TOP 10 Newest Hotels on Las Vegas Strip 2018

The Monte Carlo has received a billion-dollar makeover. Unlike some rebrandings, Park MGM is not simply a new logo for a dated, dying resort. Every part of Park MGM—from its 2,600 guest rooms to its restaurants to its casino—is getting a much-needed facelift.

According to the hotel’s designer, nothing is supposed to feel perfect. Parts of it certainly do not. The massive tree-root centerpiece hanging over the lobby seems designed to make guests feel fascinated, yet uneasy. Mirrors covering the pillars similarly make the interior look enormous, even a bit disorienting.

Rooms, on the other hand, are furnished to make guests feel like they are in a new home. No two are exactly alike. Each has its own assortment of modern photographs and paintings. Bathrooms feature the latest in twenty-first-century convenience and style.

The casino floor and other amenities are still under construction. But don’t let that stop you from enjoying dinner at the ground floor’s newest restaurants. Bavette’s serves exceptional dry-aged beef amid a refined atmosphere containing rich, dark woods and chandeliers. Primrose specializes in refreshing French fare and even contains a drawing room evoking mid-century country villas in Provence.

Though Park MGM seems a bit spartan as it opens, by year’s end, guests can expect it to be one of the hottest places on the Strip. Its location right next to MGM’s new arenas will make it popular with concert-goers and sports fanatics. Within months, its Eataly Italian marketplace and dozens of other dining, gambling, and entertainment options will attract Vegas frequenters searching for something new.

The Lucky Dragon has become the Unlucky Dragon. After rumors of struggles in December 2017, the Lucky Dragon has closed and put it's self up for auction.

This hotel and casino was the first resort built on the Vegas Strip from the ground up since the Cosmopolitan in 2010. With just 203 rooms, this boutique hotel and casino puts a Chinese twist on the city’s trend toward smaller, contemporary-style resorts.

The news may be a result of its failure to attract its target audience, American and international Asian vacationers. It could just as well be part of the ongoing difficulties faced by investors trying to revitalize the northern Strip.

During the year the Lucky Dragon operated, dining revolved around what executives described as a “night market.” Options were inspired by street food outlets in Taipei and Beijing. Cuisine ranged from freshly-prepared Chinese favorites to dim sum and fine-dining delicacies, such as abalone and Kurobuta pork.

Whoever does purchase the Lucky Dragon, we expect the tea garden will likely go. Let’s be honest: Tea is a tough sell in a city built by mobsters who made money trafficking alcohol during prohibition. The people want bartenders, not tea sommeliers.

The fourth floor may also comeback. The Chinese consider the number four unlucky, so they skipped it to appeal to their target market. But Vegas hotels are tough enough to navigate without accounting for missing floors.

Want to see what the Lucky Dragon used to look like? Check out our video. Please excuse the shakiness. We were hopped up on tea looking for the fourth floor during filming.

Caesars Entertainment’s latest renovation project was also its dark horse. After quick name changes (from Flamingo Capri to Imperial Palace to The Quad to The LINQ), a drawn out renovation schedule, and scores of angry reviews on Trip Advisor and Yelp, we never imagined the result would be anything but a smoke-filled dump. We were wrong. Like a butterfly, the property shed its half-century-old cocoon to reveal color and beauty within.

Though the rooms still fill the footprints of Vegas vacations past, the redesign ushers in a colorful, hip boutique vibe that buries its old look and feel — that of a decaying Beijing hotel circa 1989 — for good.

However, its biggest surprise is its pool area, now 21+, which features lily pads and daybeds flanked with bold colors that will awaken even the most hungover waders. A secondary glass-sided pool will suit those who wish to gawk and flaunt at hard bodies as they sip on hard drinks.

The poolside cabana suites, perhaps The LINQ Hotel and Casino’s most unique feature, brings the boutique interior to the outside, impressing with cobalt blue and lime exterior walls and white and gray lounges that transport guests to Santorini, Greece.

These changes — coupled with the phenomenal center-Strip location, still-very-reasonable rates, and the attached outdoor shopping center (The LINQ Promenade) — make The LINQ a great choice for your next Vegas stay.

