Vegas resorts book for as early as May 1, when coronavirus closures are slated to end

Las Vegas resorts are eager to get guests back in their rooms.

Several popular resorts have started taking reservations for as soon as the statewide shutdown is over, local media outlets report.

Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak issued a formal stay-at-home order Wednesday and extended the closure for all nonessential businesses, gaming and schools until April 30, according to KTNV.

“Today’s ‘Stay at Home’ directive strengthens the imperative that Nevadans must not leave their homes for nonessential activities in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” Sisolak said, according to the news outlet. “This directive builds on previous directives around school closures, social distancing, closure of nonessential businesses, and bans on public gatherings of 10 or more people by requiring you stay at home unless leaving is absolutely necessary.”

Vegas resorts, however, are taking reservations in hopes of reopening, the Reno Gazette Journal reported.

The Las Vegas strip has been empty during the coronavirus pandemic. Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said the tourist industry can’t survive such a long stretch with no customers, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

“I know we, and they, cannot survive any total shutdown of the economy for any length of time beyond the immediate week or two,” Goodman told the news outlet.

Casino companies, like Caesars and Wynn, have been accepting room bookings for April 17, which was originally the end of Nevada’s nonessential business closures, according to the Gazette Journal.

Now, those companies and other big players, like MGM Resorts and Las Vegas Sands, are taking reservations as early as May, the news outlet reported.

“We want to be in a position to accept business at the point it is deemed appropriate to reopen,” Caesars Entertainment spokesman Richard Broome told the Gazette Journal.