Viva "Loss" Vegas

19 Feb, 2026

I think it's high time to talk about my recent trip to Las Vegas (shortly before Christmas), which until recently was a place very close to my heart. Not because I like gambling or drinking or the desert heat, but because there's so much stuff to do in regards to the diversity of available entertainment.

Outside of visiting it once for a music festival in 2017 (a week before the shooting), it was never really on my radar until 2024 when I was living abroad. I had been living away from home for nearly a year at that point, and I was really homesick leading up to my return. At the time, I wanted nothing more than pure, concentrated 'Murica injected into my veins again, and it manifested as me really wanting to visit Sin City.

I really came to love what it represented while I was away: a place where anybody can come in and feel like a king for those few days. And no matter what you're going through at home, at least (theoretically) it would be always there waiting for you with open arms. Always.Shortly after coming home, I was able to go, and I remember it being a great experience. It was hot as hell during the days we went which meant frequent pit stops at the casinos, and while the heat was miserable, I wasn't. I suppose I still had that post-travel glow where I could brush off everything sucky as "oh how I missed you!"

We went again during Christmas: even better, because then the weather wasn't insufferably hot this time. Lots of fun!

I was hyped about coming back that next Christmas for 2025, and had lots of things lined up. But when my family and I got there, something was off. The vibe just felt different.

Now I wasn't living under a rock completely. I heard about the drop in tourism due to political tension and economic anxiety, how absurd the prices were, but that was only AFTER booking everything. I thought to see it as a glass half full kind of thing: less tourists mean less competition, right?

But I don't think it's easy to understand what that drop means in terms of sucking the life from the city, and that's something I haven't heard much about. All I've seen about the decline were people talking numbers, but never "something just feels off and when you're here, you WILL feel it."

I guess this post will be me trying to fill that gap.

I felt it pretty much immediately leaving the airport: hardly anybody was waiting in the rideshare area, which I remember always being CROWDED. The hotel was even worse. The year before, I remember feeling this buzz in the air from people excited to spend their holiday living it up. And yet this time, it was more... indifferent? Going through the motions?

We were staying at the LinQ, and those dreaded kiosks (which they're replacing the staff with) were the only way we could check in. Already it made us feel very unwelcome, but what made it even WORSE was the display telling us we'd have to wait an hour and a half or pay $30 for an early check-in. The absolute audacity!

We could afford it, but out of spite we chose to wait it out because that just wasn't cool. Quite a few people did the same, and we all sat on the steps by the reception until the one human employee at the desk just told us they'd check us in ahead of time. I guess it wasn't a good look to have frustrated tourists lining the steps with their luggage strewn about.

That was after about half an hour or so. In the meantime, I spent that time staring at the Discoshow ad they had on loop and feeling this strange sense of dissociation. You could tell they were trying so hard to force this disco fantasy down your throat, and it absolutely did not work. The visuals were too clean and rehearsed, the people in the ad too perfect and dancing in... a small room and not at an actual disco? The actual disco part came at the end in the last 2 seconds which I thought was bizarre.

I feel like there's a metaphor to be found somewhere in that: some boardroom trying to force this soulless, influencer-brained version of a good time completely disconnected from the event itself. ¹

They were selling a fantasy completely removed of what a normal person would want or expect. I would've been able to tolerate that, but what got me was the persistent messaging that you were doing Vegas wrong if you weren't doing what THEY wanted.

That feeling, like we were not doing Vegas the "right way" would continue to follow us throughout the trip.

As we Ubered around, we asked the drivers for their thoughts on what was going on and got some very insightful answers. One driver talked about how hotels have been systematically stripping rooms of amenities (like coffee machines) to force you to buy from them what used to be free. That's enshittification if I've ever heard it, and that's freakin' gross.

Now for the stuff we actually came to do: watching the shows. Overall, they had this underlying blah about them, and it wasn't for lack of trying. Two out of the three were Cirque shows, and while the performers were AMAZING as always, there was only so much they could do for an unenthusiastic crowd at maybe 40-50% occupancy. The contrast between the production value and the lack of an audience was STARK.

And I do want to say that we all still had a good time, I'm not acting like being there was a miserable experience because it was not, but there was none of the magic from last year that elevated Vegas from just a place to THE place.

It was still expensive in 2024, but it was expensive and bustling at the very least. Now it's just lost a lot of its soul that drew me to it in the first place.

Making compromises and thinking smaller is just part of how things are I suppose. I think at this point, I would be better off seeing other destinations that have the kitsch I love so much.

What we've decided on was going to Branson, Missouri next. That's also where Legends in Concert is most active nowadays, so I'll get plenty of what I used to go to Vegas for and I am excited to write about it when I do!