Since the pandemic, the company has placed a big bet on its properties and continued demand.
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither was Caesars Entertainment’s Las Vegas casino empire.
With a yearslong, multimillion-dollar reinvestment campaign well underway, the company continues to modernize its eight Strip properties with upgraded rooms, expanded dining options and refreshed casino floors.
Reno-based Caesars Entertainment is making a big bet on the future of its Las Vegas properties with a spending spree aimed at refining gaming spaces, revitalizing historic hotels and expanding leisure offerings. The company is on pace to spend nearly $1 billion in the post-COVID era in the Las Vegas market.
Nowhere in the Caesars Entertainment empire is that undertaking more evident than at the company’s flagship property, Caesars Palace. In the past several years, Caesars has invested heavily in the 58-year-old casino hotel.
“Something that we’ve learned over (the course of) six decades at Caesars Palace is that properties have to continue to reinvent themselves,” said Sean McBurney, Las Vegas regional president for Caesars Entertainment, adding that although the legendary property had seen plenty of reinvestment over the years, “we hadn’t really touched the common spaces. So, we started this project of renovating the common spaces (at Caesars Palace) coming right out of COVID.”
Among the most notable changes were renovations to the casino’s main entrance, hotel lobby, casino dome and porte-cochere, all of which were completed in 2022. The 24-seat Galleria Bar opened that same year.
The next year saw the debut of the Colosseum Tower (formerly the Forum Tower) and its 440 brand-new rooms and suites.
Within the past six months, the Aureus Lounge and Palace Court high-limit gaming rooms have started catering to guests, as have the renovated Flavian Sky Suites.
The upgrades blend modern aesthetics with the property’s “authentic history,” as McBurney described it.
“It’s such a unique property,” he said. “What’s interesting about Caesars Palace is we do have something for everyone. It’s a property that plays in the luxury segment, but it’s approachable luxury.”
Reinvesting is a priority
Dining has been another major focus with new culinary offerings from popular chefs such as Bobby Flay and Dominique Ansel. Caesars even managed to lure Peter Luger Steak House, a New York City institution, to Las Vegas, which opened the same year (2023) as Stanton Social Prime, which also traces its roots to the Big Apple.
These additions join a growing portfolio of high-profile dining experiences designed to cater to both high-rollers and casual visitors.
Caesars Palace’s appeal to a wide demographic of visitors is one of the reasons why reinvesting in it is such a priority, McBurney said.
“This is the flagship property in Las Vegas,” he said. “It’s critical to keep this as competitive as possible and continue to provide new reasons for people to come.”
Caesars Palace continues to evolve with additional hotel projects in the pipeline, aimed at maintaining the resort’s reputation as a world-class destination. Although he could not provide any immediate details, McBurney said there are “some very exciting” projects in the works “that will start this year and continue into 2026.”
One such project that he gave an update on was the poker room at Caesars Palace, which gave up its previous home near the sportsbook to a high-limit slot area last year. McBurney said a new poker room would be open “before the World Series of Poker starts” in the late spring.
‘Year of the Flamingo’
But the Sin City spending spree has not been limited to Caesars Palace.
On the opposite side of Las Vegas Boulevard, the historic Flamingo casino-hotel is undergoing a substantial transformation while preserving its nostalgic charm.
“2025 is going to be the year of the Flamingo,” McBurney said, alluding to the company’s enthusiasm for a trio of new dining options — Havana 1957, Gordon Ramsay Burger and Pinky’s by Vanderpump — that recently opened at the Strip resort.
Dan Walsh, senior vice president and general manager of Flamingo Las Vegas, said the better part of the past several years have been spent analyzing the property and identifying areas of opportunity.
“(We’ve) been looking at this property holistically, saying, ‘What is it missing? Where are the biggest needs? How do you keep people on property from walking out and going to other places? How do you give people a reason to come to this property?’” Walsh said. “So, when you bring in names like Lisa Vanderpump and Gordon Ramsay, those are compelling names that not only take care of the lodgers that are in the building but bring people in off the street.”
One of the most anticipated projects scheduled for completion in 2025 is the $20 million renovation of Flamingo’s GO Pool area, which aims to preserve its retro-tropical aesthetic while enhancing the overall guest experience with features like a swim-up bar and temperature-controlled water.
Flamingo’s transformation extends beyond dining and pools, with plans to update public spaces such as lobbies, restrooms and the casino carpet over the next nine to 12 months. While balancing modern enhancements with its rich history, Walsh said respecting the emotional connection guests have with the 78-year-old property, many of whom have formed long-term relationships with staff members over decades, is something he takes “very seriously.”
“All the work that we’re doing, we want to make sure that we keep that connection intact and make this an even better place for our customers,” Walsh said. “The word ‘iconic’ gets thrown around a lot these days, but this place truly is.”
Upgrades across the portfolio
Beyond Caesars Palace and Flamingo, the company’s reinvestment efforts have touched multiple properties along the Strip.
The transition of the former Bally’s property to Horseshoe casino-hotel was important to the company, McBurney said, touching on the brief period where the Horseshoe brand was absent from the Las Vegas market as an “obvious miss for us.”
The $100 million integration of a hotel tower from that property into the Paris casino-hotel has “exceeded expectations,” McBurney said. The Versailles Tower in Paris Las Vegas (formerly the Jubilee Tower at Bally’s) opened in 2023 and its 38 balcony rooms overlooking the Strip debuted this past summer.
“Repurposing the Bally’s tower to Versailles Tower has just been an absolute home run,” he said. “There aren’t many rooms that offer that kind of experience (like the balcony rooms), so that has gone really, really well.”
The seemingly endless list of reinvestments along the Strip includes other properties as well, such as Planet Hollywood, where Caramella, in partnership with Tao Group Hospitality, recently began accepting reservations, and The Linq, where Spiegelworld (the production company behind “Absinthe,” OPM and Atomic Saloon) operates DiscoShow and Diner Ross, a complementary adults-only dining and entertainment experience.
A strong outlook for Las Vegas
Despite economic challenges and uncertainty, Caesars Entertainment is doubling down on its Las Vegas empire.
“Demand is still great,” McBurney said about his outlook for the market. “When we look ahead, we feel very bullish on Las Vegas.”
Casino executives across Las Vegas cite sports tourism as a major growth driver, and Caesars is no exception.
“It’s incredible what sports has done for the city,” McBurney said. “All of us strive to provide a reason for customers to want to come and visit us, and we’re all doing that in our own methods. What sports has done is given all of us just such a great reason for our customers from across the country and around the world to come to Las Vegas.”
With a mix of historical preservation and modern reinvention, Caesars is ensuring its resorts remain relevant to the evolving Las Vegas experience.
“We’re not done,” McBurney said. “And, frankly, we’re never done here.”
