Virgin Hotels Opens March 25th - What to Expect

Hmmmm ... ... Another Lucky Dragon in the making?

 

At first thought I agreed with you. But the players involved here have much deeper pockets.
The Lucky Dragon's target customer base was not enough to keep it going, along with a lousy location and bad signage. Nothing to draw in the tourist.

 

bad sign when you can not even get a cab and need to walk to the nearest intersection with hopes of flagging one down------and no public buses on paradise rd------
too far to walk from the strip in the heat-----bad location----
a get there and stay there type place
can't see them getting any local play or casino hoppers,maybe a limited amount of people who have cars and do not drink alcoholic beverages,maybe those who use uber or lyft

 

Taxis used to always stage at the Hard Rock. Has something changed? Also, very few taxi drivers in Las Vegas will stop for a "hail" or "flag" as they risk a ticket if they do so.

 

I stayed there 2 weeks ago and upon leaving, one of the valets was kind enough to run out to the intersection and get me a cab. It was like 9 a.m. and didn't take but about 5 minutes, but still... doesn't appear cabs stage at the property anymore.

 

Thanks for the heads-up.

One more reason to rent a car for my next trip, as I do have some off-Strip things I want to do, such as checking out some Strip vantage points for some evening/morning panorama photos and such.

I want to check out the new casinos as well, and that way I'll be able to, as long as I watch the beverages.

 

Not much local buzz at all plus Resorts World is getting all of the attention now. People who drive into town including thousands from California, show up with coolers and bags of stuff including food. Virgin doesn't allow outside food into the building which I think is one of many, many things impacting the property.
The other is very limited reach out to locals including to people like us who had a player's card at HR. We got a notice to sign up for their lowest level player's card level and a $5 bonus plus, a month later, a free $15 drink...we haven't visiting yet and it's nowhere close to being on the list of places to go. Maybe the pool will be popular as today is their grand "reopening." Tuscany is down in that same area and we are going there to check it out for the first time.

 

Supposedly Richard Branson was spotted there yesterday in preparation for today's "Grand Opening". I'm on their email list and they barely advertised this to me, as opposed to their opening back in March. Just kinda....weird. Glad the pool will be open for my stay in 2 weeks though!

 

This thread has been enlightening. Hopefully they get things figured out. The lack of cab staging is a definite red flag considering the issues with rideshare availability.

 

They recently lifted the emergency ban that put a stop to Surge Pricing for Rideshares, so in theory it should be getting easier by the day to get an Uber or Lyft. Would love to hear about anyone's first-hand experience though, especially at Virgin.

 

I understand the courtesy of running down the street to flag a cab for a customer. Does their switchboard no longer respond to calling for a cab?
I stayed at Sams Town wayyyy back in the day and to get to the airport the bell desk called “Archie” who was a local cab driver. He was there in about 15 minutes. No cabs staged at ST either. I would think that process would not be outdated.
Thoughts?

 

No doubt you’ll get a cab eventually when you (or the hotel) call. I guess the issue I have is everywhere that has staging is pretty much offering short waits (less than 10 minutes from what I’ve seen on social media) pretty consistently. What’s the wait like without staging and where the hotel or you have to call? It just seems crazy to me to have a new resort so close to the Strip open and not offer cabs. Maybe they are going the captive audience route?

 

not an expert ----but did drive a cab some 50 years ago when in college
my understanding is that it is up to the cabs if they wish to stage at a casino----the casino dictates where they stage on their property
not aware that it is illegal for an individual to flag down a cab in vegas,done all the time in major cities like new york and philly

 

Cabs are not allowed to pull over on the Strip. I'm not sure about other major roads.

TomTWI

 

IANAL, but the last I heard they were allowed to only pick up at authorized taxi stands or via radio call and could not respond to a "flag" or a "hail" in moving traffic.

 

When I flagged down the cab on Harmon, I waved the driver into the valet area under the Ruby tower parking garage. He didn't stop in the street.