VEGAS MYTHS BUSTED: The Foundation Room is on Mandalay Bay’s 63rd floor

Posted on: March 2, 2026, 07:21h. 

Last updated on: February 10, 2026, 03:22h.

Every official source — from Mandalay Bay’s own website to rooftop bar directories – claims that the Foundation Room, which is currently closed for renovations, is located on the 63rd floor of the casino resort. But Mandalay Bay only has 43 floors. What gives?

The Phantom 20

Floors 40-59 do not exist at Mandalay Bay, that’s what gives. The numbering jumps from 39 (the top of the Four Seasons Hotel) to 60, skipping 20 floors entirely and hoping that you wouldn’t notice.

Mandalay Bay adopted this mythical numbering scheme from the day it opened (March 2, 1999). In the 1990s, Clark County zoning regulations capped Strip hotel heights at approximately 500 feet to balance aesthetics, safety and airport proximity. For Mandalay Bay, that translated to a 43-story tower, 480 feet tall, plus a small antenna spire.

Here’s the Mandalay Bay’s real floor plan:

• Floors 1–30: These are the main guest room floors, housing the majority of the casino resort’s 3,209 rooms.
• Floors 31–34: Originally, these were additional guest room floors. However, after the October 1, 2017 mass shooting, these floors were renumbered to 56–59 to distance the property from the tragedy associated with its 32nd floor.
• Floors 35–39: These floors house the Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas, a luxury “hotel-within-a-hotel” with its own elevators, check-in, and branding. They are not mislabeled.
• Floors 40–43: These are the rooftop levels, intentionally mislabeled as 60-63. Floor 40 houses high-end suites, 41 and 42 house observation areas and lounges, and 43 houses the Foundation Room. Operated by the House of Blues, it features a semi-private club, dining area, and outdoor patios with panoramic Strip views.

Size Matters

Fabricating floor numbers is not uncommon in Las Vegas, where height equates to the illusion of status.

If your room at The Wynn is on the “60th floor,” for example, you only have a 48th-floor view. That’s because there are no 40-49th floors at that casino resort or its twin, Encore. Also missing are their 4th and 13th floors.

The 4th and the 40s are banished there because, to many Asian visitors, the number 4 is just as unlucky as 13 is to Westerners. And that’s because it sounds similar to the word for “death.” (Both are transliterated as “si” in Mandarin, and as “shi” in Japanese.)

These resorts are guilty of the same deception:

• Planet Hollywood: Labels its top floor as 52, despite being a 38-story building, skipping 13 and 40–49
• Aria: A 61-story hotel with 50 floors
• Resorts World: A 66-story hotel with 55 floors
• The Rio: A 51-story hotel with 41 floors
• The Palms: A 55-story hotel with 42 floors
• Circa: A 60-story hotel with 35 floors

This marketing ploy is effective because guests rarely count physical floors from the outside — even if they tried, the “window trick” discourages this — or question whether elevators are lying to them.

Look for “Vegas Myths Busted” every Monday on Casino.org. To read previously busted Vegas myths, visit VegasMythsBusted.com. Got a suggestion for a Vegas myth that needs busting? Email corey@casino.org.