally owned by the Marnell Family. Sold to Harrah's in 1999.
• The Tropicana was agreed to be bought by Columbia Sussex from Aztar in May 2006.
• Sahara was owned by Bill Bennett, then his son, William Gordon operating as Gordon Gaming. In March 2007, Gordon agreed to sell the hotel for an undisclosed sum to SBE and Stockbridge.
• Silverton was known as Boomtown (1994-1998).
• South Point was bought by Michael Gaughan in 2006. It was previously owned by Boyd Gaming and called Sout Coast.
• Stratosphere was opened as Vegas World (1979-1995). Bought by Carl Icahn's AREP in 1998, sold to Goldman Sachs' Whitehall Street Real Estate Funds in 2007.
• Westin Casuarina was formerly the Maxim (1979-2001, 795 rooms). Remodeled and reopened in 2003 with 825 rooms.
• W Las Vegas was proposed but cancelled in 2007. See Edge Group.
• Wynn Las Vegas was called "Le Reve" during development. Encore was called "Wynn North" and "Encore at Wynn" during development.

Closed since 2005:

• Boardwalk (1968-2007, 654 rooms, also known as the Holiday Inn) closed in January 2006 and was imploded in May 2006 to make way for Project CityCenter (2009). Was last owned by MGM Mirage.
• Bourbon Street (1980-2005) was closed Oct 2005. Opened as the Shenandoah and was owned, for a time, by Mr. Las Vegas himself, Wayne Newton. Harrah's may replace with a boutique hotel.
• Castaways (1954-2004) was closed in January 2004 due to bankruptcy. Opened as the Desert Showboat Motoro Inn and later known simply as the Showboat (500 rooms?). Demolition started in July 2005 and the tower may be imploded in 2006. Station Casions bought the property in 2004 and may build a new gaming project on the site.
• Golden Palm Hotel closed in March, 2007. The site is for sale, according to owner Marvin Lipschultz.
• Greek Isles (206 rooms), once owned by Chicago-based Mark IV Realty (which operated the Greek Isles under Convention Center Drive, LLC.). Greek Isles was previously known as the Royal American (1970s-1982), Paddlewheel (1983 or 1986-1993), Debbie Reynolds Hollywood Hotel (1993-1997), sold to World Wrestling Federation hotel (1999-2000), Convention Center Drive Hotel (1999-2000), Greek Isles Hotel Casino (2001-).
• Klondike (153 rooms) closed 2006. Proposed replacement: Paramount Vegas.
• Nevada Hotel (160 rooms) closed in 2006.
• Quality Inn Key Largo (1981-2005) closed in January 2005. Previously owned by The Robert L. Mayer Trust of 1982, based in Newport Beach, Calif. New owners may be Brett Johnson and John Gilbert. The site is planned to become a 196-foot condominium tower with 905 units and a 70-foot hotel tower with 344 rooms.
• Stardust (1958-2007, 1,500 rooms, owned by Boyd Gaming) was demolished in 2007 to make way for Echelon Place (2010). The Stardust opened in 1958 with 1,032 rooms, and was bought by Boyd Gaming in 1985. It was imploded on March 13, 2007.
• Westward Ho (1965-2005) closed in November 2005. It was bought in 2005 by a limited liability company including condominium and resort home developer Centex Destination Properties for $146 million. The 15-acre site (by Circus Circus) was going to be developed with hotels, condos and an observation wheel by Voyager Entertainment International, Inc. But it was bought in October 2006 by Harrah's and traded with Boyd to become part of Echelon Place.