If They Build It, Will They Come?

A slate of new luxe resorts and boutique hotels aims to turn Vegas into the next gay travel indulgence. But can the slot machine mecca really become a high roller’s paradise?

By Sean Kennedy

For years gay hotels in Las Vegas were all like the Blue Moon Resort -- a Motel 6–like joint located a half mile from the Strip with a clothing-optional pool in the back. It was the kind of slightly tacky place you could find in Key West or Palm Springs and a far cry from where you’d stay in more refined destinations like South Beach or New York City. Indeed, for people who regularly trot off to Paris or London to stay at chic boutique hotels like St. Martins Lane, Vegas has always left something to be desired.

Take my friend Billy. He and his boyfriend are currently planning a trip to Paris, where they’re looking to book a room at the Hotel du Petit Moulin, a boutique property housed in a former bakery from the 18th century. The last time he went to Vegas in 2004, he “stayed at a terrible hotel that looked like it was stuck in the early to mid ’80s,” he says. “It was on the Strip—but definitely B-list, a second-tier hotel.”

Soon enough, Billy will be able to stay at a hotel more to his taste. As the city of Las Vegas continues to reach out to the LGBT market through its tourism and convention bureau, gaming behemoths like Harrah’s and the MGM Mirage—the two biggest resort casinos in town—are upping their efforts as well. The Luxor, owned by MGM Mirage, advertises its chapel as an ideal site for commitment ceremonies. Harrah’s went so far as to designate its Paris Las Vegas property as the place for gays to stay. But the real buzz, at least for elite gay travelers like Billy, surrounds new properties with high gay brand identity like the Mondrian and Delano hotels, which are owned by Morgans Hotel Group; and the new Wynn Encore under construction, across the street from the original. And just last year Sam Nazarian, entertainment entrepreneur and co-owner of West Hollywood’s mega gay bar the Abbey, bought the Sahara Hotel and Casino, a spot once popular with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., and their groovy friends.

All this has the bicoastal set wondering, Will the onetime Rat Pack haunt become headquarters for the Gay Pack?

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Additional reporting by Corey Scholibo and Ryan Wenzel.

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