Cromwell to Pause Room Bookings During Rebrand to Vanderpump Hotel
The option to book a room at The Cromwell on the Las Vegas Strip is expected to end on Feb. 15, 2026. When rooms are available again, Cromwell will be The Vanderpump Hotel, probably April 13, 2026. (That isn’t set in stone, as renovations can sometimes take longer than expected.)
Cromwell will be open the entire time—the casino, the sportsbook, Giada’s, Drai’s, Starbucks—but the rooms will be offline as they get a Lisa Vanderpump-inspired makeover.
No official date has been announced for the official launch of The Vanderpump Hotel, but there’s likely to be some pomp and/or circumstance, not necessarily in that order.
Plans to rebrand Cromwell to Vanderpump were announced nearly a year ago.
The original plan was for the hotel to continue operating during the renovation, but with its petite 188 rooms, the decision was made to just tear off the Band-Aid and do all the rooms at one time.
Cromwell has had a number of names over the years. The casino opened as Barbary Coast, then it was Bill’s Gamblin’ Hall and Saloon, then Cromwell, with a moment of madness when it might have been the Gansevoort Las Vegas, but nobody talks about that debacle. They thought about Caesars Republic for a moment, too. We have receipts.
The most interesting story about Cromwell’s history is one which has never been reported, other than by us.
When Cromwell was Bill’s, we got access to one of the executive offices. There, we found a trap door that led to the casino’s count room below. The trap door was cleverly concealed by carpeting.
Why has nobody ever asked Michael Gaughan about the trap door into the count room at Barbary Coast that was sealed up when Caesars bought the place? Hint: Las Vegas doesn’t have journalism. https://t.co/gdLcQLjqWn pic.twitter.com/IVb5ZTW4Tm
— Vital Vegas (@VitalVegas) December 7, 2025
The trap door was sealed up shortly after Caesars Entertainment (then Harrah’s Entertainment) bought the place. How do we know this? The construction guys who closed it off signed and dated the trap door.
Just outside the office door was access to the casino’s security catwalks. The catwalks led directly to the parking garage.
We walked the walk.
Barbary Coast was built by Michael Gaughan in 1979. Boyd Gaming got the Barbary Coast when it bought Coast Casinos in 2004, then Boyd gave it to Harrah’s Entertainment as part of a land exchange. Boyd got the former Stardust site, which was imploded, then Boyd proceeded to not build Echelon Place on the land now occupied by Resorts World and Boyd remains traumatized by the whole episode to this day. There will be a quiz.
The point is somebody had a trap door into the count room and a discreet walkway into the parking garage, a perfect way to evade the prying eyes of law enforcement if anything (like skimming) were taking place. Which we aren’t saying happened, because we like having our knees intact.
This whole space was gutted when Bill’s became Cromwell, so any evidence of anything that definitely didn’t happen has been swept away forever.
Told you it was a lot more interesting than Cromwell getting a new logo slapped on it.
This rebrand will not be nearly as extensive as when Bill’s became Cromwell.
The exterior changes will be fairly superficial, but guests are likely to notice some significant fancification of the rooms.
Vanderpump’s bordello chic aesthetic can be experienced at her three lounges in Las Vegas, at Caesars Palace, Paris and Flamingo.
Vanderpump is known for non-subtle, old-world crystal chandeliers, velvet, florals and unapologetic excess, so expect her rooms to have those flourishes. Screw taste and restraint, expect ovary-friendly rooms with lots of pinks, golds and mood lighting. Vanderpump Hotel is about to become a temple for high-end kitsch. Think the Oval Office, but without the Rutherford B. Hayes desk.
The majority of Las Vegas casinos have a feminine or masculine vibe, which is why people refer to them as “he” or “she.” Caesars Palace is a he. Bellagio is a she. Circa is a he. Paris is a she. Cosmo, she. Luxor, he. Park MGM, she. Flamingo, she. (We call Flamingo the “MILF of The Strip.”) Wynn is fluid, not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Vanderpump Hotel is going to fall neatly into the “she” category.
