Mirage Alerts Customers to Date of Change to Hard Rock Las Vegas, Sorta

By Scott Roeben, on November 01 2022
3 min read 4 comments
Las Vegas Las Vegas Hotels

Ever since Hard Rock International purchased Mirage, there’s been a lot of speculation about when the resort would actually become Hard Rock.

On Oct. 10, 2022, we shared word the date could be Dec. 19, 2022. Now, it appears, Mirage is confirming that date to guests.

There’s an asterisk, however.

Mirage volcano
This fire is about to be extinguished, but the new place is going to rock.

Guests have been getting this message from Mirage: “The Mirage Hotel and Casino will be renamed The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino effective December 19, 2022 and will no longer be under the MGM brand.”

Our friend Travel Ruby shared the message on Twitter.

The Mirage is pretty strong source when it comes to information about, you know, Mirage. However, it’s unclear if that information actually came directly from Mirage, or a third party that jumped the gun on the name change. (It’s believed the message came from WestJet, the airline and seller of vacation packages.)

The “asterisk” relates to when the transfer of Mirage to Hard Rock International is given the green light, as the Nevada Gaming Commission is the entity that approves such things, not casinos or casino companies.

The Nevada Gaming Commission’s earliest opportunity to approve the sale is Dec. 22, 2022. First, it must be approved and recommended by the Gaming Control Board (which meets Nov. 2, 2022, but this subject isn’t on the agenda). That means, unless there’s a special meeting of some sort, the soonest the Mirage-to-Hard Rock deal could be approved is Dec. 22, 2022.

The bottom line is Mirage and Hard Rock can call themselves whatever they’d like, but it’s not official-official until the Nevada Gaming Commission signs off.

Approval is expected, of course. Hard Rock sort of has a track record.

It seems the Dec. 19 date could be the timing of an internal changeover, as opposed to saying the name of the hotel will change this year.

We previously shared an internal document talking about the transition from Mirage to Hard Rock recently. It wasn’t particularly exciting, but “internal document” makes it sound sexy.

If you’re looking for asterisks, there’s a bigass one in that memo.

The executive (Joe Lupo is President of the future Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas) clearly states, “Once the sale is completed, we will still operate under The Mirage name until we fully transform into a Hard Rock property, including the guitar shaped hotel.” That appears to directly contradict what the hotel is currently communicating to guests. The completion of the tower is potentially years away. Hard Rock has use of the Mirage name for three years.

If the Mirage name is used until the resort’s transformation is complete, that means Mirage will stay Mirage until 2025.

Beyond the name change or behind-the-scenes administrative changes at Mirage, we’ve shared a number of other items of interest.

There’s been some chatter about the controversial Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden. It was supposed to reopen Oct. 9, then on Oct. 31, but those dates have come and gone. Related: Three dolphins have died at the exhibit in the last six months.

The plan was to scrap the volcano immediately to make room for a new hotel tower, but we’ve heard there’s some pressure being exerted to keep it operating awhile.

Here’s a look at the volcano, in case it shuts down before you get a chance to visit again.

We’ve also shared some inside scoop about the potential future of “Love.”

The most recent plan we’ve heard is Mirage (or Hard Rock) will operate throughout the resort’s transformation, but plans can change and often do.

Wow, we’ve really Twittered the hell out of this story.

That’s because Vegas moves fast, and Twitter is about the only way to try and keep up. We should probably start a GoFundMe to pay for our blue check mark.

Anyway, lots of changes coming up for our beloved Mirage. Calling Mirage by its new name, Hard Rock, is going to take a minute, just as it took time to get used to calling the former Hard Rock by its new name, Virgin. Bally’s is becoming Horseshoe, and Tropicana is probably going to become Bally’s.

Thankfully, Fontainebleau is back to being Fontainebleau, we barely had time to call it The Drew.

More to come.

Update (11/2/22): Seemingly in response to questions around the transition from Mirage to Hard Rock, the company published an FAQ on its Web site clarifying some of the concerns.

Is Mirage closing? “No, MGM is transferring ownership of the Mirage to Hard Rock International. The property will remain open as the Mirage.” That tracks with the resort’s president saying the Mirage name will be around until 2025.

When will the property transfer to new ownership? “The transfer of ownership is expected to occur by December 31st, 2022, pending Nevada regulatory approval.” Please refer to our timeline information earlier in this story.

The FAQ also asks of itself, “Is the volcano show ending.” Mirage says, “There are no current plans to change the volcano show.”

So, some clarification, but not much. The good news is we’ll have Mirage around awhile, and you can still catch the volcano before plans change.