Smoking Rooms Are Quietly Going Away at Caesars Entertainment Resorts

By Scott Roeben, on March 09 2023
2 min read 25 comments
Las Vegas Las Vegas Hotels

Way back in 2015, we reported MGM Resorts had made its Las Vegas hotel rooms non-smoking.

Now, the same thing is happening at Caesars Entertainment, and nobody’s talking about it. Including Caesars Entertainment.

To be clear, this news is related to smoke-free hotel rooms, not casinos.

This is a big stride forward for Caesars Entertainment, and it’s yet another opportunity to use a royalty-free AI image. Long story.

When you see it, you’ll be less worried about AI.

We were contacted by a Las Vegas visitor who’d booked a non-smoking room at Planet Hollywood, but they were informed smoking rooms were no longer available.

The player’s host communicated “all of the properties eventually will not have smoking rooms from what I understand.”

The Caesars employee said the guest had the option of moving to Horseshoe or Paris, “the only properties…still allowing it [smoking rooms].”

After some searching, it appears there are also smoking rooms in high-end suites at Caesars Palace and Paris, but that’s it.

Our source says “Flamingo, Linq, Planet Hollywood and Harrah’s will be non-smoking this month, with the others to soon follow suit.”

We inquired with Caesars Entertainment, and it seems this subject is touchy, so there will not be a public statement or confirmation forthcoming.

We aren’t entirely sure why Caesars Entertainment wouldn’t want to shout this news from the rooftops, as a small fraction of the population still smokes (about 14% of adults), and Park MGM made a splash by going completely smoke-free (hotel and casino).

There are a lot of reasons for hotels to go smoke-free, of course. Primarily, it’s customer demand.

Such decisions are rarely symbolic (or related to health concerns), and almost always financial (also known as “operational benefits”).

Simply put, smoking rooms are a pain in the ass. We’re pretty sure there are cleaning protocols (“turning the room” in housekeeping jargon) that take smoking rooms out of service longer than non-smoking rooms. That’s lost money.

Smoking can damage furniture and cigarettes and cigars can set things on fire.

Fun fact: Mattresses and cigarettes are natural enemies in the wild.

AAA says 42% of hotels, motels and other lodgings in the U.S. are smoke-free (either voluntarily or because of legislation).

When hotel rooms go smoke-free, there’s no impact on business, so there’s no real downside.

When MGM Resorts phased out its smoking rooms, it was business as usual.

We’re a big fan of smokeless everything, but Vegas casinos are still holding fast to the mistaken belief gambling and smoking are inexorably conjoined. Give it a minute.