Las Vegas welcomes everyone and it caters to every need.
If you're a high-roller looking for a room with a bowling alley or caviar flown in from some exotic location, those aren't even surprising requests for Sin City concierges and casino hosts. The same applies if you're looking for a dirt cheap room, $2 blackjack, and a 99-cent shrimp cocktail.
Las Vegas will let you stay in a pyramid, swim under the Eiffel Tower, and wave to the Statue of Liberty (which is probably wearing a Las Vegas Golden Knights shirt at the moment). It's a city that caters to excess that also doesn't judge people.
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You can try pretty much every vice in Las Vegas (both the legal ones and some that aren't quite as above board). In addition, you can see pretty much every form of entertainment with incredibly varied shows sometimes sitting right next to each other.
Wayne Newton and "Ru Paul's Drag Race" both play at theaters in Caesars Entertainment's (CZR) Flamingo while Donny Osmond and a topless country revue headline at Harrah's alongside a hologram of Whitney Houston. Las Vegas serves every need and welcomes every person.
What it has never had is a hotel that caters specifically to the LGBTQ+ community. That's about to change as the Fremont Street Experience area in downtown Las Vegas will welcome the Bent Inn, a first-of-its-kind for Las Vegas boutique hotel this summer.
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A First For Las Vegas
While Las Vegas has long been a place that welcomes the LGBTQ+ community, it has never had an LGBTQ-owned and operated boutique hotel in Las Vegas, according to fact-checking by Casino.org. That's how the co-owners of The Bent Inn are describing their property.
The company describes the property as "bending the LGBTQ+ Las Vegas experience," according to its website. The company also shared the following details about the under-construction property:
- 33 playfully-designed rooms (fully renovated from the 1965 Moonlight Hotel)
- A judgment-free resort where unforgettable experiences and friendships are formed
- An onsite gastropub and poolside food truck
The hotel's owners, Mark Hunter and Greg Kafka, who previously owned the Palm Springs resorts Escape and Desert Paradise under their Escape Resorts banner, said that guests can expect "the same welcoming level of hospitality you enjoyed in Palm Springs, fully catering to the LGBTQ community and its allies," according to the website.
The Bent Inn was supposed to open in 2021, but covid, construction, and funding issues delayed the project.
“We only have one major regret,” said Hunter and Kafka in a joint statement to Casino.org, “that the City of Las Vegas won’t allow us to have a clothing-optional environment because of liquor license restrictions.”
Las Vegas and the LGBTQ+ Community
While Bent Inn may be Las Vegas' first LGBTQ-owned and operated boutique hotel, the city has a number of hotels that cater to the LGBTQ+ community, according to Vegas.com. The includes MGM Resorts International's (MGM) Luxor.
"One of the most gay-friendly hotels on the Strip, the Luxor knows how to make all of their visitors feel special and accepted," the website reported. "...This particular hotel has also been an extremely vocal supporter of the LGBT community, putting their money where their mouth is for major local events like Las Vegas Pride, Vegas Gay Days, and Pride 48, to name just a few."
In addition, Virgin Hotels Las Vegas, which won the 2022 Gay Travel Award for Gay-Friendly Casino Hotel, was named by Vegas.com as well along with MGM's Cosmopolitan.
Las Vegas also offers the LGBTQ+ community everything from bars to wedding venues.
"Vegas is the party epicenter of the world, so of course, we have a plethora of gay bars and clubs that feature drag shows, go-go dancers, and high-energy dance floors for you to shake it until dawn," the website shared.
Las Vegas also has the Gay Chapel of Las Vegas, the city's first and only gay-owned-and-operated wedding chapel, according to Vegas.com.
