What Will Mandalay Bay Do With The Las Vegas Shooter’s Hotel Room?

By: Ben Schlappig

Published: October 10, 2017

60 comments

Let me start by saying that I’m heartbroken about what happened in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017. I’m simply at a loss of words, other than saying that my thoughts are with the families and friends of anyone impacted by this, which is a lot of people.

My goal is to make this blog an “escape” from everyday news. Often people say “how can you not address that XYZ happened?” Just because I don’t write about something doesn’t mean I don’t care, but rather just that I’m just not sure posting about it on a travel blog adds much value.

In the case of the Las Vegas shooting, there’s something hotel related that I’ve been wondering about, which Reuters addressed in an article yesterday, and I wanted to share here. The Mandalay Bay has over 3,000 rooms, so what should they do with the room that was occupied by the shooter who killed 58 people and injured more than 500?

This isn’t the first murder to happen at a hotel, though it’s certainly the biggest hotel shooting we’ve seen in the US. In general when something “bad” happens in a hotel room, there are a few directions a hotel can go:

They can restore the room to how it was, and go back to selling it
They can just not sell the room, realizing that people wouldn’t want to stay in the room if they knew what happened there; however, if you do that, do you leave the room number on the door, do you take off the room number and even remove the door so it looks like it was never there?
They could shut down the floor entirely, realizing that people might be uncomfortable being on the same floor at all, while others might specifically try to seek out this area
They can try to repurpose the space, realizing that people won’t want to stay in a room where something happened, but if the space is changed up, maybe it would be different
I doubt they’ll take this path, but they could set it up as a memorial that could be visited, but the logistics of that may be tough; it could be more practical to have a memorial elsewhere, in a more accessible area

Reuters shared what happened to some of the previous scenes of mass shootings, noting that the hotel hasn’t yet commented on their plan for the space:

Some of the venues have been dismantled completely. Others, like the San Bernardino, California community center where a husband and wife killed 14 people in December 2015, have reopened, with officials saying that getting back to work helping people was integral to healing.

The Orlando, Florida nightclub where a gunman killed 49 people in June 2016, remains closed, and the owner plans to turn it into a memorial.

Connecticut’s Sandy Hook Elementary School, where 20 children and six adults were killed in 2012, was demolished and rebuilt four years later.

While the loss of life is by far the worst aspect of this tragedy, there are also big implications for Mandalay Bay and MGM here. People come to Las Vegas to escape from reality, yet I think if I stayed at Mandalay Bay, this would always be in the back of my mind. I think this is a bit different than an elementary school or community center. Perhaps the closest parallel here would be Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, which will be turned into a memorial.

However, when we’re talking about a 3,000+ room hotel, that can’t quite as easily be shut down and turned into a memorial. I’m not sure there’s a right answer. While a memorial somewhere seems appropriate, do you just stop selling the room, stop selling the rooms right around it, shut down the whole floor, or what?

Personally I’m someone who is pretty “sensitive” when it comes to what rooms I’ll stay in, for reasons way less significant than this. That’s to say that I’ve asked to move rooms when I felt it had “bad juju,” and I’ve also avoided staying in a room in which a murder happened. However, what happened in Las Vegas is on a completely different level, and wouldn’t just make someone “sensitive” to this kind of stuff uncomfortable.

I’ll be curious to see what decision MGM makes. My thoughts continue to be with everyone impacted by this terrible tragedy.

What do you think the appropriate action is for the Mandalay Bay in a situation like this?

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Larry sanders Guest

November 25, 2017, 8:57 pm

I want to stay in that room!

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Deneen Guest

November 1, 2017, 3:01 pm

Yikes, Dan. To say " Demolition of the school and rebuilding it years later was a ludicrous waste of money that could have been better spent on mental health than pandering to the superstitions and sensitivities of a select people." is rather insensitive. I wouldn't call demolishing the school "pandering superstitions and sensitivities of select people." I mean, those were innocent CHILDREN that were killed. My son now goes to a school where there was a shooting and 3 kids died. You have no idea how much the thought of that runs through my head as a parent and how unsatisfying the thoughts that come with knowing someone shot innocent lives in that very school are. It was the right decision to demolish Sandy Hook. I couldn't fathom being comfortable as a parent having my kids walk in the same spots little kids lost their lives. No thank you.

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747always Guest

October 12, 2017, 3:42 am

The room will probably be walled off and removed from inventory. We had to do the same at the Taj Mahal Palace, Mumbai, after 26/11 where one guest was killed in his room, and the room was then set on fire due to the terrorists grenades. If they do want to take this room back into sellable inventory it should happen after a decent period of time, eg, one or two years has passed before doing the same. I think a memorial would not be put up by the hotel, as the deaths did not happen on the hotel property. A memorial would probably just put negative images in potential guests minds.

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Stuart Diamond

October 11, 2017, 9:38 pm

@Lucky Perhaps the guiding principle should be: Would you stand up at a public appearance a week after this incident and address your audience of a few hundred with the question..."What will Mandalay Bay do With the Shooters Hotel Room?"

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Stuart Diamond

October 11, 2017, 9:32 pm

@Jen In fact I am far from sensitive (hell, I still watch Airplane and laugh my ass off). As @Brian said it's about timing. It's an interesting topic for sure and clearly people reacted to it in general conversation. And a conversation in private might be acceptable. This is not private. Respecting basic principles of decorum is perhaps the root of the problem in our country. It may be fine for you. But for a survivor or relative of a member who was injured or killed to stumble on this and read such things as "will it become a museum" is just using poor judgement and inviting a wound to hurt that much harder. Common sense. And, as I said, I don't think Lucky meant any malice - but our conscience should guide us a bit in that this is not a private conversation. This is a public website. There is a responsibility to allow a bit of dignity to human beings who are suffering - lest we all fall deeper into the discourteous nature of the inter webs. And no, as much as you like to say, "don't read it", the reality of search engines, feeds, and reposts - and how the internet works today - is not so easy. This will, I am sure, appear in a number of feeds and news cycles. Lucky knows that. His profession relies on that. This is a story for everyone to see. And no one can simply turn the page given that the headline alone is cringe worthy.

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