First Las Vegas Gaming Resort Receives Michelin Key

Posted on: October 16, 2025, 01:39h. 

Last updated on: October 16, 2025, 01:54h.

Corey Levitan Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Entertainment, Expert Insight, Las Vegas, Restaurants, Vegas Myths Busted.
  • Fontainebleu Las Vegas has become the city’s first casino resort to receive a prestigious Michelin Guide key
  • Like Michelin’s stars for restaurants, keys are used to signify properties that provide exceptional service
  • The Four Seasons and Waldorf Astoria in Vegas have also received keys, though neither property has a casino

Fontainebleau Las Vegas just received a “One Key” designation from the “2025 Michelin Guide,” making it the only gaming resort in Nevada with the honor. The Waldorf Astoria and Four Seasons Hotel in Las Vegas, neither of which has casinos, both received single Michelin keys last April, when the hotel awards program launched.

Fontainebleau Las Vegas opened on Dec. 13, 2023. (Image: Shutterstock)

Michelin keys recognize exceptional hotels around the world based on criteria including architecture, service, personality, value, and local contribution.

First conferred last April at a ceremony in Paris, Michelin keys are modeled after the Michelin Guide’s star system for restaurants. One key distinguishes a hotel stay as “very special,” two keys “exceptional,” and three keys “extraordinary.”

Fontainebleau made the list of key recipients for the first time on October 8, along with 37 other US hotels, during the Michelin Guide’s first update to its key selections. So far, a total of 317 US hotels have received keys (232 received one, 69 received two, and 16 received three).

Hotels may gain, retain, or lose keys based on ongoing evaluations. (Michelin doesn’t announce when keys are lost.)

Stars of a Different Stripe

Michelin keys aren’t like Michelin stars in one key regard: Las Vegas entities qualify for them.

To be considered for a star, restaurants must be located in a city in which a Michelin Guide is published, and Las Vegas was only one of those cities for two years.

Michelin, the French tire company, published its first guide to food and lodging in 1900. The Michelin Guide began as a venture to drive demand for consumers to buy cars  (and, therefore, tires) with which to travel to the destinations listed in the guide.

In 2008, the Michelin Guide debuted for Las Vegas, and by a year later, 17 restaurants boasted one or more stars. Michelin discontinued its Vegas guide in 2009, citing the Great Recession’s toll on the region’s economy.

Since then, Michelin hasn’t restarted the Vegas guide and won’t acknowledge why. When Casino.org asked for a reason, a spokesperson replied only that, “while the Guide’s goal is to cover the world, we must ensure we develop sustainably on a long-term scale, which is why we are not currently present in every state or city.”

Michelin Guides are currently published only in US cities located in New York, California, Florida, Illinois, Georgia, Colorado, and Washington, DC.