Take a peek inside Resorts World ahead of Thursday’s opening

With construction workers scrambling to put the finishing touches on the $4.3 billion Resorts World Las Vegas, members of the media were escorted through a tour of the first Strip megaresort to be built in more than a decade.

Journalists weren’t allowed to take pictures during the two-and-a-half hour tour that included stops in each of the three Hilton-branded hotel lobbies, the District area filled with retail and food options and the fifth-floor pool deck.

When the clock strikes 11 p.m. Thursday, Resorts World will start a new chapter when it opens the doors of its 3,500-room integrated resort on the 88-acre site once home to the storied Stardust.

The last all-new hotel-casino built from the ground up on the Strip was The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, which opened in 2010.

Resorts World, built by the Genting Group of Malaysia, is the most expensive single resort ever developed in Las Vegas. CityCenter on the South Strip, developed by MGM Resorts International and Dubai World, cost $9.2 billion to build but included multiple hotels, two residential towers and a high-end retail mall.

On the tour, resort executives explained the many technological innovations being introduced at Resorts World, including keyless entry into every hotel room with a Bluetooth connection from a smartphone and a cashless casino floor that enables slot machine and table game players to gamble and cash out with digital wallets loaded on their phones.

Scott Sibella, president of Resorts World Las Vegas, hired in May 2019, welcomed journalists to the tour. Other executives from Genting, including Chairman K.T. Lim, have arrived for Thursday’s opening events.

While most of Resorts World’s attractions will be ready for Thursday’s public opening, some won’t.

The 5,000-seat concert venue that will feature in-residence performers Celine Dion, Katy Perry, Carrie Underwood and Luke Bryan won’t open until Nov. 2 with a benefit concert for COVID-19 victims. The property’s nightclubs won’t open until December.

But most of the restaurants and retail outlets in the 70,000-square-foot two-level District will be open as will the 24,000-square-foot Famous Foods Street Eats area.

Guests won’t be checking in to the three Hilton-branded hotels Thursday night, but they will beginning Friday.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.