This is just one of the many questions we've received along these lines, with others like: "I just returned from Vegas and am confused about the old Barbary Coast. This casino was closed for several days last week, then re-opened as Bill's. But the Harrah's Total Rewards cards don't work there. They have new players cards. Why? Harrah's now owns this property doesn't it? Are they planning to demolish this place?"
We'll do our best to answer them all right now, but we have a strong feeling that this answer will to be subject to many future updates.
First, the official name of the property formerly known as Barbary Coast is now Bill's Gamblin' Hall & Saloon. It's named after Bill Harrah (1911-1978), founder of the company now known as Harrah's Entertainment, recently bought by Apollo Management and the Texas Pacific Group.
Secondly, according to the numerous Bill's and Coast employees we've asked, the free-shuttle service between properties is continuing, for now at least, despite Bill's now being a Harrah's property. Barbary Coast was and remains the hub of the Coast shuttle service, with all routes beginning and ending there (aside from the one that runs between the Orleans and Gold Coast). However, the same situation arose when South Point first switched over from being a Coast casino to a stand-alone -- after around a month, it opted out of the Coast shuttle route and now operates its own services between Mandalay Bay and McCarran Airport only. We have a feeling the same fate may be in store for the service to/from Bill's -- why would Harrah's want to send its guests/players to the Suncoast? -- so we'll keep checking back and will let you know if this service undergoes any change. For the time being, just visit the Free Shuttles page in our Transportation section for the current schedule, plus printable maps of this and all the other free shuttle services in town.
As far as the Total Rewards situation is concerned, no, these cards don't currently work at Bill's Gamblin' Hall, although it is a Harrah's property. Our educated guess is that it's just too complicated to integrate another property into the Total Rewards program overnight, so for now Bill's is operating its own system, called Bill's Players Club. Given time, this will almost certainly be integrated into the rest of the Harrah's group, we're just not sure how much time this will take.
And what of Michael's, one of the most popular gourmet rooms in town for more than 20 years? As reported recently in our Today's News column, this restaurant will be moving to South Point, owned by Michael Gaughan (previous owner of the Barbary Coast). We don't have an opening date as yet, but have been told it'll be sometime in April. Meanwhile, the old room at Bill's formerly occupied by Michael's is currently closed; it's due to reopen soon as the Steakhouse at Bill's (not too imaginative with names over there), and promises to still serve some of the old classics, including cherries jubilee and bananas Foster for dessert.
As to your final question about whether the property is slated for demolition, our answer is probably eventually, but not anytime soon. While Harrah's was rapidly buying-up/trading for that whole section of the Strip, speculation was rife that Barbary Coast and its neighbors (including the bigger guns, like Bally's) were ripe for demolition and redevelopment into some kind of metaresort. This is probably still their eventual fate, but the sale of Harrah's Entertainment itself has almost certainly complicated the situation and put any immediate plans the company may have had on hold.
