Hard Rock Las Vegas Opening Date: What’s Confirmed About the Guitar Hotel

Hard Rock hasn’t announced an exact opening date for Hard Rock Las Vegas. In writing, it says the resort on the former Mirage site is “slated to open in 2027,” and its executives point to the fourth quarter. Below: what’s confirmed versus only reported, a dated timeline and where to stay next door until it opens.

How we checked: we read Hard Rock International and Seminole Gaming releases and Hard Rock’s pre-opening website on Nov. 8, 2026, plus dated reports from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, FOX5 Las Vegas, The Nevada Independent and CDC Gaming, labeled as news in the text. Our review method explains how we date and source facts.

Hard Rock Las Vegas opening date: what each source says

No release names a day or even a month. The official word is the year, in Hard Rock’s February 2026 release; the quarter comes from executives, county filings and news reports. Every timing statement we could date, newest first:

Date	Source	What it says	Type
Nov. 8, 2026	Hard Rock’s pre-opening site	“Coming Soon to the Las Vegas Strip”; sign up for news on the grand opening date	Official
Sept. 29, 2026	Hard Rock release	The tower is among projects the company “continues to advance”; no date given	Official
August 2026	Las Vegas Review-Journal	Scheduled to open in “the late second half of 2027”	News report
April 2026	Jim Allen, Hard Rock chairman	Hopes to open in “late 2027 or early 2028” (The Nevada Independent)	Executive remark, reported
Feb. 20, 2026	Seminole Gaming and Hard Rock release	“Slated to open in 2027”	Official
January 2026	Review-Journal, via Yogonet	Hard Rock aims to open in the fourth quarter of 2027	News report
2025	Clark County documents, via FOX5	Opening planned for the fourth quarter of 2027	County filings, reported

Allen’s remark is the only one that mentions 2028. He said the project was on schedule and that newly signed technology systems would be “the driver for the final opening date.” Every later statement with a timeframe still says 2027.

How to plan around it. Treat the fourth quarter of 2027 as the earliest realistic stay and early 2028 as possible. Don’t anchor a fixed-date trip, such as a wedding, a milestone birthday or a convention, to the opening until Hard Rock publishes a date and opens reservations. If you want to be among the first guests, sign up on the official site and book a rate you can cancel.

From The Mirage to the Guitar Hotel: a dated timeline

Hard Rock International, owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida, kept The Mirage running for about 19 months after taking it over, then closed it so construction could start in summer 2024.

Date	Milestone	Source
1989	The Mirage opens as the Strip’s first megaresort	AP via NBC News
May 2020	Hard Rock buys the licensing and naming rights for “Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas”	Hard Rock release
December 2021	Hard Rock agrees to buy The Mirage’s operating assets for $1.075 billion and plans a guitar-shaped hotel	Hard Rock release
Dec. 19, 2022	Hard Rock takes over operations; VICI Properties owns the real estate and leases it to Hard Rock	Hard Rock release
May 2024	Hard Rock sets The Mirage’s closing for July 17 and announces about $80 million in severance	Hard Rock release
Weeks before July 17, 2024	The free tram between TI and The Mirage shuts	Review-Journal
July 17, 2024	The Mirage closes; bulldozers move onto the site that day	Hard Rock release; CDC Gaming
August 2024	Demolition of the volcano is under way	Review-Journal
January 2026	28 of the guitar tower’s 42 floors are complete	Review-Journal, via Yogonet
May 1, 2026	Topping-out ceremony for the guitar tower	CDC Gaming; Yogonet
July 22, 2026	County Zoning Commission approves a 2,000-seat theater	Review-Journal, via CDC Gaming
August 2026	Tower largely glass-enclosed; the former Mirage tri-tower undergoes a complete interior renovation	Review-Journal, via CDC Gaming

Hard Rock’s May 2024 closing release also canceled and refunded every room and show booking after July 14, 2024, including those made through travel sites. The Mirage name is not coming back, so a Mirage listing today is simply out of date.

What’s confirmed, what’s reported and what’s still unknown

Hard Rock has published few specifics, and most of the numbers in circulation come from county filings and news reports that don’t always agree. Use the status column before you repeat a figure.

