Visitors returning to downtown Las Vegas hotel-casinos, the first to reopen, were greeted with temperature checks and dealers in face masks.
So no one was going to keep him from the reopening party that kicked off Wednesday – except his mother.
Portesan and his partner, Alex Loarca, hopped a Southwest Airlines flight from Denver to Las Vegas Wednesday and headed to downtown Las Vegas, becoming among the first to celebrate the reopening of the crippled tourism destination because hotel-casinos opened a day before Strip hotels!
Hotel guests were treated to free champagne at check-in, and there was a ribbon cutting on the casino floor.
The D hotel, which offered room rates as low as $30 before the resort fee Wednesday night, wasn't sold out, but Stevens said bookings are building and there's a chance the hotel might sell out Saturday night.
The visitors coming this week tend to be Vegas fans and fanatics, he said, and skew younger because younger people may be more comfortable traveling, given that people who are older are in a higher-risk group for severe illness related to COVID-19. .
Johnny Lujan, 29, flew in from Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon, so he could gamble on the first night casinos reopened.
Lujan did not wear a mask, nor did more than half of casino visitors, at least at the D. Visitors aren't required to wear masks, but employees must.
Lujan said the temperature checks required of hotel guests and casino visitors at the D "felt kind of weird.'' Hotel policies vary, but the D required temperature checks Wednesday each time a guest or visitor entered.
Casinos were closed until midnight, and most hotels allowed check-in until 3 p.m., so downtown Las Vegas got off to a slow start Wednesday.
The Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas was deserted June 3, 2020, after it reopened. (Photo: Dawn Gilbertson, USA TODAY)
Kevin Kopec, vice president of attraction photography for Cashman Photo Enterprises, planned to open the company's large kiosk on Fremont Street Wednesday afternoon but decided to wait a day when visitors failed to show up
Another night of Black Lives Matter protests in support of George Floyd, an unarmed Minnesota man who died in police custody, didn't scare Cary Reed and Debbie Fontenot from celebrating Las Vegas' reopening downtown
The Louisiana couple, who stopped in Las Vegas on the way back from a funeral, arrived Monday night
Fontenot said she was comforted by the lineup of law enforcement vehicles and officers outside their hotel, the Golden Nugget, on Wednesday evening during a downtown protest
Once downtown casino hotels are back online, travelers' attention will turn to the famed Las Vegas Strip, home to glittering casino resorts known around the world
One downtown casino official said Wednesday night was like a normal Saturday night, as if the coronavirus shutdown had never occurred: "Makes me wonder what Saturday night will be like."
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