48 Hours Inside Lisa Vanderpump's Fever Dream of a Vegas Hotel

Las Vegas is constantly reinventing itself . New restaurants arrive every season, residencies seem to materialize overnight, and hotels regularly undergo multimillion-dollar transformations in pursuit of the next big thing. It takes a lot for a property to break through that noise, but the Vanderpump Hotel, Bravo personality and hospitality entrepreneur Lisa Vanderpump’s first hotel venture, occupying the former Cromwell on the Las Vegas Strip, started causing a buzz long before its official debut on June 11.

And it wasn’t just from Vanderpump Rules watchers : When the renderings dropped, hospitality insiders, design fanatics , and everyone in between started chattering. Would the interiors be too kitschy? Would it be ready in time for its big debut? As both a long-time Bravo fan and travel writer, I flew out for a three-night stay on June 8 to find out, stopping in during the opening week. And I certainly wasn’t the only one. When I arrived, curiosity was arguably at its peak, chattering reality stars hung out around the rooftop pool, while clear LVP fans took pictures around the lobby casino. Each sparkly corner was filled with an excited-to-be-there energy.

I checked into my room after a long flight from New York, delighted to be welcomed by a plush oasis filled with pastel purple and moss green, a jewel box of velvet, crystal, and cheeky little flourishes that felt like they'd been plucked straight from one of Vanderpump's confessionals. That's so Lisa , I remember thinking.

"Vegas is the perfect place to start with for the Vanderpump Hotel because it's playful," Lisa told me as she took me on a tour of the space. It was nine in the morning, and the vibes were already high, as we passed, fans and guests alike sang her name; she smiled, waved, and giggled, soaking it all up. "Everything about this hotel is meant for play,” she added, explaining that she wants people to feel swept up in fun (and a bit of naughtiness, of course) as soon as they arrive. “Vegas is the playground of the world, and you know, I have a sense of humor, so I belong right here. ”

While the property does arrive with all the fanfare of a celebrity-backed opening, reducing the Vanderpump Hotel to its namesake misses the point entirely. It’s more of a culmination of LVP’s impressive career in hospitality, decades in the making. From the attention to detail and curation of atmosphere to the boutique scale and easy-to-access amenities, this new hotel on the Strip is not your average newcomer. And after 48 hours inside, I can promise you don’t need to know anything about reality TV to see that it firmly holds its own against Vegas’s most established luxury giants. Read on to see why I think you should take The Vanderpump Hotel seriously.

Long before she became one of television’s most recognizable personalities, Lisa was already a master of creating hot spots. She began blessing our Bravo screens in 2010, but has spent decades building a culinary empire. She launched her first venues in her hometown of London before moving across the pond to establish iconic West Hollywood restaurants and bars, then a growing portfolio of Las Vegas destinations. If you’ve watched her reality shows, from The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills to Vanderpump Rules and now Vanderpump Villa, you can probably picture her glitzy aesthetic with your eyes closed. Lucky for us glamour lovers, she’s left those same sparkly fingerprints across nearly every corner of this hotel.

“It’s all very dramatic and theatrical, flattering and sexy was the goal,” Lisa told me. With the help of Romantic Industrial interior designer Nick Alain , she curated the hotel with the idea of contrasts in mind. “The communal parts of the hotel are very sumptuous, with strong colors like ruby reds in the bar," she said. "Then you open the door to the guest rooms, and it feels very ethereal and relaxing, with reflective furniture and soft, muted colors.”

I was immediately drawn to the references to her London roots via the big red telephone booth at the back of the casino, and odes to her family throughout, for example, her daughter, Pandora, curated the mean cocktail list in the lobby bar. And that lobby bar? It's named Gigolo, dedicated to her beloved late Pomeranian, Giggy (one of Bravo's most iconic mascots). On our tour, we giggled as she reminisced while looking at a gallery wall of black-and-white photos adjacent to the casino floor. One snapshot showed her being held up by five shirtless, attractive men during the opening of one of her and her husband's bars in Piccadilly Circus.

“This hotel is very personal, and I’ve taken a little inspiration from the places I love and sprinkled it all a little bit everywhere,” said Lisa. In the guest rooms, alongside more pictures of Vanderpump, always styled with either pearls or a Pomeranian, you’ll find shiny metallics mixed with pastels, mood lighting, and lots of florals and velvet, from the sofa to the throw pillows. “I think of it as my very own jewel box on the 50-yard line of the Las Vegas Strip,” she says.

The guest rooms feature ultra-plush “shag mattresses," as Lisa cheekily calls them, and mirrored nightstands complete with close-ups of her eyes.

