Lisa Vanderpump arrived the way she meant to be seen: in a custom Rolls-Royce, gliding to the curb at the center of the Las Vegas Strip, then walking the main casino floor flanked by bellmen as her name climbed the marquee above her. “Seeing my name go up,” she said of the moment, “was very emotional.” On Thursday night, June 11, 2026, that name officially became a Las Vegas address. The Vanderpump Hotel opened its doors, completing Caesars Entertainment’s full rebrand of the property formerly known as The Cromwell.
It is, by Strip standards, a small landmark — 188 rooms at 3595 Las Vegas Blvd. South, on the corner that locals still think of as Flamingo and the Boulevard. But it carries an outsized distinction: it’s the first major Strip resort grand opening since Fontainebleau cut the ribbon in December 2023. The difference in scale tells the whole story. Fontainebleau opened with roughly 3,644 rooms and a guest list that ran to Kim Kardashian and Tom Brady. The Vanderpump Hotel opened with 188 rooms and a Pomeranian.
Here’s what actually changed, what stayed, and what it means if you’re thinking of booking.
A 188-Room Jewel Box, Designed Top to Bottom
Vanderpump has called the hotel “a true labor of love” and “my very own jewel box on the 50-yard line of the Las Vegas Strip — intimate, inviting and filled with carefully curated details that each tell a story.” The phrasing is precise about the strategy. This is not a megaresort, and it isn’t trying to be.
She co-designed the property with Nick Alain through their firm, Vanderpump Alain, and the work runs deep — all 188 guest rooms plus the public spaces carry custom furnishings, lighting, and decorative elements. The bones are familiar to anyone who knew The Cromwell: a Caesars fact sheet from April 2025 lists 188 rooms including 19 suites, the same footprint at the same center-Strip address. What’s new is the identity layered over it — a full redesign rather than a ground-up build.
That scale is the point. As OnTheStrip’s own Cromwell listing notes, 188 rooms is “notable as many Las Vegas Strip properties boast thousands of rooms.” The property arrived in 2014 as the Strip’s first standalone luxury boutique hotel, adults-oriented and deliberately compact next to the Caesars Palaces and Bellagios down the block. The Vanderpump Hotel inherits that DNA and dresses it in her aesthetic.
What’s New in the Lobby and Bars
The most visible changes are the ones you hit on arrival. The lobby bar has been remodeled, and the public areas now carry Vanderpump’s signature theming — most charmingly in the form of a statue of Gigolo, her late Pomeranian, whose name also belongs to the hotel’s new cocktail lounge, Gigolo. There’s also The Bar at The Vanderpump Hotel, the property’s namesake drinking room.
For Vanderpump-curious travelers, this is the draw: the hotel folds into an existing set of her Las Vegas venues — Vanderpump Cocktail Garden at Caesars Palace, Vanderpump à Paris at Paris Las Vegas, and Pinky’s by Vanderpump at Flamingo Las Vegas, with WOLF by Vanderpump out at Harvey’s Lake Tahoe and Caesars Republic Scottsdale. The hotel is her first lodging collaboration, which makes it the one place you can actually stay inside the aesthetic rather than just drink in it.
What Carried Over From The Cromwell
If you’ve stayed here before, much of the resort footprint will feel reassuringly intact. GIADA, Giada De Laurentiis’s first-ever restaurant, remains. So does Drai’s After Hours, the late-night fixture, alongside a Starbucks and a Caesars Sportsbook location for the practical stops.
The rooftop is the clearest case of new paint on old structure. The pool now operates as Soleia, occupying the former Drai’s Beach Club space atop the property. The identity is new; the rooftop pool-and-party experience is a Cromwell-era continuity. Knowing that distinction is useful before you book — you’re getting a rebranded version of a known quantity, not an untested new amenity.
Booking shorthand: the venues that drew people to The Cromwell — GIADA, Drai’s After Hours, the rooftop pool — are still here. The Vanderpump layer adds the Gigolo lounge, The Bar, the Soleia pool identity, and a fully redesigned room product.
A Deliberately Low-Key Debut
The opening itself was a study in restraint, at least by Strip-debut standards. Where Fontainebleau’s December 2023 launch pulled in Cher, Kim Kardashian, Tom Brady, and Lenny Kravitz, the Vanderpump Hotel’s guest list leaned to Sharon Osbourne, Lance Bass, and Garcelle Beauvais — recognizable names, but not the wall-to-wall A-list wattage Vegas megaresort openings tend to chase. For a boutique rebrand, that fits. The story here is the property, not the parade.
Caesars and Clark County still treated it as an occasion. Clark County Commissioner Tick Segerblom presented Vanderpump with a ceremonial “Key to the Las Vegas Strip,” joined by Caesars executives including CEO Tom Reeg and President and COO Anthony Carano. The night closed with a coordinated drone show — 600 drones lighting up the sky above the Strip — a flourish that signaled the rebrand’s marketing ambitions even when the red carpet kept things intimate.
Why It Matters for Strip Visitors
Strip openings usually mean more — more towers, more rooms, more spectacle. This one means something different: a small, design-driven property betting that intimacy and a single coherent point of view can hold their own against the giants next door. For travelers tracking what’s new, it’s the freshest stay on the Boulevard and the only hotel where Vanderpump’s world is the whole experience rather than one room in it. For anyone who knew The Cromwell, it’s a familiar address with a new name, a new pool brand, and a Pomeranian cast in bronze in the lobby.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: When did The Vanderpump Hotel open? A: The Vanderpump Hotel held its grand opening on Thursday night, June 11, 2026, completing Caesars Entertainment’s rebrand of the former Cromwell.
Q: Is The Vanderpump Hotel the same building as The Cromwell? A: Yes. It’s a rebrand and full redesign of the existing Cromwell footprint — 188 rooms at 3595 Las Vegas Blvd. South — not a new build. Lisa Vanderpump co-designed the property with Nick Alain through their firm Vanderpump Alain.
Q: What restaurants and venues are inside The Vanderpump Hotel? A: On-site you’ll find GIADA, Drai’s After Hours, a Starbucks, a Caesars Sportsbook, the Soleia rooftop pool (formerly Drai’s Beach Club), the new Gigolo cocktail lounge, and The Bar at The Vanderpump Hotel.
Q: How big is The Vanderpump Hotel compared to other Strip resorts? A: It’s a boutique property with 188 rooms — tiny by Strip standards, where neighboring megaresorts run into the thousands of rooms. It was the Strip’s first standalone luxury boutique hotel in its Cromwell era and keeps that compact positioning.
Q: Was the opening a big celebrity event? A: It was deliberately low-key for a Strip debut. Guests included Sharon Osbourne, Lance Bass, and Garcelle Beauvais, and the night ended with a 600-drone show — but it skipped the A-list crowd that turned out for Fontainebleau’s 2023 opening.
Sources
- Casino.org — “Low-Starpower Grand Opening Welcomes Vanderpump Hotel to Vegas Strip”
- Caesars Entertainment — The Cromwell Fact Sheet (April 2025)
- OnTheStrip.com — The Cromwell hotel listing
- Exploring Las Vegas — The Cromwell
- VegasCasinoDirectory — Cromwell
- KESQ / CNN Style — Fontainebleau opens $3.7B Las Vegas Strip hotel
- Meetings & Conventions — Fontainebleau Las Vegas debuts
- Covers — Fontainebleau Las Vegas finally opens doors with star-studded debut
- Hotel Scoop — The Cromwell Las Vegas: A Boutique Hotel on the Strip
- PR Newswire — Giada De Laurentiis’s first-ever restaurant GIADA now open at The Cromwell