Here’s what A.I. thinks a Vanderpump Hotel room could look like, based upon this description: “The walls are washed in a blush-champagne tone, somewhere between rose and bridal shower, finished with just enough shimmer to catch candlelight and make everyone look slightly filtered. Crown molding is dramatic and unnecessary. There may be ceiling medallions. There is definitely a chandelier, dripping with crystals like it’s auditioning for ‘Real Housewives: Versailles.’ Furniture leans heavily into tufted velvet—plush banquettes, curved sofas, chairs that suggest fainting is not only allowed but encouraged. Everything is soft, rounded, and inviting, like a high-end boudoir designed by someone who once described a mall restaurant as “divine.” Gold accents are everywhere: brushed, polished, mirrored. Subtlety did not make the cut. Faux fur throws drape across furniture year-round because seasonality is for cowards. The coffee table is glass or mirrored, topped with stacked art books no one has opened, a tray of votive candles, and maybe a crystal decanter that has never seen whiskey but is thrilled to be holding rose. Lighting is low and forgiving. Table lamps glow warmly through pink shades, sconces cast flattering shadows, and everything conspires to make middle America feel like it accidentally wandered into a VIP lounge. There are roses (real or artificial, hard to say) arranged generously, because one bouquet would be lonely. The overall effect is romantic, indulgent, and a little ridiculous—opulence without irony, glamour without restraint. It’s not tasteful, exactly. It’s aspirational. The kind of room that whispers, ‘You deserve luxury,’ while gently shouting it through a crystal megaphone.”
Why is Caesars Entertainment rebranding Cromwell to Vanderpump Hotel? Shocker: Money. Specifically, the potential to make more with a relatively small investment.
Lisa Vanderpump’s three lounges have done very well at Paris, Caesars and Flamingo.
Cromwell never really had an identity. It was a “she,” but not overtly so. It needed something.
Now, it will have personality.
The people who love the Lisa Vanderpump sensibility really love it. Will they gamble? Who knows. It’s a tiny casino, so it’s not going to move the needle for Caesars Entertainment one way or the other.
A rebrand is unlikely to harm the hotel-casino. Any room refresh is a good room refresh. The rebrand gets the place some media coverage, which could be helpful.
The truth is Cromwell is Caesars Entertainment’s Golden Gate. There aren’t enough rooms, or enough space for slot machines, to make it worth too much trouble. Golden Gate isn’t top of mind to its owners, Greg and Derek Stevens, as they have Circa as their baby, just as Caesars has Caesars Palace.
So, you don’t like that Golden Gate doesn’t have live table games anymore, and you don’t like that the rooms at Vanderpump Hotel are going to smell like flowers? Tough. They aren’t for you. They’re for the people they’re for.
Caesars quietly booted Drai’s nightclub and dayclub from the rooftop, as it was a source of ongoing drama, often involving law enforcement. The last day of operation for Drai’s nightclub and beach club was Oct. 31, 2025.
There were rumblings Giada might not survive the rebrand to Vanderpump, but a Caesars Entertainment contact recently informed us there are no plans to change that arrangement.
The arrangement? Well, it’s like all the celebrity-branded venues in Las Vegas. They lend their name and get a piece of the action (usually around 5% of the gross). We can’t imagine Lisa Vanderpump is getting that much for licensing her name for a Las Vegas casino, but you can bet she’ll be fulfilling her contractual requirement to show up at the hotel at least once a year for photo ops. That’s standard with everyone from Bobby Flay to Gordon Ramsay and Guy Fieri.
Since the opening of Hard Rock Las Vegas won’t happen until 2027, the Vanderpump rebrand is the closest we’re going to get to a new hotel-casino opening on The Strip for some time, so we shall revel in the newness.
Props to our frenemy Marc Meltzer for being the first to spot the end date for Cromwell room reservations. The Review-Journal confirmed the story a week later. Kudos also to our frenemy Tim Dressen at Five Hundy By Midnight for digging up renderings of Vanderpump’s exterior, as well as to our friend Corey Levitan for sharing that scoop.
Speaking of exclusives, we got our hands on a proposed billboard for Vanderpump Hotel.
More to come.
We wanted to close this story with one of Lisa Vanderpump’s catchphrases, but they’re all pretty meh. “Darling” is one. “Oh, please,” is another. “Let’s be honest,” lame. “It’s not very classy,” lame. “You’re being dramatic,” lame. Do these even qualify as catchphrases?
Lisa Vanderpump needs a writer. Yes, even reality TV people use scripts.
We have never personally seen anything Lisa Vanderpump has appeared in, but apparently one of her shows is set in Beverly Hills. If you can’t come up with some incredible quips about Beverly Hills, you need to turn in your Writers Guild membership.
The best line attributed to Lisa Vanderpump we found was, “You can stab me in the back, but whilst you’re there, kiss my ass.”
If the rebrand of Cromwell to Vanderpump goes as Caesars Entertainment would like, skeptics are going to have their hands full with all the ass-kissing, which may be a mixed metaphor, but it’s not like you’re still reading this story, so who cares?
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