The Venetian

The Venetian opened on 3 May 1999 — not 1998, as is often given — on the site of the Sands, which Sheldon Adelson bought in 1989 and demolished in 1996. The Rat Pack had long since gone, but the hotel that replaced theirs is the one that took the idea of the themed resort as far as it has ever been taken: canals, gondolas, a painted sky and a reproduction of St Mark's Square, all indoors.

Three art museums and two long-running shows described in older accounts have all closed. What remains is still worth walking through, and most of it costs nothing.

What has closed, because it is most of what older accounts describe

The Venetian spent its first decade acquiring culture, and then lost all of it.

  • The Guggenheim Hermitage Museum — the small "jewel box" gallery designed by Rem Koolhaas, showing works lent by the Guggenheim and the State Hermitage in St Petersburg. It opened on 7 October 2001 and closed on 11 May 2008, beaten by weak attendance, competition from the Bellagio's gallery and a Strip location that locals would not visit.
  • The Guggenheim Las Vegas, the much larger "big box" space that opened the same day with an exhibition on the motorcycle, lasted only until January 2003.
  • Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular, the shortened version of the musical staged in a purpose-built theatre, ran from 2006 to 2012.
  • Blue Man Group performed here for years and moved on long ago; the company has since played elsewhere on the Strip.

Any description of the Venetian built around its art collection is describing a hotel that stopped existing in 2008.

What is actually there

  • The Grand Canal Shoppes — the canal, the gondolas, the singing gondoliers, the painted sky and the St Mark's Square reproduction. The gondola ride is the thing people come for, and there are both indoor and outdoor routes. Covered further under Las Vegas shopping.
  • The scale. Over three thousand suites in the original tower, with the Venezia tower above it, and the whole complex is all-suite rather than conventional rooms — which for a family or a pair of couples sharing makes it better value than the rate suggests.
  • The Palazzo, opened next door at the end of 2007 and connected internally, which effectively doubles the property and is where the quieter rooms are.
  • Madame Tussauds, by the bridge from the Strip. Worth confirming it is open before building a day around it, as the Strip's indoor attractions have been closing steadily.
  • The pool deck, five acres above the fourth floor with several pools, which is unusually large and unusually quiet for the Strip.
  • The Venetian Expo behind the resort — one of the largest convention centres in the United States, which is why the hotel's prices swing so violently with the conference calendar. A room here during a big trade show costs several times what it costs the week after.

Sphere, which is new and is not the hotel's

The spherical venue that opened in September 2023 stands immediately behind the resort and is reached from it on foot. It is a separate business, its entire outer surface is a screen, and it is now the thing most visible from the Venetian's upper rooms. Nothing written about this hotel before 2023 mentions it, and it has changed the view considerably.

Ownership, in case it comes up

The resort was sold in 2022, ending more than two decades under Las Vegas Sands, the company that built it. The theme and the gondolas have not changed, but the name on the accounts has.

Position

Mid-Strip on the east side, opposite Treasure Island and a short walk from Caesars Palace and the LINQ. It is one of the better-placed resorts for walking, which on this street is worth more than any theme.

The other resorts are under Las Vegas hotels; general practicalities on the Las Vegas page.

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