The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas currently has a special offer for essential workers where they are giving away a complimentary night with a minimum 2-night stay. In other words, buy one night and get one free. There are actually two essential workers in my immediate group of friends and they thought it would be nice to do a small relaxing Vegas trip. They booked for Friday night and ended up getting Saturday night for free. The whole weekend came out to be about $350 including taxes and resort fees which is unheard of during a regular Vegas weekend. Along with the free night, essential workers also get additional benefits across the resort including discounts at restaurants, bars, and entertainment.

From my understanding, the Venetian Hotel’s essential workers’ offer is only good at the Venetian and not next door at the Palazzo, its sister property. Although the Venetian is not the newest and most modern hotel on the strip today, it’s still one of the best, especially for groups in my opinion. All the rooms are designed as suites so they include a bedroom area, a large bathroom, and a sunken living area. The living area has a couch that turns into a sofa bed so a two-queen room can easily fit six people. Please be aware that any guest over two people gets charged extra so I would keep the actual number of guests hush-hush if you know what I mean. 

LIST OF ESSENTIAL WORKERS

Below is the list of who qualifies for the Venetian Hotel essential workers offer. I was really surprised by how broad the list was and that it wasn’t just limited to healthcare professionals. You might actually have a chance to book a room for yourself.

• Military, Fire services, law enforcement agencies, emergency medical services & public safety agencies
• Healthcare services
• Businesses or organizations that provide food, shelter, or critical social services for disadvantaged populations
• Public utilities
• Trash collection
• Home maintenance/repair services
• Auto repair services & trucking service centers
• Grocery stores, supermarkets, hardware stores, convenience & discount stores
• Pharmacies, healthcare operations, & biomedical facilities
• Post offices & shipping outlets
• Gas stations & truck stops
• Banks & financial institutions
• Veterinary services & pet stores
• Laundromats & dry cleaners
• Food processing
• Agriculture, livestock & feed mills
• Logistics & Supply Chain Operations: Warehousing, storage, distribution, and supply-chain related operations
• Public transportation
• Air transportation
• Essential stays in hotels, commercial lodging, dormitories, shelters, and homeless encampments
• Educators, childcare centers and daycares
• Mortuary and funeral services

THINGS TO NOTE

1. The offer is valid for essential community heroes who work in US states and territories.
2. You must call in for the offer. No online booking. Refer to promo code JEAGET.
3. The website says that they will verify your qualifications as an essential worker or not at check-in. In our case, we were not asked to provide proof, but my friend did have his pay stub ready in hand regardless. 
4. The Venetian Resort is donating up to 50,000 complimentary suite nights. Once the limit has been reached, the offer will no longer be available.
5. The first time my friend called, they were all sold out for the day and told us to call back tomorrow around 4:30 pm. He called the next day and was able to get a room then. 

QUICK TIP ABOUT THE POOL AREA

We decided that we were going to head over to the pool first thing Saturday morning. The pool opened at 8:00 a.m. and we probably got down there around 9:00 a.m. Well, it was completely packed! All the chairs were taken, people were already in the pools, and all of the cabanas were sold out. I seriously couldn’t believe how many people were already awake. It probably has to do with the fact that it was 110+ degrees F that weekend and all of the usual pool parties are closed due to COVID. 

Since the Venetian Hotel pool was a bust, we were allowed to walk over to the Palazzo side and use their pool. Once we got there, it was probably 90% at capacity. Luckily, some people were already leaving and we were able to get chairs next to each other. The whole pool area was shaded by the hotel until probably about 12:30 p.m. is when the sun finally peaked over the hotel. By that time, it was getting way too hot and we decided to leave to go get lunch. As we were leaving, there was a massive line and waitlist outside. So, the moral of the story is, if you want to get to the pool and have seats, make sure you go right when it opens!

VEGAS DURING COVID

One of the biggest shocks from COVID was probably seeing the Las Vegas strip completely shut down for months. I just couldn’t fathom that there was something strong enough out there that could take down a place like Vegas. If the whole Vegas strip was going to close, I knew COVID was going to stay for the long haul and I probably could kiss goodbye any chance of visiting this year.

Well, months have now passed and Vegas has slowly re-opened its doors to the public albeit with some not-surprising changes. Day parties and nightclubs are obviously not open. Bars are either fully closed or you have to at minimum order some sort of food along with your drink. Face masks are required everywhere. Minibars have been emptied out, glassware has been replaced by disposable plastic cups, and now you get a COVID kit in your room filled with masks, hand sanitizers, and alcohol wipes. I actually like the COVID kit and hope they keep them around.

Other than that, I feel like Vegas is still Vegas. Casinos are up and running, restaurants are full of reservations, and people are still drunk on the strip. I will say that the higher-end hotels do a better job at monitoring people. There’s usually someone checking your temperature at the entrance and the employees are constantly reminding you about your mask. Case in point, we were sitting at a bubble craps table and pulled down our masks for a second to take a drink. Less than a minute later, we were politely told to please put our masks back on while we were not drinking. I was pretty impressed and appreciated the reminder. Also, if you were wondering, free drinks are still being served. 

FLIGHT FROM LOS ANGELES TO LAS VEGAS

This is the first flight I’ve taken since February and to be honest, I was a little nervous. Not so much about the filtration system on the plane, but more about if people won’t comply with the rules. Everything is so stressful with COVID already and the last thing you want is to have someone ruin your trip.

Even though I was hesitant to get on that plane, I figured the short 45-min flight from Los Angeles would be a good starting point to ease me back into flying. We flew American Airlines and it was only $57 roundtrip which was one of the big draws of flying instead of driving. Unfortunately, that probably meant that the plane was going to be at full capacity. Every seat was taken, but at least everyone wore their masks from what I could observe. When we were deplaning, the flight attendant kindly told everyone to please not get up and wait in the aisles like we used to. Instead, until it’s your row, you’re instructed to stay seated. I would say 99% followed those instructions.

As for LAX airport, Terminal 4 (American Airlines) was dead. We even hopped over to Terminal 6 to the Alaska Lounge with our Priority Pass to get a drink, but they weren’t even serving alcohol. All they had were pre-packaged snacks like string cheese, nuts, cookies, etc. They did let me know though that by that following Monday (Aug 17th), they should have the bar up and running. In regards to LAS airport, it was totally the opposite. The airport was completely packed. You wouldn’t even be able to tell we were in a global pandemic except for the fact everyone was wearing a mask. 

CONCLUSION

All-in-all, everything turned out okay and we had a great time in Vegas. We went out for some nice dinners, lost a little money, and got a little tipsy. If it wasn’t for the Venetian essential workers’ offer, I don’t know if we would have been so keen on going. Vegas is trying to lure people back in and I would say they are doing a pretty good job since they got us hooked. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them down below. Thank you!