Under the rays of the Las Vegas sun, towering palms trees sway in the breeze high upon a rooftop. The Forbes-rated top-earning DJ, Calvin Harris, steps up to the controls in the DJ booth. Frozen grapes and an Evian mist cool down a poolside massage. The stage overlooking the lagoonlike waters is set for Puff Daddy’s performance. These snapshot scenes—from Drai’s Beach Club, Wet Republic, Venus Pool Club and Rehab, respectively—make up some of the city’s best daylife, a notable recreation that’s evolved steadily over the past decade.
The scene started out with just some local bands playing, as guests dipped their toes into the water while sipping on beers as the sun set over Hard Rock Hotel’s outdoor pool area. “It was a weekly pool party called Pink Beach, basically just a gathering of people that would come hang out and listen to live music,” says Scott Cochrane, a 13-year employee of the Hard Rock and currently the lead bartender for Rehab. “That was basically the start of the pool party.” That party was 10 years ago, and Hard Rock’s nightlife team couldn’t help but notice the attraction that people had for poolside entertainment and thought, “What if we tried the nightlife lifestyle outside at the pool during the day?” recalls Cochrane. Thus, Rehab pool party, held every Sunday in the summer, was born.
“That first season was very successful,” says Cochrane. “It just took off and we had no clue how big the idea of the pool party was going to get.” Rehab is now in its 11th season, and it’s grown so much in popularity that it once had its own reality show, and now takes place both Saturday and Sunday.
But what Rehab really deserves credit for is being the tipping-off point for a whole new way to party in Las Vegas, an activity that was only in recent years branded as daylife. The pool club has popped up at a majority of Las Vegas hotels, and as each year passes, different daylife experiences are created.
While Rehab gave you raucous fun on the weekends, it was the Palms that enticed you to play hooky from work and attend its pool party, Ditch Fridays, now in its ninth season. It was pool clubs like Bare Pool Lounge at The Mirage and Venus Pool Club at Caesars Palace, both in their eighth seasons, that took the more intimate pool club route, but also brought in European-style sunbathing, meaning top-optional. Azure Luxury Pool at The Palazzo, now in its sixth season, stepped up to the plate with more extravagant poolside amenities with Wolfgang Puck food and cabanas styled as mini living spaces.
Over at Luxor, the first-ever LGBT-themed pool party on the Strip, Temptation Sundays, now in its fifth season, came into existence. After more than six seasons, Wet Republic at MGM Grand has secured its reign as the pool party with the most world-renowned EDM DJs playing its stage—week after week, names like Above & Beyond, Steve Aoki, Tiësto and Afrojack man the decks.
The newest kid on the block is Drai’s Beach Club at The Cromwell. With nightlife impresario Victor Drai at the helm, all the right elements for a successful pool club experience are present. In its first season, it’s already reached a height that others don’t, literally. Drai’s is the Strip’s first rooftop pool club. Currently the only space that turns the party seamlessly from day to night, “We’ve generally brought a product to market that pretty much trumps everything else, in my opinion,” says Michael Cossman, marketing manager for Drai’s Beach Club and Nightclub. “I think there’s something different about a day party. It’s not as serious. There’s a certain amount of fun that I think is lacking from a nightclub but you can get when you go to a day party.”
Asked if he thought the daylife/pool club experience is really just a fad and nightlife will once again reign alone? “I think a lot of people are coming to Las Vegas specifically for the daylife now,” says Cossman. “It gives you options during the day. I think it’s here to stay—it’s going to evolve and change, but it’s definitely here to stay.”
Cochrane has the same mind-set. “You now have gorgeous pools, hot girls in bikinis, daybeds and palms trees. Every pool club out here is its own little paradise, a whole other realm of enjoyment,” he says. “It’s 11 years later for Rehab and we’re still here—we’re here to stay.”