Detail	What we found	Status
Name	Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, with the Guitar Hotel tower	Official
Opening	2027, with the fourth quarter targeted	Year official; quarter reported
Guitar tower	42 stories, “nearly 700 ft.” in Hard Rock’s 2024 release	Official; 660 feet in some reports
Total rooms	About 3,600 (Review-Journal, August 2026); more than 3,700 in May 2026 reports	Reported, not official
Guitar-tower rooms	600 to 675, depending on the report or filing	Reported
Casino	Nearly 175,000 square feet	Reported
Entertainment	A Hard Rock Live arena in the former LOVE theater, plus the approved 2,000-seat theater	Reported; theater county-approved
Pools and spas	Multiple pools and two spas; county renderings show a guitar-shaped pool of about 15,000 square feet	Reported; renderings only
Resort fee, parking, rates, check-in age	Nothing published	Unknown
TI tram	Both properties said in 2024 it will resume when Hard Rock opens	Reported; no 2026 update found

How big the new resort will be

The Mirage was a 3,000-room resort on an 80-acre site. Hard Rock is renovating its three-wing tower inside and adding the guitar tower on the Strip side, so with about 3,600 rooms in total and 600 to 675 in the guitar tower, most rooms will still be in the former Mirage tower.

That split matters when booking opens: a room in a new tower and one in a renovated 1989 tower are different products under one brand. Hard Rock hasn’t released room types or sizes.

Allen has also described the target as “an ultra-high-end, five-star luxury experience” and said, “we have gone a little crazy with the pools that we’ve designed,” The Nevada Independent reported. If that positioning holds, don’t expect value-tier pricing, though no rates exist yet.

What’s gone, and what to ignore

• Gone: the volcano (demolition was under way by August 2024), the Strip-side atrium (“the atrium will not be in the future,” Allen said at the closing) and the LOVE theater, which is becoming the Hard Rock Live arena. Allen also said “the villas are safe.”
• Ignore: any nightly rate or bookable room for Hard Rock Las Vegas, since no public booking channel exists, and any firm opening day that doesn’t come from a Hard Rock announcement.

Can you book Hard Rock Las Vegas yet?

No. On Nov. 8, 2026, Hard Rock’s pre-opening site offered a “Notify Me” sign-up to “stay updated on future news about promotions, hotel reservations, the grand opening date, and more,” plus a link to join Unity by Hard Rock, its loyalty program. Its “Book a Getaway” link goes to Hard Rock’s directory of other hotels, not to a Las Vegas booking engine. The site lists no room types, rates, resort fee or parking policy.

When reservations open, these checks will save you trouble:

1. Book a cancellable rate. Opening targets move, and this one already spans late 2027 to early 2028. Our hotel cancellation guide explains which rates let you walk away.
2. Ask what will be open on your dates. New resorts often open restaurants, pools and towers in stages; our tracker of new Las Vegas hotels shows how recent openings and rebrands handled it.
3. Confirm the tower. Ask whether your room is in the guitar tower or the renovated former Mirage tower.
4. Expect winter pool hours. A fourth-quarter opening falls at the start of the November-to-March stretch when many Strip pools close or shorten hours.
5. Budget for a resort fee. None has been announced, but its big center-Strip neighbors charge $49.95 to $55 plus tax a night (as of October 2026). Our Las Vegas resort fee guide lists them all.

Don’t confuse it with these other Hard Rocks

Three different Las Vegas places carry, or once carried, the Hard Rock name.

• Virgin Hotels Las Vegas is the original Hard Rock Hotel, on Paradise Road east of the Strip. It reopened under the Virgin name on March 25, 2021, and is part of Hilton’s Curio Collection; see our Virgin Hotels Las Vegas review.
• Hard Rock Cafe on the Strip is a restaurant and Rock Shop, not a hotel, in the Showcase Mall “across the street from Park MGM.” Hard Rock’s 2024 closing release noted that the cafe remained open, and its site listed daily hours in November 2026.
• The first Guitar Hotel is at Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood in Florida, which Hard Rock says “rises 450 feet into the sky and houses 638 luxury guest rooms and suites.” Many guitar-tower photos online show Florida, not Las Vegas.

Where to stay near the Hard Rock site until it opens

The former Mirage sits on the west side of the Strip between Treasure Island to the north and Caesars Palace to the south. On the east side of that same stretch are The Venetian, The Palazzo, Best Western Plus Casino Royale, Harrah’s and The LINQ. Fees and parking below were checked in October 2026.

