In October 2015, Ariel Khawaja traveled to Cozumel, Mexico, to say “I do” before a group of 55 wedding guests.
Three years later she corralled her two best friends to stand beside her in Las Vegas as she said two other magic words: “I don’t.”
Anchoring the trip around a Drake concert, the 28-year-old, who works in real estate, filled her week with gambling, clubbing at the ritzy 1 OAK, partying poolside at Wet Republic—a day club at the MGM Grand—and otherwise recharging.
“Las Vegas is fun all the time, but when you’re there for your divorce, you’re really free,” says Khawaja, who lives in Houston. “When you’re there celebrating such a big change, you live in the moment and you’re not worried about what happened yesterday. I didn’t pay to have a pity party—I wanted to relax and enjoy time with my friends after the hell I had been through.”
If the Hangover film franchise cemented Las Vegas’s reputation as the ultimate bachelor-party town, Khawaja and other fun-loving travelers are helping establish it as the opposite: the perfect destination for a divorce party. Often an exultant multiday escapade, these vacations celebrate—not mourn—the ending of a marriage. And in a city versed in over-the-top hospitality, venues are finding creative ways to help divorced men and women embrace their new relationship status.
Just Another Milestone Trip
Although the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA) doesn’t actively track divorce-party figures, it also doesn’t shy away from the issue, and seasoned Vegas hospitality vets have seen the festivities firsthand.
Adam Clough first heard about the concept 10 years ago but says it’s taken off more recently. He once helped a guest fete his divorce in the company of his former groomsmen.
“People started telling us that they want a fresh start,” says Clough, the executive director of social sales and concierge operations for MGM Resorts, which has 12 properties along the Strip. “At first we thought, Well this is different. But people come to Vegas for celebrations, and people come for devastating events, so in a way it makes sense.”
Preferring the moniker “girls’ trip” or “friends’ trip,” Julie Banning, a travel adviser at the Virtuoso-affiliated Embark, has seen the trend rise in the past year or so.
“Lately we’ve seen a lot of people finding any excuse to travel,” says Banning, who’s planned several such friends’ trips, mostly for straight women. “It used to be that you go on your honeymoon. Now you go on a mini-moon before you go on your honeymoon. This is like one of those milestone trips—like, ‘OK, guess I’m going to take my divorce trip now.’”