What’s New in Las Vegas?

All-Inclusive Hotel Deals

Last fall I wrote here at Forbes about the rollout of the city’s first all-inclusive package, at the lesser known Plaza Hotel in “Old” Downtown Las Vegas. The concept has continued to spread from there. Caesar’s Entertainment followed up with its “$300 Escape” packages, which offered two nights lodging at Harrah’s, The LINQ or Flamingo including $200 in food and beverage credits, for an effective rate of just $50 a night in the heart of the Strip. None of these are truly all-inclusive like the resorts of the Dominican Republic or Mexico with free flowing food and booze everywhere you turn, but Vegas is getting closer.

Three weeks ago, Resorts World announced its luxury take on the all-inclusive offering, a big travel trend suddenly being seen at never before heard of high-end brands like Ritz-Carlton, Luxury Collection, W and Westin, a luxury trend I covered recently here at Forbes. In the case of Resorts World this means “The Conrad Complete,” at this high-end Hilton brand. Unlike most all-inclusive rates, it is extra, an addition to the nightly cost, but at least that keeps it simple and consistent and easy to figure out. As the casino resort puts it, “Unlike traditional all-inclusive formats, The Conrad Complete is engineered as a luxury integration—an elevated add-on.”

Basically for an extra $150 per guest, per night, you get complimentary valet parking for the entire stay; access to Club 66, the hotel’s VIP club lounge with complimentary daily continental breakfast and evening cocktail hour; complimentary entry to Zouk Nightclub; Priority early access to the newly renovated 5.5-acre pool complex including complimentary beverages (beer and soda); and lunch and dinner daily, with prix fixe menus at Viva, Agave Bar & Grill and Wally’s for lunch, and Kusa Nori, FUHU, and Wally’s for dinner. If you are in Vegas eating breakfast, lunch and dinner in nice places its really hard to do that for under $150 per person, so if you can also make it to free evening cocktails and snacks, enjoy beers by the pool and save a lot on parking, you can get way ahead of the game. It’s an investment that would be hard to not to recoup.

Last week Las Vegas moved another step closer to the traditional all-inclusive model when MGM Resorts announced its new vacation experiences at Luxor and Excalibur. These are certainly the lower end of the company’s large Vegas portfolio, but that makes sense in terms of offering a value proposition running opposite the city’s high prices for luxury. With stays available from April 6 (but bookable now), packages start at $330 for a two-night stay for two, including accommodations, dining, entertainment, attractions and self-parking. That’s $165 daily for meals, lodging and many extras—for two.

“Las Vegas has long been known for its diverse collection of unforgettable experiences, and this new option combines many of them together in a fresh, compelling way,” said Mike Neubecker, President & COO of MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, New York-New York, Luxor & Excalibur (via release). “By bundling hotel, dining, entertainment and parking into a single upfront price, we’re offering guests a convenient, turn-key way to explore our hotels and make new memories without any hassle or surprises.”

The All-Inclusive Experience includes a two-night double occupancy stay at Luxor or Excalibur including all resort fees; two tickets to one MGM Resorts show per stay, with six distinct options (Blue Man Group, Carrot Top, FANTASY: The Strip’s Sexiest Tease, The Australian Bee Gees Show, The Mac King Comedy Magic Show, Thunder from Down Under); two rides on The Big Apple Coaster at New York-New York; Self-parking at any MGM Resorts Las Vegas property; three meals per day, redeemable at a selection of MGM Resorts restaurants across Luxor, Excalibur, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay and New York-New York, each with one beer or wine per person plus soft drinks. Choices include TAP Sports Bar (2 locations), The Buffet at Excalibur, Diablo’s Cantina, Pyramid Café, Public House, Backstage Deli, Tom’s Watch Bar, Noodle Shop at Mandalay Bay and MGM Grand Buffet.

These new packages are best for those who cannot afford to be surprised with sticker shock from unexpected cost run-ups during their vacation and provides a security blanket of knowing pretty much what a trip will cost in advance—not counting gambling, of course.

New Fine Dining Mexican

When it comes to Italian, French, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, seafood or steakhouse, Vegas has more fine dining options than you can imagine. It even has one of the best high-end Greek eateries in the country, Estiatorio Milos in the Venetian. But standout Mexican has been elusive, with a handful of exceptions such as Javier in Aria, Amay in the Cosmopolitan and the more generally Latin Chica in Venetian.

That’s why the opening of Cantina Contramar (March 28) this weekend is such a big deal. Chef Gabriela Cámara is the founder of the original Contramar, an iconic Mexico City restaurant, and also owns several others in the city. She is a 2-time James Beard Award semi-finalist, author of cookbook My Mexico City Kitchen, the subject of Netflix documentary A Tale of Two Kitchens, and a frequent Iron Chef on the TV series.

Cantina Contramar is the latest addition to the Strip’s newest casino resort, the Fontainebleau, and was designed by another acclaimed Mexican artist, world-renowned Architect Frida Escobedo. The dinner-only restaurant has an extensive starter menu of raw bar, ceviche and aguachile dishes, followed by elevated appetizers such as wagyu tacos, a Dungeness crab, celery root and habanero chili tostada, broiled oysters with spinach and serrano chili cream. Mains include a giant adobo braised pork shank, wagyu carne asada and whole fish Veracruz style.

