Despite high price tag, Bellagio Fountain Club sells out ahead of Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend
The Bellagio Fountain Club returns to the Las Vegas Grand Prix this year, offering some of the best views of the race’s main straightaway on the Strip in the front, with the resort’s popular fountain show occurring behind the space.
Taking in the action in one of the highest-end spaces for race weekend, running Thursday-Saturday, doesn’t come cheap, as the three-day ticket for the Bellagio Fountain Club cost $12,500, taxes and fees included.
The price hasn’t deterred guests from buying the pricey hospitality ticket, as the Bellagio Fountain Club is already sold out ahead of the weekend.
“This was our (MGM Resorts) most interesting place to watch the race this year, and everybody really wanted to be here,” said Andrew Lanzino, vice president of citywide events strategy at MGM Resorts. “So we sold out pretty quickly.”
New additions
MGM Resorts is looking to build off the hype the hospitality zone received leading up to and during last year’s inaugural race by fine tuning their plan, based on guest feedback and by enhancing the indoor-outdoor space’s offerings.
This year, MGM Resorts is offering suites with views of the race, an addition added after it was suggested by some who attended the fountain club last year.
“We built suites where people can buy out their own private area to view the race,” Lanzino said. “We had a few people reach out immediately after the race last year that said they wanted suites added to host their company or their friends to have a private area to have this great experience, but have a little piece for themselves.”
The Las Vegas Grand Prix Winner’s Stage, where the winner of the race goes to celebrate immediately after the race’s conclusion, is also located between the two buildings that create the Bellagio Fountain Club.
Other additions include televisions around the rooftop of the structures, and an activation row leading to the space. Some of the features there include a Haas team race car and interactive experiences.
“We really wanted to focus on the guest experience,” Lanzino said. “When you walk through the beginning of that whole activation row with Mercedes and Marriott and everybody doing their thing, we really wanted to get some action and things for people to do, besides just eat and drink.”
Plans call for 20 chefs, including Masaharu Morimoto, Mario Carbone and Alain Ducasse, stationed around the two temporary structures, offering a curated rotating menu. There are also premium bars with drinks created by master mixologists and sommeliers and concierge services available. The food and beverage offerings are all inclusive.
Pop-up performances by Las Vegas entertainers are also planned throughout the weekend.
MGM also has a suite at the Formula One pit building, where the start-finish line and drivers garages are located.
“We have two types of customers. You see the customer that really wants to see the F1 race. They’re race fans, and they want to be at the paddock where the action is,” Lanzino said. “Then we have people that want to be at F1 in Vegas and there’s no place where you can feel like you’re in the center of Las Vegas than on the rooftop of this building, with every property center-Strip, fireworks going off.”
It took about eight weeks for the structures to be built and it will take five weeks to tear the space down post-race, Lanzino said.
“It will be gone before Christmas,” he said.
Grandstand seating was removed and the two hospitality structures can fit 3,600 guests.
Cheaper F1 option
To accommodate a different clientele, MGM Resorts is offering a new watch party on the Cosmopolitan’s rooftop pool next door to the Bellagio.
“Last year we kind of pushed everything into this one spot and it was a little crowded and the experience wasn’t what Bellagio stands for,” Lanzino said. “So we took the grandstands away and created a more elevated experience that was more affordable, so we have different options for everybody.”
It’s dubbed the Boulevard Experience, and fans won’t have a direct view of the race below, but there will be a live feed of the race shown on screens throughout the pool area.
“It’s the same live track feed that the Las Vegas Grand Prix uses and we now have the ability to have these two really great experiences, at two different levels, rather than just trying to shove it all in one space in front of the fountains,” Lanzino said.
The space offers fans unlimited complimentary light bites and non-alcoholic beverages.
One-day tickets for Thursday and Friday run $150 and $350 for Sunday. Three-day tickets are $500. All levels of tickets are still available for purchase on the MGM Resorts website.
“We still have a few tickets left,” Lanzino said. “But they’re going fast.”
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.