SAHARA Las Vegas is turning its decades-old Alexandria Tower into a private, 300-room hotel-within-a-hotel called The Alex, with a debut planned for early 2027 and reservations already open for stays starting January 1 of that year. The project reimagines a tower that has stood on the Strip since the early 1960s, giving it a new identity built around private check-in, guest-only amenities, and refreshed wellness facilities.
According to Hotel Online, the transformation will encompass all 300 guest rooms and suites within the tower, alongside a dedicated entrance, private check-in, an exclusive lounge, and personalized concierge services. Room amenities are planned to include Nespresso coffee, Molton Brown bath products, plush robes and slippers, and nightly turndown service. SAHARA Las Vegas describes the concept as blending boutique-hotel intimacy with the scale of a premier Strip resort, giving guests access to the property's dining, nightlife, casino, pool, and entertainment offerings even while staying in the more secluded tower.
A New Spa and Athletic Club Join the Lineup
The Alex is also set to introduce the Alora Spa and the SAHARA Athletic Club, according to Casino.org. The fitness club is planned to feature Technogym cardio equipment, Watson strength-training machines, and custom free weights, plus a dedicated functional-training area along with yoga, mobility, and recovery equipment, per the same Hotel Online report. Specific details on Alora Spa's treatments and services have not yet been announced, with the resort saying more information will come closer to opening.
Alex Meruelo, founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Meruelo Group, said the project is meant to create a distinctive guest experience through design, service, and exclusivity. The Alex's design is planned to blend classic sophistication with contemporary elegance, tying the new concept back to a tower with real history on the Strip.
A Tower With Strip History Dating to 1963
The Alexandria Tower first opened on May 24, 1963, as a 24-story building designed by architect Martin Stern Jr., the same CasinoOrg report notes. SAHARA Las Vegas itself opened in 1952 and is preparing to mark its 75th anniversary in 2027, making it one of the longest-standing resort names on the Strip. The tower has changed hands and identities before: from 2016 to 2018, when the property operated as SLS Las Vegas, the same space briefly housed W Las Vegas, a separately branded luxury hotel run in partnership with Marriott.
The hotel-within-a-hotel format The Alex is adopting has become increasingly popular on the Strip, as operators chase wealthier guests seeking more privacy and personalized service, Casino.org reports. Existing examples cited include Sky Suites at Aria, Tower Suites at Wynn Las Vegas, and Crockfords at Resorts World. The Venetian is pursuing a similar move, having announced that the top seven floors of its Palazzo Tower will reopen as the ultra-luxury Milano come March 2027.
Strip Visitor Numbers Steady as Hotel Revenue Slips
The Alex's arrival comes as Las Vegas tourism data shows a mixed picture. The city had an estimated 3,097,200 visitors in September 2026, up just 0.2% from September 2025, according to FOX5 Vegas. Hotel occupancy, however, fell to 78.1% that month, down 0.5 percentage points year over year, while the average daily hotel rate dropped 6.3% to $178.63 and revenue per available room fell 6.9% to $139.51. Those figures were drawn from a survey representing more than 75% of Las Vegas hotel inventory.
Private-tower concepts elsewhere on the Strip offer a sense of what guests might expect from The Alex. The Venetian Resort's Prestige Club Lounge, for instance, includes private check-in and a personal concierge, with two lounges offering complimentary breakfast, evening cocktails, chef-curated bites, and views of Las Vegas. That lounge offering expanded from The Palazzo tower into The Venetian tower back in August 2021, according to a PR Newswire release at the time.
SAHARA Las Vegas says further details on accommodations, amenities, wellness offerings, and reservations will be released in the coming months. For now, guests can book stays at The Alex through sahara.lv/thealex, with the earliest reservations set for January 1, 2027.
