Hilton Hotels Returns To Las Vegas In A Big Way

20.12.2023 - 00:39 / forbes.com / Elvis Presley

Did Hilton return to Las Vegas, or did it never go away?

The company’s first glory days in the desert were in the 1970’s, when Elvis Presley sold out the Las Vegas Hilton more than 600 times. Hilton was the first publicly traded hospitality company to come to Las Vegas, a pioneer (along with Howard Hughes) in replacing often Mob-affiliated casinos with corporations.

But as the company sold off its casino business and focused on franchising (Hilton now has 22 brands), it sold off its flagship Las Vegas properties, first the Flamingo Hilton in 1998, then the Las Vegas Hilton in 2012.

For a number of years, it seemed that Hilton had a low profile in the city.

In 2021 a new Las Vegas Hilton arrived, one of three Hilton properties at Resorts World. Adding the Las Vegas Hilton, Conrad and LXR at Resorts World were part of Hilton’s aggressive additions to its Vegas portfolio. The company has added more than 6,000 new rooms and 17 new properties in Las Vegas in the last five years.

As of October 2023, Hilton has 44 properties in Las Vegas (including Hilton Grand Vacations) representing nearly 15,000 rooms. With the total number of Las Vegas hotel rooms hovering around 150,000, that means Hilton has a 10% share of the market.

Hilton became a major presence in Las Vegas starting in 1970, when it purchased the International Leisure Company, owner of the International Hotel and the Flamingo Hotel and Casino. In fact, Hilton was the first New York Stock Exchange-listed company to enter the domestic ‘gaming’ business.

Until that point, the development of Las Vegas casino hotels had been in the hands of colorful ‘entrepreneurial’ types. These included the first of the great Strip casinos, the Flamingo, built by the late Bugsy Siegel.

As Hilton puts it, the company’s arrival “helped to legitimize Las Vegas as a prime destination for leisure and business travel.” Ironically, when Hilton eventually ran the Flamingo, it issued $5 casino chips memorializing Siegel.

The Las Vegas Hilton, the company’s signature property in Las Vegas, was even more iconic. From July 31, 1969, to Dec. 12, 1976, Elvis Presley sold out more than 600 shows at the Las Vegas International Hotel, which became the Hilton in 1970. He turned what was supposed to be a four-week engagement into one that lasted seven years. The “King” always stayed in the penthouse on the 30^th floor.

On Sept. 8, 1978, the Las Vegas Hilton honored the late Presley and his record-breaking streak with the installation of a bronze statue. But after 40 years, Hilton sold the property, and on January 3, 2012, it changed its name to the Las Vegas Hotel & Casino. Hilton may have left the building—it’s the Westgate now—but Elvis remains.

Hilton had dropped Flamingo, which it