One of the first sleepless nights of my life happened in Las Vegas.
There wasn’t late-night gambling or a club crawl keeping me up. No — I was glued to the window, mesmerized by an erupting volcano.
It was 1990. I was 12, staying at the just-opened Mirage. Every 15 minutes, I’d press my face against the glass, waiting for another fiery spectacle until the final eruption at midnight.
That was the era of “family friendly” Vegas, and I was hooked.
I kept coming back through each phase of the city’s reinvention — including the “What Happens Here, Stays Here” years — racking up my 21st visit earlier this year.
But today’s Vegas is tougher on wallets. Visitor numbers are down about 8 percent in 2025, with July alone seeing a 12 percent year-over-year drop.
Politics, economic jitters, and a post-Super Bowl adjustment explain much of the decline. But maybe something else is at play.
Has Las Vegas forgotten what made it special?
Today’s resorts offer more luxury than in any prior era. There’s a cacophony of signature restaurants, artisanal gelato shops, curated spa experiences, over-the-top nightclubs and pool day clubs with cabanas nicer than my first apartment.
Earlier this year, I stayed in a one-bedroom Fleur de Lis Suite on the 87th floor of the Fontainebleau Las Vegas. There were two full bathrooms — one with a heated Japanese toilet — two giant TVs, a sleek living room, and a killer view. My en-suite bar even came with its own ice machine. That’s real desert luxury!
Each night was a culinary event: phenomenal Cantonese food at Chyna Club and modern Italian at Mother Wolf, an import from Los Angeles.
If I was visiting these days, I could catch The Wizard of Oz — reimagined — at The Sphere. Tickets for this classic movie start at $100 and climb from there.
(The Las Vegas Sphere, Nevada/Harold Litwiler/Wikimedia Commons)
All this glitz has come with a cost. The all-you-can-eat buffet is quickly disappearing; the budget-friendly ones are long gone. So are the other deals that made Vegas unique, like the all-night coffee shop or the prime rib special.
In that Vegas, you might lose $500 at the craps table but still feel like you were coming out ahead thanks to the 99-cent shrimp cocktails.
You see, luxury has always been part of Vegas. But so were the deals.
As much as I love unique dining experiences and being pampered at the best spas, I couldn’t always afford such extravagances, although I always aspired to partake in them.
In 1999, I took my first legal-age trip to Vegas with a friend. We stayed five nights at The Manor House at Circus Circus for $100. The package came with two buffet coupons, a blackjack match play, and other freebies. Best of all: There was no resort fee.
Coupon books were treasure maps, leading us from one free drink to the next. The Sahara had $1 blackjack tables. I stretched $40 into hours of play — with free drinks to boot.
The Stardust ran a promotion: Spend $50 at any restaurant and get two show tickets (plus two drinks each). My friend and I could barely hit $25 apiece at the Mexican restaurant, even with 32-ounce margarita mugs, but we managed — and walked away with our tickets.
Another night, we watched the free pirate battle at what was then called Treasure Island — today slated to be Accor’s biggest hotel in the world. There was nothing quite like it. But now it’s been gone for more than a decade, replaced by shops and a Señor Frog’s.
Of course, change is good, and Vegas will constantly be reinventing itself. The upscale restaurants and fancier hotels have made my experience all that much better. The over-the-top experiences have always created a sense of escape and will get even bigger and bolder.
But after years of record growth, 2025 looks more like a plateau.
Kate Wik, the chief marketing officer for the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, said “2025 is almost a leveling out.”
“Coming out of the pandemic, you had these incredible highs,” she noted at this month’s Skift Global Forum.
Yet, I come to Vegas to feel like I’m winning. There’s always the hope of hitting the giant slot machine jackpot, having your number come up at roulette or winning the poker tournament. There’s a similar gambler’s high when getting a 2-for-1 coupon to the all-you-can-eat seafood buffet.
Vegas has been dealt a bad hand; it will recover. But it needs to realize that not every visitor is interested in a $230 caviar service or an $8,000 bottle of Screaming Eagle cabernet sauvignon.
Maybe the best bet the city could make is bringing back the 99-cent shrimp cocktail. An erupting volcano wouldn’t hurt either.
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