What will become of the now-notorious Las Vegas hotel suite that a 64-year-old retiree used to stage the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history?
That is the difficult decision facing the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino a week after Stephen Paddock opened fire on a crowd at an outdoor concert from room 135 on the hotel’s 32nd floor, killing 58 and injuring more than 500.
The suite’s shattered gold-tinted windows are now discreetly covered over. The resort, owned by MGM Resorts International, has yet to say what it will do with the space.
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The challenge is particularly difficult for a hotel in Las Vegas, a place where visitors go to escape everyday lives and real-world problems.
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“How do they navigate the fact that this happened in their hotel?” said Andrea Trapani, managing partner at Identity, a Detroit-area public relations firm that provides crisis communications for hospitality brands. “A lot of challenging tough questions and decisions are going to be made.”
The scene inside Room 32-135, after gunman Stephen Paddock killed himself on October 1. Photo: Twitter
The damaged windows on the 32nd floor room that was used by the shooter in the Mandalay Bay Resrt and Casono. Photo: AFP
