After an exclusive sneak peek at Azilo Ultra Pool, now set for a soft opening over Labor Day weekend, it’s clear the changes we’ve seen at the Sahara are only a first glimpse at a new high-end direction for the iconic Strip resort.
“Azilo is located right in the middle of the property, and as you can see, it’s a pretty big step from what it was before,” says Yannick Mugnier, vice president of development for the Meruelo Group. “It really is a five-star experience at a resort pool, and we’re going to be highlighting the capability of the space.”
Azilo redesigns the former resort pool and Foxtail day- and nightclub space into a highly flexible, indoor-outdoor entertainment venue. It’s not supposed to be a pool club that competes with those venues on the Strip.
Its 35,000 square feet of poolscape can host just under 2,000 people, and 250 more can be seated in the indoor Azilo Ultralounge, which is connected to the casino’s Casbar Lounge. Later this year, the Sahara expects to launch an upscale brunch in the ultralounge space.
But for now, it’s all about the outdoors, where approximately 10,000 square feet of LED screen surfaces on three sides of the complex can provide customizable backdrops for live performances, DJ sets, football watch parties and any kind of private or corporate event imaginable. The Azilo pool has plenty of VIP bungalows and cabanas with their own HDTVs and private pools, three giant bars, an expanded stage area and will be covered in lush greenery and luxurious, Moroccan-style finishes.
It’s also unrecognizable from its previous iteration and light years ahead of the Foxtail era unveiled when the resort became SLS Las Vegas in 2014. That bar on an island in the middle of the pool? Gone.
“The former design divided everything up, so we’ve tried to reopen the space and make it feel like you have a lot of room and create an elevated experience,” Mugnier says. “At night it feels really great out here, because all you can see is the Stratosphere, the marquee, the screens and the [Sahara] hotel. It feels like you’re in your own little environment.”
Since the pandemic slowed its construction, Azilo will make use of the last month of pool season by focusing on resort pool operations and testing the venue with a few different live entertainment event concepts, then shifting gears in the spring to show its full capabilities.
DJ and sax player Natty Rico is expected to perform on September 4 with other weekend entertainment yet to be announced. You might want to save the date of September 25, when the newly opened show Magic Mike Live will celebrate its grand opening at Sahara and takes the afterparty outside to Azilo.
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