Question of the Day - 03 November 2021

We've seen this movie before, more than once. And it's amazing how far and wide a recycled press release can travel through the mediasphere. 

We first saw Moon Resorts Las Vegas, this time around, on Mumbai-based LuxuryLaunches.com, India’s self-proclaimed "foremost website featuring premium and luxury lifestyles" in mid-September. It's been making the rounds ever since, appearing in the New York Post, Travel and Leisure, the UK's Daily Mail, ThePointsGuy.com, various Vegas news sites, and local newspapers around the country and world that readers have been sending us links to. 

The Canadian developer, Michael Henderson, has apparently resurrected his plan for a moon-based hotel-casino, not only in Las Vegas, but also in three other locations.

If you have as good a memory as we do, you'll recall that Henderson first floated a similar proposal way back in 2002, then again in 2014 (and for those of you who don't remember it, you can read about it in a QoD we posted in 2016). Now it looks like Moon has been resuscitated for a third time.

Interestingly, the price tag for the Las Vegas version hasn't changed over the past 20 years; it was $5 billion in 2002 and the press release reports that it's $5 billion today.

Henderson plans four Moon resorts; the one here, at least according to a rendering, is across the Strip from the Wynn, apparently on land owned by Wynn Resorts.

Just like the last two rumblings, no timeline, funding, or land purchases have been announced. Just the grandiose vision: a 4,000-room hotel-casino with a replica of the moon standing at 735 feet tall and 650 feet wide, along with a 2,500-seat theater, 5,000-seat event center, 10,000-seat arena, a planetarium, and a nightclub that will be positioned directly under a "spaceship" that beams lights down on guests. "An active lunar colony" will occupy the upper half of the sphere; for $500, visitors can spend 90 minutes exploring the scale model of colonies being planned by NASA and other space agencies on moon buggies. In addition, a rollercoaster-like "moon shuttle" will circle the exterior of the hotel on its way up to the colony.   

Check out the renderings on the website. 

The press release claims that Moon Resorts Las Vegas will take about four years to build. The other three lunar-themed properties are  planned for the Middle East, China (good luck with the casino there), and Spain, opening in 2026-2027. 

This is a fine idea as ideas go. The plans are extensive and ambitious and frankly, we'd love to see it happen. As always, we wish Michael Henderson the best on his quest to start bringing his long-held dream to fruition, which the website says may be "soon." But given its track record, we'll bet on the over.