Hotel	Area	Best for	Resort fee	Parking	Booking.com
Treasure Island (TI)	Center Strip	Drivers, value seekers	$49.95 + tax per night	Free self-parking and valet for hotel and casino guests	Check prices
Caesars Palace	Center Strip	First-timers, pool days, shows	$54.95 + tax per night	Paid self-parking and valet; free for Caesars Rewards Platinum and above	Check prices
The Venetian Resort Las Vegas	Center Strip	Sphere concert-goers, families, convention-goers	$55 + tax per night	Self-parking $20/day for hotel guests; valet $40/day	Check prices
The Palazzo at The Venetian	Center Strip	Couples, families, Sphere visitors	$55 + tax per night	Self-parking $20/day for hotel guests; valet $40/day	Check prices
Harrah's Las Vegas	Center Strip	Families, convention-goers, value seekers	$49.95 + tax per night	Paid self-parking and valet; free for Caesars Rewards Platinum and above	Check prices
The LINQ Hotel + Experience	Center Strip	Groups, budget-minded first-timers	$49.95 + tax per night	Paid self-parking and valet; free for Caesars Rewards Platinum and above	Check prices
Best Western Plus Casino Royale – Center Strip	Center Strip	Budget travelers, fee avoiders	None	Free guest parking; confirm current access instructions	Check prices

• Treasure Island: closest, with free parking. TI is next door to the north and parks hotel and casino guests free, with a $49.95-plus-tax resort fee (as of October 2026). The trade-off is construction next door until the opening and no tram for now. Our Treasure Island review covers which rooms to book.
• The Venetian and The Palazzo: space and Sphere access. Every standard room is a suite, and an indoor bridge leads to Sphere. Plan on a $55-plus-tax fee and $20 a day to self-park (as of October 2026); our Venetian review compares the two towers.
• Caesars Palace: next door to the south. Pick it for the seven-pool Garden of the Gods and The Colosseum; parking is paid unless you hold Caesars Rewards Platinum or higher. Read our Caesars Palace review before choosing a tower.
• Harrah’s and The LINQ: Monorail and lower fees. Both list a Monorail station and charge $49.95 plus tax (as of October 2026). TI lists the Harrah’s & LINQ station at 0.5 mile.
• Casino Royale: no resort fee. The small Best Western charges none and offers free parking, with no-frills rooms and a seasonal pool.

If construction noise worries you, the hotels on the east side put Las Vegas Boulevard between you and the site. For the wider area, see our center Strip hotel guide, and track how the closed tram and bridges affect your walks in our guide to connected Las Vegas hotels.

FAQ

When will Hard Rock Las Vegas open?

Hard Rock says the resort is slated to open in 2027, and executives have targeted the fourth quarter of 2027, but there’s no exact date. In April 2026, chairman Jim Allen said the company hoped to open in “late 2027 or early 2028”; later statements still say 2027. The official site offers sign-ups for opening news.

Is The Mirage still open?

No. The Mirage closed on July 17, 2024, after Hard Rock bought its operations in December 2022. It’s being rebuilt as Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Las Vegas, with a guitar tower on the Strip side and the old hotel tower renovated inside. The volcano was torn down starting in August 2024, and any Mirage room listing today is out of date.

Can I book a room at Hard Rock Las Vegas now?

Not yet. As of Nov. 8, 2026, the official site said “Coming Soon” and offered only a sign-up for news on reservations and the opening date, plus Unity by Hard Rock membership. No room types, rates, resort fee or parking policy had been published, so treat any listing that claims to sell rooms as unreliable.

How many rooms will Hard Rock Las Vegas have?

About 3,600, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal in August 2026, though May 2026 reports cited more than 3,700. The guitar tower accounts for roughly 600 to 675, depending on the report or county filing. Hard Rock hasn’t published an official count or its mix of rooms and suites.

How tall is the Hard Rock guitar hotel in Las Vegas?

The tower has 42 stories, and Hard Rock’s 2024 release described it as “nearly 700 ft.” Some reports put it at about 660 feet. That’s taller than the original Guitar Hotel in Hollywood, Florida, which Hard Rock says rises 450 feet. The Las Vegas tower topped out on May 1, 2026, and was largely enclosed in blue-tinted glass by August 2026.

Is Virgin Hotels Las Vegas the old Hard Rock Hotel?

Yes. The original Hard Rock Hotel on Paradise Road, east of the Strip, reopened as Virgin Hotels Las Vegas on March 25, 2021. The new Hard Rock Las Vegas is a different building on the former Mirage site, mid-Strip. Reviews of “Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas” written before 2020 describe the Paradise Road property.

Last checked: Nov. 8, 2026. We’ll update this page when Hard Rock announces a date or opens reservations. Until then, our area-by-area guide to where to stay in Las Vegas and our hotel construction tracker cover what you can book now.