THEhotel, a part of the Mandalay Bay complex, has received a makeover in the highly-anticipated Delano Las Vegas, an all-suite hotel — and this is something completely new on the Strip. Delano is a smoke-free, gaming-free resort for the sophisticated traveler.

Guests can visit the adjoining Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino to try their hands at the tables or slots, but Delano provides a stress- and worry-free environment unheard of in Sin City — and it is a hit. Globetrotters from all over are coming to experience the oasis that was inspired by the Mojave Desert.

No matter what room you stay in, you're bound to feel like you’ve just checked into a spa resort. Every accommodation is considered a suite, complete with one bedroom, a master bath, guest bath, and private living area. Even your pets can feel like royalty in the dog-friendly suites available. Rates start at $119 in the off-peak season.

Escape the heat of Vegas at the private Delano Beach Club or crank up the heat at Mandalay Bay's Moorea Beach Club, a sumptuous-yet-sophisticated European-style club with views of the seasonally-Toptional beach.

The SLS replaced what was arguably Las Vegas’ most famous hotel, the Sahara, which closed its doors in 2011. Many were unsure of its fate until a San Francisco-based investor converted the Rat Pack haunt into a new anchor for the Strip’s north end.

SLS offers guests a stay in one of their three towers — World, Story, and LUX (now the W) — each with a different theme. Rooms range from those with an at-home feel, starting around $100, to ultramodern to a taste of the French sophisticat.

SLS also has some of the most unique clubs on the Strip. The Sayers Club comes straight from Los Angeles and features live music while The Foundry often hosts nationally-renowned rock and comedy acts. You can also party all night at the hip-hop-oriented Foxtail.

W Hotel

Several media outlets have christened the W as Sin City’s newest hotel, but that is inaccurate. Essentially, Starwood Resorts (now owned by Marriott) rebranded one of SLS’s three hotel towers as the W. Both Starwood and the SLS describe the move as a benefit to Starwood’s Preferred Guests and hope it will help revitalize the floundering SLS.

Despite its heritage, the SLS lost more than $89.3 million in the first six months of 2015. Financial reports from 2016 may not be much better. The media blames its struggle on the property's unfortunate location on the north Strip, which has fallen into desuetude after the iconic Riviera closed and the 68-story Fontainebleau project came to a standstill following the Great Recession. While such factors haven’t done it any favors, despite its best marketing efforts the resort has not caught on with the usual Vegas visitors and, in order to survive, the hotel has literally had to give rooms away.

As such, Starwood/Mariott’s rebranding is good news. The W is considered one of their luxury youth brands and is used by 50 independently-owned hotels around the world, including in nearby Scottsdale, San Diego, West Hollywood, and Los Angeles.

Much like the Four Seasons at Mandalay Bay, guests staying at the W have a dedicated entry and reception area, a W-branded spa, and their own outdoor pool and bar area. Depending on dates, rooms range between $200 and $500 per night. Expect to pay much more for Lenny Kravitz’s 2,382-square-foot Extreme Wow suite. It features a grand piano and a balcony with a view of the western mountains.

Guests first entering The Cromwell may feel as if they're lost in a dressing room from the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. Advertised as a luxury boutique hotel and casino, the abundance of hot pink interlaced with black and white with walnut accents project the ambiance of a late-nineteenth-century gentlemen’s club, a London brothel even.

This theme continues throughout the casino floor and even into the sumptuous hotel rooms with hardwood floors, vintage lamps, headboards, and wallpaper that pay homage to the glamour of Hollywood’s golden age, as though Rita Hayworth herself is inviting you to bed.

The hotel also features Giada De Laurentiis’ first-ever restaurant, which serves up the celebrity chef’s lighter, Californian take on Italian classics.

An attraction that is not to be missed — whether you stay at The Cromwell or not — is Drai’s: a luxury beach club by day, an erotically-charged club by night. The 65,000-foot club features celebrity guests, top DJs, and unparalleled views of Caesars Palace and The Fountains of Bellagio that will remind you why Vegas is, year after year, the world’s premier party destination.

One of the biggest trends in Las Vegas over the past decade has been the hotel-within-a-hotel concept. The guest gets all the amenities of the parent hotel with the added benefits of better rooms, better service, and, many times, a feeling of not being in Vegas despite the lights and sounds surrounding them.

