After more than three decades of operating on the Las Vegas Strip, the Mirage Las Vegas will be shutting its doors on July 17. The landmark 3,044-room resort will undergo a three-year renovation and construction project that will transform the tropical-themed property into the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino and Guitar Hotel Las Vegas.

Expected to open in spring 2027, the new hotel-casino will feature a guitar-shaped, 660-foot hotel tower, similar to its sister property in Hollywood, Fla.

“We’d like to thank the Las Vegas community and team members for warmly welcoming Hard Rock after enjoying 34 years at The Mirage,” said Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International (HRI), in a May 15 statement announcing the closure. 

Credited with ushering in a new era of ultra-luxury resorts, the Mirage opened in November 1989, the creation of casino mogul Steve Wynn. As the first resort to create a sidewalk attraction with its artificial volcano erupting nightly, it was home to other quintessential Las Vegas features including Siegfried and Roy’s white tigers magic show and the Beatles-themed Cirque du Soleil show, “LOVE,” the latter of which ends its 18-year run on July 7.

After purchasing the Mirage from Wynn in 2000, MGM Resorts sold it in December 2022 for more than $1 billion to HRI, which is owned by the Seminole Tribe of Florida. The property remained open while rebranding and renovation plans were finalized.

The resort has also been a popular destination for meetings and event groups, with plentiful spaces including a 90,000-square-foot Events Center, a 40,000-sq.-ft. Grand Ballroom, two smaller ballrooms measuring 5,280 and 10,500 sq. ft., a 4,680-sq.-ft. event room and 1,829-sq.-ft. boardroom.

According to HRI officials, more than 3,000 Mirage employees will be laid off beginning in July, and it will pay out $80 million in severance.

The Culinary Workers Union Local 226 and Bartenders Union Local 165, which represent about 1,700 Mirage employees, said that affected workers will get $2,000 for each year of service, plus six months of pension and health benefits or a lesser amount while maintaining seniority rights for the duration of the property’s closure and 36 months of recall rights.  

“Culinary Union members at The Mirage have a strong union contract, ensuring that workers are protected, even as the property closes its doors entirely for three years from July 2024-May 2027,” said the union’s Secretary-Treasurer Ted Pappageorge in a statement. “[We] will continue to ensure workers are protected and centered in the property’s future.” 

The Mirage’s closure marks the second time this year that a historic Strip hotel-casino has shuttered. On April 2, the Tropicana Las Vegas closed its doors after 67 years to clear the way for a $1.5 billion professional baseball stadium that is planned to be the future home of the Oakland Athletics.

“We look forward to the beginning of an exciting journey into a new era as Hard Rock Las Vegas will ignite the Strip with entertainment, innovation and world-class hospitality,” resort officials said on the Mirage’s Facebook page.

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