Sitting directly on Las Vegas Boulevard, tucked in a corner lot between iconic properties Caesars Palace and Flamingo , the Vanderpump Hotel occupies one of the Strip’s most enviable addresses. From my room, it took me less than 10 minutes to walk to the iconic Bellagio fountain show, and around five to get to world-class restaurants (like Hell’s Kitchen , from LVP’s close friend, Gordon Ramsey ). It was also a quick skip to the sweeping casinos at Caesars and the Cosmopolitan , plus the shows and nightlife at Planet Hollywood and the Flamingo.

Despite being in the center of the action, the Vanderpump Hotel offers something increasingly difficult to find in Las Vegas: a boutique footprint. “We’re small amongst the big guys, which is hard not to like,” said Lisa. With under 200 keys, the property is far more manageable for guests than many of its neighbors. There are no 20-minute walks through labyrinthine casino floors, and no sprawling shopping promenades standing between you and your room. "The greatest thing about this hotel is that, if you like to wear heels, you can get from the lobby to your room in about 200 steps," she added, needling me for wearing flats on the tour.

But just because it's a boutique doesn't mean it doesn't go big where it needs to: The casino in the lobby is a whopping 40,000-square-foot oasis of color, made of lots of slots and just enough tables for blackjack, roulette, and craps. Guests can visit 24/7. And then there's the brand-new Soleia rooftop pool , prime for classic, buzzy Vegas pool days. It's a 5,000-square-foot open-air oasis perched 11 stories above the Strip with sweeping views of Sin City, swaying palm trees, and full cabana service.

The cherry on top of any fun-focused stay is the Vanderpump Hotel's partnership with Caesars Entertainment , meaning guests have access to all the amenities within the broader Caesars Palace ecosystem, like Roman-inspired baths at Qua Baths and Spa and the ability to earn Caesars rewards points. I walked to the sprawling outdoor and indoor pools at the Garden of the Gods Pool Oasis with no questions asked, and charged those poolside cocktails right to my room.

The decadent cacio e pepe at Giada, right next to the Vanderpump Hotel

You can charge back to your room at the Vanderpump Hotel from Caesars's iconic outdoor pool

It simply wouldn’t be a Vanderpump property without decadent, unique cocktails (if you know, you know), and you can find them here at Gigolo . I sampled through all of Lisa’s recommendations, and found the best for sharing was the Talk Dirty to Me, a martini for two with a big, olive-stuffed skewer. The Slow Burn, an ultra-smooth and tasty blackberry old-fashioned, was best for a nightcap. As a Vanderpump aficionado, I of course had to order the classics, too, like the Pumptini, the Pump and Bump (LVP’s favorite, as it comes with caviar), the Giggy Tonic, and even a glass of Vanderpump Wines.

In addition to Gigolo, there’s a smaller casino bar, which is better for casual cocktails and beers; it’s a small yet inviting hub in the center of the casino, with table slots you can play as you order. Anchored by a live band on the rear stage, the spacious lounge offers the perfect escape, letting you stay in the action without being overwhelmed.

Stepping outside the hotel, getting to nearby buzzy restaurants and bars was seamless. Some walkable highlights: Giada by Chef Giada De Laurentiis (order the cacio e pepe pasta and dirty martini), and two other LVP hot spots, the Vanderpump Cocktail Garden at Caesars and Pinky's by Vanderpump at the Flamingo (where, yes, you can order different types of goat cheese balls, as seen on Vanderpump Rules ). And I’d be remiss not to tell you to stop at some of the close-by high-energy nightlife venues, like Drai's After Hours , where you can dance with friends until your feet hurt.

Everything has a bit of sparkle at the Vanderpump Hotel, including the cocktails.

Like many others who surrender to the juicy drama that comes with reality television, I’ve often used shows like Vanderpump Rules as a form of escapism, checking out from a world that can often feel relentlessly serious, overscheduled, and online. Checking into the Vanderpump Hotel actualizes that sense of escape in the most celebratory way possible, asking very little of you other than to show up and have a good time.

Lisa's reverence for glamour is the kind that Las Vegas has emphasized for decades. And unlike its newer, more minimalist and modern neighbors, the Vanderpump Hotel embraces its lavish status to capture a classic, high-end Vegas opulence that the Strip hasn’t seen in a new opening in quite some time. And it feels like a relief .

With cinematic photos (some slightly risqué) framed throughout the lobby and the jingling sounds of slots ringing beside new renditions of the Pumptini, the Vanderpump Hotel, at its core, is play-forward. On my last night, the scene still felt electric, looking around, I saw a dazzling mix of reality TV devotees and high-rollers dressed to the nines, all sipping cocktails under dramatic chandeliers while effortlessly matching the over-the-top, sultry vibe Lisa intended.

It made me think about what she told me the day before: “The hotel tagline is ‘misbehave accordingly.' I want my guests to really fall into having fun," she said coyly. "Really, I mean, what’s not to celebrate here?”