SAHARA opened on 7 October 1952 as the sixth resort on the Las Vegas Strip: the 24-storey Alexandria Tower went up in 1963, and the Beatles stayed here in August 1964. It closed in 2011, came back in 2014 as SLS Las Vegas with Philippe Starck interiors, and in 2018 passed to the Meruelo Group, which restored the old name on 29 August 2019 and spent more than $200 million on the casino, a new porte-cochère on the Strip, the pool, the restaurants, the Blanca rooms and most of the Marra rooms, a renovation it declared complete in January 2023 before remodelling the Marra suites that October.
There are 1,613 rooms in three towers. The Blanca, with 196, has 325 sq ft (30 m²) rooms in blue and beige with pop-art bathrooms. The Marra is the big one, with 1,131 rooms: Marra Style rooms of 360 sq ft (33 m²), City View rooms on an elevated floor, and suites finished with brass inlays, marble, Nespresso machines and Grohe rain showers. The Alexandria keeps the rooms built for SLS in 2014 by Gensler with Philippe Starck, and runs from 322 sq ft (30 m²) for the Alexandria King through 425 sq ft (39 m²) for the Deluxe King, with its peek-a-boo shower, to 490 sq ft (46 m²) for the Iconic King, with a banquette and a two-sink bathroom.
It earns its place on price. On a Tuesday in May 2027 a Blanca King starts around $55 a night before tax and the resort fee, and the Alexandria Iconic King around $115. Self and valet parking are free for every guest. The Las Vegas Monorail starts at the resort's own station, with a train every four to eight minutes. From March to about the start of November the main pool, The Pool, is free to enter for hotel guests of all ages, under a 240-foot LED wall, while bungalows for families and cabanas and daybeds for over-21s are rented with a minimum spend. And Kwame Onwuachi, whose Tatiana was the New York Times's top New York restaurant in 2023 and 2024, opened his Caribbean steakhouse, Maroon, here in April 2026.
The trade is distance and the fee. From the Strip entrance the Bellagio fountains are about 50 minutes on foot and the LINQ Promenade about 46, so most evenings start on the Monorail or in a car. The $54.95 nightly resort fee plus tax roughly matches the entry room's rate midweek. Book it for a convention, a midweek trip with a car or a Monorail-and-pool stay on a budget, and spend the savings on the Iconic King.