The Fontainebleau has more than 30 bars and restaurants, but Cantina Contramar joins its highest end “Signature Collection,” along with standouts such as Roman-themed Mother Wolf and top tier steakhouses Don’s Prime and Papi Steak.

The Strip’s Newest Hotel

Remember the Cromwell? The Caesars Entertainment owned property was the first major attempt at a boutique hotel on the Strip, back when boutique hotels were becoming a big new thing. It never really got a lot of traction as a brand, but now a much better known name is jumping in with her first hotel property. International nightclub/bar impresario Lisa Vanderpump, with her slate of properties and eponymous TV show Vanderpump Rules, is transforming the Cromwell into the new Vanderpump Hotel, debuting in May. Among her many other properties, she has had a popular cocktail bar in Caesars Palace, the company’s flagship, for the past seven years.

The Vanderpump Hotel has just 188 guest rooms and suites, tiny by Las Vegas standards, all completely redone and designed by Lisa Vanderpump and her business partner Nick Alain, and Vanderpump also hand-selected room amenities. The design embraces the duo’s “industrial romantic” style and will also be in hotel reception, check-in areas, the gaming floor and all common public areas, including a new lounge.

“Taking the next step from restaurateur to hotelier and partnering once again with Caesars Entertainment on another extraordinary project has been such an exciting chapter for me,” said Lisa Vanderpump. “Our vision was to create a room that feels like a true retreat, a calming escape just steps from the energy and excitement of the casino floor. The guest rooms are as beautiful as they are serene.”

However, many key elements of the Crowell will continue to live on at the Vanderpump, including GIADA, its flagship Italian dining venue by another famous celebrity, Giada De Laurentiis. I have not eaten there in quite a while but I loved it when I did and it has proven to have staying power in a town that is fickle and fast moving when it comes to food.

Not everyone loves the larger than life feel of the typical 3-7000 room Las Vegas mega-resort, and for something far more intimate with a great location, consider the new Vanderpump Hotel.

Retro Vegas: All-You-Can-Eat Prime Rib

I started visiting Las Vegas regularly more than three decades ago, and at the time it was famed for budget friendly indulgences such as 99-cent shrimp cocktails and generous free drinks everywhere you turned. The former has vanished and the latter is now stingy and calculated. So, it is nice to see one classic Vegas tradition restored recently that lets visitors indulge without taking out a second mortgage.

Back in the day Binion’s Horseshoe was one of the top casinos in Las Vegas and famously the birthplace of the World Series of Poker. Afte a sale it was rebranded and Caesars got the old name, using it to remake Bally’s in the center of the Strip into the Horseshoe, and as part of that revamp, they recreated the original hotel’s famous steakhouse, Jack Binion’s Steak, with its 1800° broiler. It was a new take on classic old school, Rat Pack Las Vegas, and as part of the throwback, Jack Binion’s Steak put on a $49.99 Endless Prime Rib special last fall, which proved more popular than anyone expected, becoming a social media sensation. People absolutely loved it, and were vocal about this, so they just brought it back yet again a few weeks ago, as a nod to vintage Vegas dining.

The deal includes 10-ounce servings of slow roasted prime rib with roasted garlic, horseradish, au jus, house salad and baked potato. At the same time, the restaurant refreshed its menu and added many new offerings priced from $10 to $50, making a higher-end Las Vegas steakhouse experience more accessible for visitors. There may be no city in the country with as many fancy steakhouses as Las Vegas, but they are mostly priced extravagantly, making this a nice option and a way to have a big night out without a big tab.

A New (Very) Long Haul Airline Route & New Airport Lounges

While many airlines have been reducing lift into the city, Qantas just took a different tact, adding the first ever non-stop route between Australia and Las Vegas. This December, Qantas will launch a seasonal Las Vegas to Sydney flight that will run through mid-March 2027, covering some of the city’s biggest global events including the Consumer Electronics Show. The inaugural flight will be on December 29, 2026 with 3-day each week service through March 12, 2027.

This comes on the heels of the recent addition of several other new non-stop U.S. to Australia routes introduced by four different carriers to spots as diverse as Brisbane and Adelaide, which I covered here at Forbes.

But the biggest news over at the airport is the debut of a new Chase Sapphire Lounge that just opened in December. I am a big fan of the Chase lounges (here’s why), I think they are the best lounge product in the U.S. and you pretty much gave to go places like Doha, Istanbul, Hong Kong or Singapore to do better. At over 13,000 square feet with a champagne bar, it is a significant improvement for those waiting to leave Vegas.

At the same time, American Express added a second satellite lounge, much needed as its primary lounge often features a very long wait to get in. The new Sidecar is the first in a smaller speakeasy themed lounge format for the venerable travel services brand, adjacent to the main Centurion Lounge.

Capital One opened its own Vegas lounge back in February 2025, which I wrote about here at Forbes, making this one of the only airports with all three credit card brand lounges represented.

So, what’s new in Las Vegas for 2026? A lot.