Before the Fourth of July holiday, Sandra Dimas was filling up her car at a gas station in Primm as she was driving to Las Vegas from Southern California for a dance competition — but didn’t plan to stay for long. “This is just a rest stop for me,” Dimas said of Primm. “I just want to get to Vegas and don’t want to do much else here.”

Have you ever found yourself in a mild panic when it’s time to pay your dinner bill on a vacation because you forgot to look up tipping etiquette in that country? You’re definitely not alone. Tipping expectations vary greatly throughout the world, and it can be hard to keep it all straight. Even if you know tipping isn’t standard in a particular region, it can still feel really weird not to leave a tip. Beyond that, in some places, tipping can even be seen as offensive.

About 332,000 tourists are expected to visit Las Vegas and surrounding areas for the Independence Day holiday weekend, hospitality industry officials said.

In the past six months, Las Vegas casino companies have seen an unusually high number of executive changes, including nine from Wynn Resorts who headed to Fontainebleau. Analysts say the reason for the musical chairs merry-go-round may be part of a natural cycle that occurs when a new resort opens its doors — and in Las Vegas’ case, there were two openings within eight days of each other in December.

When I think of the Super Bowl in Las Vegas, the first word that used to come to my mind was ladders. Ladders everywhere. In 2004, I remember walking through the casinos and seeing ladders everywhere as casino employees took down screens and TV sets because the NFL had declared that there was size limit for the type of screen on which you could show the Super Bowl. No one at that time could imagine the same city would one day host the Super Bowl.

Whether you’re dining at a five-star restaurant, lodging at a hotel or getting a haircut, there’s a section on the bill reserved for leaving a gratuity. Tipping practices have changed in recent years, especially since the COVID-19 pandemic when business owners increased tipping recommendations as a way to retain their employees without having to raise prices.

It’s been a year of change in the Las Vegas hotel industry. Two hotels opened at the end of 2023, adding thousands of hotel rooms to the largest hospitality market in the country. Recent developments on two sides of the Strip, however, will quickly take those gains away from the market’s total room inventory. The Tropicana, a Rat Pack-era property, closed on April 2. And just a few weeks ago, hotel operators revealed they will close The Mirage this summer for a three-year renovation that will culminate in a newly designed hotel.

When driving down Boulder Highway, you can't miss the line of casinos, especially the Eastside Cannery. It's been closed since the pandemic, but this week, there's a renewed hope it'll reopen.