Tropicana implosion makes Las Vegas hotel rooms expensive and limited | Casinos and games

Space is limited – and expensive – for anyone wanting to stay at a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip the night of the Tropicana implosion.

The Tropicana Las Vegas will implode at 2:30 a.m. Wednesday. The controlled demolition will be preceded by a drone and fireworks show expected to last about seven minutes.

However, it will be challenging to see the spectacle as there is no official viewing area and authorities are blocking road access to both pedestrians and vehicles for safety reasons.

Following the announcement of the impending demolition of the Rat Pak-era casino, hotel room rates at hotels in the immediate vicinity – MGM Grand and The Signature, New York New York, Excalibur and Luxor – skyrocketed. Even the Oyo Casino Hotel, a budget hotel off the Strip, charged several hundred dollars more than average for the night.

With almost 48 hours until the collapse of the two remaining Tropicana towers, only a handful of hotel rooms remain available on the properties surrounding the explosion site.

Oyo, the closest property to the Trop, is 100 percent booked. The New York Casino Hotel in New York has rooms starting at $599 (+$42 resort fee) for the night, but room selection is limited and Tropical views are not available.

The closest available hotel room to the Tropicana property is at the Park MGM Casino hotel, but the privilege costs more than $700 (plus resort fee). Rooms at the Bellagio or The Cosmopolitan cost over $1,000 (plus fees) per night.

Caesars Entertainment properties on the Strip are unlikely to provide a clear view of the implosion. For those interested, room rates at the Horseshoe Casino hotel start at around $399, while room rates at Harrah's Casino hotel start at $529 (plus taxes and fees).

The Treasure Island Casino-Hotel offers rooms starting around $399.

A night at the Encore Casino hotel starts at $899, while a stay at the Wynn Casino hotel next door starts at $1,061.

The Venetian and Palazzo hotels are also fully booked, although that has more to do with the Global Gaming Expo than the Trop implosion. The Global Gaming Expo (G2E) is the industry's largest annual convention. It takes place Monday through Thursday at the Venetian Expo Center.

G2E attracts more than 25,000 industry experts, including executives, game developers, regulators, affiliates and media from around the world.

David Danzis can be contacted at [email protected] or (702) 383-0378. Follow AC2Vegas_Danzis on X.