Las Vegas welcomes everyone.
Sin City offers pretty much every form of entertainment imaginable in an attempt to serve as many audiences as possible. On the Las Vegas Strip, for example, Caesars Entertainment (CZR) -) hosts a topless revue set to country music at Harrah's while "Ru Paul's Drag Race" has a longstanding engagement next door at Flamingo.
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No matter what you like to do, whom you love, or how you choose to spend your time, Las Vegas has what you want. What the Strip has not had, however, is a hotel that serves the LGBTQ+ community.
There are, of course, gay bars on the Strip and all around the city, but the operator of one of those establishments had a dream that he's now bringing to life.
Eduardo Cordova, who runs The Garden, "an intimate and chic LGBTQ lounge bar located in the Art District," plans to open a nightclub, bar, and boutique hotel for the LGBTQ+ community on the Las Vegas Strip.
Image source: Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images
'The Gayest Destination in Las Vegas'
Queen Las Vegas will open in phases. The first part, the bar and nightclub at 1215 South Las Vegas Blvd., near the Arts District, will open next month. The space will feature a 24/7 restaurant and bar, which will host drag performances as well as offer gambling.
The nightclub will be open Friday through Sunday, starting at 10 p.m. with no specified closing hours. The space will "feature high-energy drag performances from resident queens, a giant disco ball DJ booth, as well as brunch and dinner services. Nightly DJ sets will start every night at 9 p.m., and brunch will be served Saturday and Sunday from noon," KTNV reported.
Hotel rooms will follow as Cordova's Q Hospitality will take over part of the Thunderbird Hotel. Queen Las Vegas will offer 28 themed rooms as well as communal areas. The new owners will also add modern elements like self-serve check-in kiosks.
Guests staying in suites will have special VIP access to the bar and nightclub. Thunderbird will continue to operate 72 rooms in the now-shared mid-century modern-style hotel.
For Cordova the launch of Queen Las Vegas represents a dream come true.
“It has been my mission to create a vibrant and inclusive entertainment district for our LGBTQ+ community, and I’m thrilled to announce that Q Hospitality Group has secured a prime location on the iconic Las Vegas Strip to create the Gayest destination in Las Vegas,” Cordova said in a press release .
The opening of Queen Las Vegas comes when the LGBTQ+ community faces a continued backlash in the wake of the Bud Light scandal as well as continued political problems from leading Republicans including Florida Gov, Ron DeSantis.
The Anheuser-Busch (BUD) -) brand saw its sales plummet after Kid Rock drew attention to its social-media campaign with the transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney by shooting up cases of the beer.
Florida has been added to "do not travel" warning lists by a number of LGBTQ+ advocacy groups. Las Vegas may gain tourists who opt not to travel to Florida.
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Another Las Vegas Boutique Hotel Remains Stalled
One of the lessons Las Vegas quickly teaches you is that no project is official until it actually opens. That lesson is reinforced by what's happening at one partly completed Las Vegas Strip hotel project.
Dream Las Vegas, being built on Las Vegas Boulevard near the private aviation terminal at McCarran International Airport, has seen construction come to a complete stop.
That's due to financial problems with the boutique resort's developer, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
When work shut down in March, Dream developer Bill Shopoff said he expected to close a $400 million funding package quickly. Work on the property has not restarted.
The project, which is meant to offer a luxury hotel experience in a property more intimate than what Caesars and MGM Resorts International (MGM) -) offer, sits two blocks from Allegiant Stadium and relatively close to T-Mobile Arena. The 531-room hotel should cost around $550 million and was expected to open in 2024.
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