LAS VEGAS – New Year Eve is just around the corner and security will be tight along the Las Vegas Strip corridor.  

Around 330,000 people are expected to ring in the New Year in Las Vegas and following the tragedy of 1 October, hotels and casinos have been re-evaluating their safety plans.

“I don’t let it detract from my plans of living life and traveling,” said tourist Gerrit Farley, who has visited Las Vegas before. This time — and last time — he’ll stay at Mandalay Bay.

“It doesn’t necessarily make me in fear of coming here, but it definitely makes me more aware,” he said. 

However, this visit is different and Farley noticed.

“You have to show your room keycard every time you go on and off the elevators. So, that was definitely a big step up,” he said. 

It’s not just Mandalay Bay heightening security.

David Logue is the vice president of security at the Cosmopolitan. He says, he and other hotel security leaders constantly discuss how to keep all properties safe. 

“We as a group, security professionals as a group, along with Metro along with the fire dept. have sat down and “what if” it to death,” he said. 

Those “what if” discussions revolved around how tragedies like 1 October could be handled differently and prevented.

“Every time there’s some terrorist attack or a lone wolf attack whether it’s here or somewhere else, we really take a hard look at ourselves,” Logue said. “We actually talk among us professionals. Where our weaknesses might be. How to mitigate things that might happen at our respective properties.”

It’s just the beginning of security evolution for Las Vegas properties —  taking those extra precautions.

“I walked past a guy at least five times in the span of a couple of hours and I knew he recognized me but I still had to do it anyway,” Farley said. “I’m glad they’re doing it. Even if it’s just a little bit to prevent something something like that from ever happening again.”

Security officials add that the most important thing that you can do is if you see something, say something, because nothing is too insignificant to look into.