Drai's After Hours
Memorial Day Weekend 2026

Memorial Day Weekend in Las Vegas is defined by its nightclubs. The debate — XS or OMNIA, Hakkasan or Drai's Nightclub— takes place in the 10:30 PM to 4:00 AM window when the major Strip venues are operating. But Memorial Day Weekend is a four-day holiday that generates four nights of consecutive Las Vegas nightlife. The standard nightclub circuit runs through one window of each night. Drai's After Hours covers the other one.

Located in the basement of Vanderpump Hotel (formerly The Cromwell) at 3595 Las Vegas Boulevard South, Drai's After Hours operates on an after-hours license that authorizes alcohol service and DJ programming after the standard last-call window that closes every regular nightclub in Las Vegas at 3:00 to 4:00 AM. The venue opens at 1:00 AM — while the major Strip clubs are still running — and continues until at least 7:00 AM, with peak MDW sessions often running until sunrise. For Memorial Day Weekend 2026, four nights of programming are confirmed: DJ CLA on Thursday May 22, DJ Nino on Friday May 23, a House and Hip-Hop dual-genre night on Saturday May 24, and DJ Boof on Sunday May 25.

The after-hours context fundamentally changes how Drai's functions during MDW. Where the main Strip nightclubs measure their Memorial Day lineups in headliner recognition — Marshmello at XS, The Chainsmokers at XS, Steve Aoki at OMNIA — Drai's After Hours measures its MDW value in duration and endurance. The guests who arrive at Drai's After Hours at 3:30 AM on a Saturday MDW night have already completed a full nightclub experience. They are arriving for extension, not initiation. The DJs who program Drai's After Hours understand this context and build their sets accordingly — longer arcs, fewer hard drops, more gradual energy management across a three-to-five-hour window rather than the 90-minute peak-intensity headliner format of a 10:30 PM opening.

This makes Drai's After Hours structurally different from every other MDW nightclub option in Las Vegas, not a lesser version of those options. The guests at Drai's After Hours on Saturday MDW at 2:00 AM are not people who could not get into The Chainsmokers at XS. They are people who attended The Chainsmokers at XS, experienced it fully, and decided that the MDW long weekend warranted continuing into the early morning in a venue designed specifically for that extension.

DJ CLA opens Drai's After Hours Memorial Day Weekend on Thursday May 22 at 1:00 AM. Thursday is the first significant arrival day for the MDW long weekend — guests flying in for the full four-day holiday begin landing on Wednesday and Thursday, and by Thursday night the Las Vegas Strip has reached elevated crowd density before the official Friday start of most MDW nightclub programming.

The Thursday after-hours slot at Drai's occupies a specific niche in the MDW calendar. The main Strip nightclubs do not universally program Thursday as a holiday night — XS runs Thursday MDW programming, but some venues treat Thursday as a standard programming night with standard pricing. Drai's After Hours Thursday serves two distinct crowds: guests who have arrived early for the weekend and want to access Las Vegas nightlife in its most organic form on a pre-holiday night, and the regular after-hours audience that attends Drai's on Thursday regardless of holiday weeks.

DJ CLA is a resident-tier Las Vegas DJ whose after-hours programming specializes in hip-hop and R&B-inflected late-night mixes — a different genre direction from the EDM-dominant Friday and Saturday sessions at many Strip clubs. This hip-hop orientation matters for groups who have spent their MDW weekend in the electronic music world at venues like XS and OMNIA and want a different genre context for their Thursday late-night session. Guest list for Thursday is fully open: women free with arrival before 2:00 AM, men free with arrival before 2:00 AM. Table minimums start at approximately $500 — the most accessible table entry point of the four MDW nights at Drai's After Hours.

Friday May 23 is when the MDW nightclub circuit fully opens. XS programs Marshmello, OMNIA has its Friday headliner, Hakkasanruns MDW Friday programming, and multiple venues are operating at holiday capacity. All of them close between 4:00 and 4:30 AM. DJ Nino takes the booth at Drai's After Hours at 1:00 AM — while those clubs are still running — and the session extends until well past 7:00 AM, capturing the post-nightclub transfer crowd from the closing Strip venues at 4:00 AM and running into the Las Vegas dawn.

The post-nightclub transfer on MDW Friday is the Drai's After Hours peak scenario. A guest leaving Marshmello at XS at 4:00 AM who is not ready to return to their hotel has exactly one viable option for continuing their night with DJ programming, alcohol service, and a proper nightclub environment: Drai's After Hours. The 10-minute walk from Encore or a short rideshare from Caesars Palace, Hakkasan, or Marquee at The Cosmopolitan delivers that guest to Drai's by 4:15 to 4:30 AM — directly into the active peak of DJ Nino's after-hours session.

DJ Nino programs a house and electronic-leaning set that bridges the outgoing EDM crowd from the Strip nightclubs and the deeper house and late-night faithful who populate after-hours venues on MDW Fridays. The guest list is open for women (free before 2:00 AM) with reduced cover for men arriving before 2:00 AM. For guests planning to do a Friday nightclub followed by Drai's After Hours, the sequence is straightforward: main nightclub 11:00 PM to 4:00 AM, Drai's After Hours 4:00 AM to 7:00 AM or later.

Saturday May 24 is the highest-demand night at Drai's After Hours for Memorial Day Weekend 2026. The programming designation — House + Hip-Hop — reflects the dual-room format that is Drai's After Hours' defining structural advantage. On Saturday, the venue's house and electronic room and its hip-hop room run simultaneously on independent programming tracks. Guests entering on a single admission can move between them throughout the session.

