Circa Resort & Casino in downtown Las Vegas is set to increase its room capacity by 106, with the additions projected to roll out starting in October. The new accommodations will include four suites and 102 traditional guest rooms, boosting the hotel’s total room count to 618. Circa plans to open the new rooms on a floor-by-floor basis. Opened in October 2020, Circa is the highest-rated property in downtown Las Vegas and the first new ground-up casino hotel in the area in several decades.
In a recent interview with Paul Szydelko of Travel Weekly, Circa co-founder and CEO Derek Stevens explained the timing of the expansion. “We had to allow enough time to go by to allow the market and our customer base to tell us what we needed to do for the next step. We needed to get more data to know how we wanted to fill in the rest of the hotel,” Stevens said. Initially, when Stevens and his partners filed plans for Circa with Clark County, the projection was for the property to eventually feature 777 rooms, assuming only standard rooms and no suites. However, Stevens has stated that this figure will not be reached.
Circa opened amidst the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic in October 2020. The venue contended with lingering pandemic-related issues into 2021 and parts of 2022. Nonetheless, with Las Vegas returning to a sense of post-pandemic normalcy, Circa thrived. The venue boosted its appeal as an adults-only property and houses one of the largest sportsbooks globally, establishing itself as one of the most luxurious casino hotels in downtown Las Vegas.
Stevens continues to innovate beyond those achievements. In a bid to compete with Strip rivals for meeting and convention business, Circa announced plans two years ago for 35,000 square feet of new convention space in downtown Las Vegas. Sin City’s convention business has been gradually recovering since the pandemic. Stevens also controls D Las Vegas, Golden Gate Hotel & Casino, and the Downtown Las Vegas Events Center.
In the Travel Weekly interview, Stevens discussed the decision-making process post-COVID-19 challenges, stating that by mid-2023, there was sufficient data to justify the expansion. Addressing some early missteps, particularly the lack of sufficient electrical outlets in the rooms, Stevens assured that this issue would be rectified with the new additions. “One thing we screwed up the most is we thought we had a ton of electrical outlets when we opened, and yet we didn’t have enough. We’re going to open all these new rooms with even more electrical outlets than what we’ve had previously,” Stevens said.
