Las Vegas Strip pools are reopening, at least for hotel guests

E.J. and Simone Morrow found themselves lounging at The Strat’s Elation pool Saturday.

They were en route from Colorado to California when they decided to take a detour to Las Vegas.

“We found out Vegas was opening June 4, and we said ‘Hell yeah,’” explained Simone. “So we were able, at the last minute, to just sort of click, click, click, and found the Strat.”

It’s the couple’s first trip to Vegas, and she says they’ve been “having a blast” during their visit, which included a meal at The Strat’s revolving restaurant Top of the World last night.

They weren’t the only ones enjoying the first weekend of Las Vegas hotel-casinos’ reopening in a pool or lounge chair.

Breanna Martinez relaxed in a hot tub with some friends to distract herself from the world’s troubles.

“Everybody is out here, enjoying themselves, not being scared of what’s going on,” said Martinez. “Everybody is spacing themselves at least six feet or more, having a good time, celebrating the good life that we have.”

At the Flamingo, the pool area was clearly the place to be on Saturday. By mid-afternoon, the line to get in stretched about 50 feet. Once it hit capacity, which is now half of the normal maximum, newcomers weren’t allowed to enter until someone else left.

While pools are proving to be a nice amenity for hotel guests, those are the only people who are currently able to enjoy them at most resorts.

Entry to the pools at the Flamingo, The Strat and the Venetian and Palazzo was restricted to guests with room keys on Saturday.

Downtown at the Golden Nugget, day passes were also unavailable, although an employee at the hotel check-in desk said they may return later in the season.

For now, she suggested those who wanted to enjoy the resort’s pool and shark aquarium consider pooling their resources and booking a room – available for less than $100 on Saturday morning.

It was a little windy on The Venetian’s pool deck Saturday morning, but that didn’t stop hotel guests from enjoying the sun. Most of the lounge chairs were occupied at 10 a.m., and all of the luxury cabanas had been reserved for the day.

Both chairs and cabanas were still available at the Palazzo’s pools at that hour, although that may have had more to do with that hotel tower’s lower occupancy, or the fact that its pools were still in the shade.

Nine of the eleven pools serving the Venetian and Palazzo towers were open to hotel guests on Saturday. Around those that were open, lounge chairs were being frequently cleaned and had wide spacings between them — visible signs of the hotel-casino’s enhanced health and safety precautions in place as it and other casinos reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson. Las Vegas Sands operates The Venetian and Palazzo.

Contact Al Mancini at amancini@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AlManciniVegas on Twitter and Instagram. Review-Journal writer Richard N. Velotta contributed to this story.