The Nobu experience is all about making the guest feel special. From the one-person check-in station and keycard-secured elevators to thoughtful amenities like tea service, upgraded toiletries, complimentary slippers, and four different types of plush robes for the guest to choose from, your stay at Nobu is all about you.

Guests with virtually unlimited budgets can enjoy one of the most spectacular villas in Las Vegas. The one and only Nobu Villa boasts 10,500 square feet of Japanese-inspired Roman opulence, including a rooftop deck larger than most Americans' homes, and features a massive barbecue pit and jacuzzi.

Nobu also features a self-titled restaurant serving Japanese culinary sensations, including sushi and Wagyu beef, prepared right before your very eyes. While pricey, this restaurant is consistently rated as one of Las Vegas’ best and, according to most reviews, both the experience and the food are well worth the cost.

Tropicana is hardly a new name in Las Vegas. But even though its been around since 1957, this moderately-priced historical landmark made the cut due to its $165-million revamp.

The property hosts 1,467 eco-friendly rooms, each decorated in Southern Beach style with light, tropical colors that will take you from Vegas to Miami without ever needing an airport. For those searching for luxury without breaking the bank, Tropicana offers affordable one- and two-bedroom suites, including the two-story Plantation Loft that’s less like a hotel and more like a home.

Long known for having some of the best pools in Las Vegas, Tropicana is upping the ante with a new beach-like experience. Sky Beach Club LV recreates South Florida's beach club scene, featuring dozens of daybeds, cabanas, and poolside cocktails. Its creators promise to reinvent Vegas daylife with VIP bottle service, bikini-clad, model-quality servers and bartenders, party pits, and swim-up blackjack.

Cosmopolitan takes the boutique theme that has become more and more common over last several years and elevates it to an art form. From the bar built inside a chandelier to one of Las Vegas’ top nightclubs, everything about this hotel was designed to push affordable luxury to its limits. There's no wonder to even the first-time Vegas visitor why publications like Condé Nast Traveller and Huffington Post have ranked it among the world’s best hotels.

Originally conceived as condominiums (but repurposed after the 2008 real-estate market crash), rooms here are larger than average. The decor and layouts of more than fifteen different room options combine the best trends from every twentieth-century decade, all while staying true to the hotel’s main concern: international luxury.

The Boulevard Pool overlooks the Strip from the East deck and offers bathers several levels of lounges, daybeds, and upbeat music that all serve to create a positive, communal atmosphere perfect for meeting new friends or getting lost in a movie or live show.

Describing itself as “the ultimate Las Vegas relaxation zone,” Bamboo Pool hosts a more laid-back, private experience set in a theme inspired by the desert landscape surrounding the City of Sin.

Marquee Dayclub is an extension of the hot nights its interior is famous for, providing guests with infinity pools and a lounge-like feel. After sunset, get ready for some of the world’s best international house DJs at Marquee Nightclub.

What locals know Cosmopolitan best for is its bars, three of which are featured on our 'best of Vegas' list and all of which boast some of the city’s finest mixologists and an atmosphere perfect for those looking to transition from the bacchanalian adventures of the club crowd to a more sophisticated clientele.

This fifty-seven-story, all-suite, eco-friendly hotel was designed for vacationers seeking a Vegas vacation without so much of the Vegas. The entire property is free from smoke and gambling, and is even dog friendly for those of you who don't wish to leave home without your favorite companions.

As mentioned on our suites page, Vdara’s rooms borrow from both contemporary and retro styles, and even the most basic of them offer kitchenettes, soaking tubs, and windows with views of the Strip sure to inspire envy in your friends who chose a budget resort. At the other end of the scale, the two-story penthouse with two bedrooms adds every amenity you could possibly desire, including a pull-out sofa bed in the living room, a second bathroom, a washer and dryer, and a private elevator key.

Vdara Pool and Lounge comes complete with a spa, salon, and fitness center. Enjoy cocktails, gourmet tapas, and appetizers while you peruse the amazing view. This private retreat has plunge pools that are somewhat secluded and spa cabanas that have hand sinks, TVs, music, ceiling fans, and a stocked refrigerator.