To Go, Or Not To Go, That Is The (Vegas) Question.
Nevada still tight lipped about the opening date for resorts. They've opened up retail and dining to some extent, still no drink-only bars. Doing some feverish math in my head, and based on the current best guesses, June 1st is the consensus earliest date that can happen at this point. If Sisolak announces resorts can open that date, that gives exactly 10 days for the resorts to get their shit together before opening.
That date would be about perfect for me, as my current first booking is 6/6. That would give the resorts a week of open time to get settled and into a routine before I would arrive. I don't really want to be a guinea pig that first week as there will no doubt be a lot of confusion and uncertainty. I don't do well with confusion and uncertainty. There may be a lot of changes. Will bars be open? Will masks be required? Will guests wear them? Will enough resorts be open to even make strip walking worth the effort?
The answers are still in the wind, but I can make some educated guesses:
-Resort occupancy is likely to be soft. Very soft.
Many people (unlike me) have just trying to survive this thing the last few months, literally and financially. Taking a vacation on limited funds in the midst of a pandemic, you would think, will be at the back of most people's minds (again, unlike me). Most resort companies (MGM, CET, Stations) will only open a few of their properties at the beginning.
-Casino occupancy is likely to be - same-ish?
Will the locals come out in droves with pent up demand and overrun the strip resorts that are open at the start? What will that mean for tourists, will we have to wait in literal lines just to get into casinos? I think capacity at the resorts are such that even if they are only allowed to let 1/2 cap in they can still be pretty crowded. My guess would be locals will stick closer to home at the local casinos. Fingers crossed.
-Strip walking traffic will be 2/3rds or more less than normal.
Please Jeebus let this be true. Walking through the strip sidewalk crowds is still one of the only things about Vegas that grinds every gear in my machine, having a trip free of that will be fucking glorious if it happens.
-Stand-alone, non-food bars are likely to be closed.
This could be a killer for me. A big part of the Vegas experience for me is bar hopping. It's a bigger part of my trip experience than the gambling or the room or the food or anything else. Even in restaurants I sit at the bar to eat. Will Vegas even be worth going for me if I can't sit at a V/P bar at 1:30p on a Wednesday drinking comped drinks and shooting the shit with the bartenders? It would be a departure for me, that's for damn sure.
-Shows?
Nope.
So all of the above lead me to a choice. Assuming the resorts open June 1 and I can take the trip, should I?
In short, it would mean planning a different type of trip. This one probably wouldn't be a typical 6-day bender/rager. Especially if the stand-alone bars are closed, there would have to be a more relaxed attitude taken toward the trip. More sleeping in late. Possibly more time lounging in the room if there's not much to do on the strip (watching a movie or something in-room occasionally?). Maybe more gambling to pass time if the bars are closed, so shifting some of the daily drink/food budget into gambling may be needed. Possibly no bar hopping available, so maybe the drinking would have to be getting seated at many a restaurant and drinking while doing appetizers?
There are pluses and minuses to that kind of trip. On the plus, I've not exactly been taking care of myself during lockdown and the more relaxed pace of a trip like that is probably a good thing for the body. I could also just mentally right now use more of a "relax and be mellow" kind of experience than a 5-day party. I've had it way better during this than most, but I've still had my share of mental assault and going somewhere nice to turn the brain off and truly relax for a week sounds awfully good. I sure as shit would like to get out of this hobbit hole for a few days too.
On the minus, I'm not sure if that's even the kind of trip I want to take. I'm don't know if there would be enough going on, especially in the daytime, to keep me from getting bored. I'm not a sight-seer or a tourist in Vegas - I'm not going to ride the fucking roller coaster or go to the top of the Eiffel or be a Grand Canyon tripper. I'm there for the resort experience, and I would probably have to change that mindset if I was to rush back when things re-open.
There's also the simple, practical concern that going anywhere right now is a risk. I'd be going to two airports full of people, getting on a plane full of people going to a resort and strip full of people. Any of whom could give me a virus that could kill me, with my conditions. All while being uncovered by insurance (in Vegas). That's a pretty severe potential minus to a Vegas trip.
I'm leaning toward GO if the trigger gets pulled, but if it's going to be too restricted of an experience at the start maybe I hold off until the August trip (oof) and hope for more of a conventional Vegas by then. Could pay off a shit ton of debt right now by skipping June. The quote of the year - "We shall see".
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