Space is limited – and expensive – for anyone wanting to stay in a casino hotel on the Las Vegas Strip on the night of the Tropicana implosion.

The Tropicana Las Vegas will implode at 2:30 am on Wednesday. The controlled demolition will be preceded by a drone and fireworks show expected to last about seven minutes.

But seeing the spectacle will be a challenge because there is no formal viewing area and officials are closing access to the street to both pedestrians and vehicles for safety reasons.

Following the announcement of the impending demolition of the Rat Pak-era casino, hotel room rates at properties in the immediate area – MGM Grand and The Signature, New York New York, Excalibur and Luxor – skyrocketed. Even the Oyo Casino Hotel, a budget hotel off the Strip, charged hundreds of dollars above average for the night.

With just under 48 hours to go before the two remaining Tropicana towers collapse, there are only a handful of available hotel rooms in the buildings surrounding the blast site.

The Oyo, the closest building to the Trop, is 100 percent fully booked. New York The New York casino hotel has rooms starting at $599 (+$42 resort fee) for the night, but room selection is limited and Trop views are not available.

The closest available hotel room to the Tropicana location is the Park MGM casino hotel, but the privilege costs more than $700 (including resort fee). Rooms at the Bellagio or The Cosmopolitan cost upwards of $1,000 (plus fees) for the night.

Caesars Entertainment’s properties on the Strip are unlikely to offer a clear view of the implosion. However, for those interested, room rates at the Horseshoe casino hotel start around $399, while the Harrah’s casino hotel has availability starting at $529 (plus taxes and fees).

The Treasure Island casino hotel offers rooms starting at around $399.

A night at the Encore casino hotel starts at $899, while a stay at the adjacent Wynn casino hotel starts at $1,061.

The Venetian and Palazzo hotels are also fully booked, although this has more to do with the Global Gaming Expo than with the implosion of Trop. Global Gaming Expo, or G2E, is the industry’s largest annual convention. It takes place Monday through Thursday at the Venetian Expo Center.

G2E attracts more than 25,000 industry professionals, including executives, game developers, regulators, affiliates and media from around the world.

You can contact David Danzis at [email protected] or (702) 383-0378. Follow AC2Vegas_Danzis on X.