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The Scene:
Some credit the trend to Mandalay Bay’s beach wave pool and Moorea Beach Club that brought European-style sunbathing to a mass-audience. Others insist that it was the weekly Hard Rock pool party called Rehab, that’s a margarita-induced pool party of muscle dudes and girlfriends that don’t mind the occasional waterborne chicken-fight.
But adult-only pools, or ultra-pools as more sophisticated tongues like to recommend them, are currently the hottest daytime ticket in Vegas offering a mix of 20-40-somethings the opportunity to preen poolside with slushy cocktails in hand amongst a soundtrack of hip-hop and lounge tracks under the warm Vegas sun that’s entirely child (and anyone under-21) free. Some are topless, some offer outdoor gaming areas, most are open to non-hotel guests for a fee and some even offer celebrity entertainment like live performances by hip-hop artists like Drake, Snoop-Dog and P. Diddy.
Each year the favored-pool in town seems to change and with it the crowd of weekend visitors that seek to book hotel rooms, play the tables and flock to the eateries of the latest hotspot. In 2006 it was all about Rehab at Hard Rock, that iconic weekend pool scene that united the aged Frat boys with Paris Hilton wannabes inside the freeform resort pool of the Hard Rock that was like a gigantic water park for adults that could book a $250 cabana, play shirtless blackjack and take in the sights of one of the sexiest swimsuit crowds in the city.
Soon to follow the fray were the Venetian with its TAO Beach, branching out from the main resort complex of the hotel and onto a rooftop perch with Strip views that tied it to TAO nightclub. The location allows the flexibility of nighttime events that means the cash registers don’t necessarily stop once the sun goes down in summer. Add to the mix BARE Ultra Lounge at the Mirage, a show-off scene that invites and encourages topless sunbathers amongst a St. Tropez inspired micro-pool surrounded in tropical cabanas that book for around $500 per day on prime holiday weekend.
In 2008, MGM Grand opened its WET Republic in a sprawling 53,000-square foot space that upped the ante for the adult-only pool scene and changed the expectations of weekend party-seeker. Most summer weekends offered some sort of celebrity entrainment from the various cast parties from The Hills alum, album release promotions for hip-artists like Shwayze and Kaskade as well as regular sighting of the Girl’s Next Door. What MGMMirage seemed to get right at WET Republic was marrying the pricey perks of a VIP club like Veuve Cliquot snow cones and $1500 VIP cabanas with an ever-changing pool party that never got old or too trashy even by Vegas standards.
New to the market for 2010 is ARIA Resort at City Center, an MGMMirage-owned property with resort pool operated by Light Group, promoters of nightclubs HAZE and now-defunct LIGHT. The staggering 215,000-sqaure foot pool deck is home to adult-only Liquid Pool Lounge that incorporates one main pool and two semi-private dipping pools surrounded by rentable cabanas equipped with 40” LCD screens, be-seen loungers and menu of high-end tequilas or Liquid-ritas. Liquid does charge a nominal cover fee of approximately $20 with a test run on weekends through the month of April, before opening daily in May.
Wynn Resorts recently unveiled details of its own all-new adult-only pool at the center of Encore Las Vegas in what was formerly the hotel’s porte-cochere. The Encore Beach Club, set to open Memorial Day, cost an estimated $67-million to build and spans an impressive 60,000-square feet of outdoor space according to April’s Wynn Resorts earnings call. The 21-and-over pool will include 26 cabanas, 8 two-story VIP bungalows and a poolside gaming area similar to that currently found at neighboring Wynn Resort. The adults-only pool will also be home to a new nightclub, Surrender, with direct access to the outdoor space in warmer spring and summer months that will hopefully draw-in a new crowd of summer revelers looking to splash and spend both day and night.
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