The House + Hip-Hop Saturday format directly addresses the genre tension at the center of Memorial Day Weekend Las Vegas nightlife. MDW generates two distinct crowds with partially overlapping tastes: the EDM and electronic music crowd attending venues like XS, OMNIA, and Encore Beach Club, and the hip-hop and R&B crowd attending venues like Hakkasan, TAO, and Drai's Nightclub. Both crowds eventually end up in the same Las Vegas long weekend, and both crowds eventually face the 4:00 AM nightclub close. Drai's After Hours Saturday's dual genre programming is the only destination that serves both at the same time.

From a logistics standpoint, Saturday MDW at Drai's After Hours requires earlier planning than Thursday or Sunday. Guest list for women is open with free entry before 2:00 AM. Men's guest list on Saturday provides reduced cover ($20 to $30) before 2:00 AM. Walk-up door rates on Chainsmokers-transfer Saturday peak at $50 to $60 for men. Table minimums run $800 to $1,500 across sections — still well below the $3,000 to $7,000 MDW Saturday minimums at the main Strip nightclubs, while providing a 6-hour window of dedicated service from the 1:00 AM open to the 7:00 AM close. For groups splitting their MDW Saturday between a main nightclub and the after-hours session, the combined spend for a Drai's After Hours table plus general admission at a Saturday headliner club is often lower than a single main-room nightclub table at Saturday MDW premium pricing.

The crowd energy on House + Hip-Hop Saturday at Drai's After Hours peaks between 3:30 and 5:30 AM — the window after the Strip nightclubs have closed and the transfer crowd has arrived and settled in. This is the moment when an after-hours club in Las Vegas reaches its full potential: the room fills with guests who have already experienced their primary nightclub event, arrived at the after-hours venue with the explicit intention of extending further, and have reached the unhurried late-night state where the experience is about the music and the room rather than the event-night performance. Saturday MDW at Drai's After Hours between 4:00 and 6:00 AM is one of the more distinctive nightlife experiences Las Vegas produces — not spectacular in the headline-DJ and LED-chandelier sense, but genuinely compelling in the late-night, genre-fluid, extended-duration sense.

DJ Boof closes Drai's After Hours Memorial Day Weekend on Sunday May 25 — technically Monday morning — at 1:00 AM. This is the final session of the long weekend, and its character is unlike any other MDW after-hours night. The crowd that arrives at Drai's After Hours on Sunday into Monday MDW has been through the complete long weekend arc: four nights of Strip nightclubs, pool parties, and after-hours sessions. They are not fresh arrivals energized by the start of a holiday weekend. They are veterans of it — people who have specifically chosen to extend the final night past the standard close rather than acknowledge that the weekend is over.

This self-selected quality makes the Sunday Drai's After Hours session feel genuinely different from earlier in the week. The commitment threshold to be at an after-hours club at 3:00 AM on a Sunday into Monday MDW is higher than it is on Friday or Saturday, which means everyone in the room chose to be there consciously. DJ Boof programming the Sunday session understands this — the set construction reflects the arc of a full long weekend rather than a standalone night, building toward the sunrise with the awareness that this is the last morning of a four-day Las Vegas stay for most of the room.

Guest list for Sunday into Monday is the most accessible of the four MDW nights: both men and women get free entry before 2:00 AM, no reduced-cover Friday/Saturday premium applies. Table minimums match Thursday levels at $500 to $900. For groups who have committed to the full MDW experience and want to close it properly rather than returning to the hotel when the last Saturday nightclub shuts down, Sunday DJ Boof at Drai's After Hours is the intended final chapter.

Drai's After Hours operates 13,000 square feet in the basement level of Vanderpump Hotel across four rooms that function simultaneously on independent programming tracks. This multi-room structure is what makes Drai's After Hours the most versatile late-night venue in Las Vegas — and it is especially relevant during Memorial Day Weekend when the crowd composition includes guests with diverse genre preferences arriving from multiple different venues.

The electronic roomcarries the house and electronic programming track — the destination for guests arriving from XS, OMNIA, or Encore Beach Club who want to continue in a consistent genre space. During MDW, this room runs at peak intensity from the post-nightclub transfer window at 4:00 AM through approximately 5:30 AM before transitioning to a deeper, more ambient house and techno orientation in the final hour before close. The electronic room is the larger of the two DJ-programmed rooms, with a proper sound system and LED lighting that creates a legitimate nightclub environment rather than a lounge-with-music setup.

The hip-hop room programs R&B, hip-hop, and trap — the continuation for guests leaving Hakkasan, TAO, or Drai's Nightclub earlier in the evening. On MDW Saturday, this room runs a dedicated booking separate from the main electronic programming. The hip-hop room at Drai's After Hours has a more intimate character — lower ceiling, tighter floor plan, crowd orientation that creates a different energy from the larger electronic space.

The hookah loungeis the decompression zone — a lounge-format space with table seating, lower volume, and a social atmosphere that allows actual conversation. At 3:00 AM after a full MDW nightclub evening, the hookah lounge provides a reset point within the after-hours venue. Groups can rotate: some members on the dance floor, others in the lounge, gathering in the lounge between floor sessions without having to leave the venue. The lounge has its own bar service and is included in the same admission.

The multi-room format also affects the table economics. Tables at Drai's After Hours can be booked in any of the rooms, and the bottle service minimum covers the entire venue — your table is in one room but your group moves freely. For MDW groups with mixed genre preferences, a single table in the lounge or electronic room with movement access to the hip-hop room is a cleaner solution than booking separate sections at two different nightclubs on opposite ends of the Strip.

The most common question about Drai's After Hours during MDW is where it fits relative to the main nightclub schedule. The answer is that it does not compete with the main nightclub schedule — it operates after it. The cleanest MDW sequence for a guest who wants to experience both the Strip nightclub peak and the after-hours extension is: main nightclub from 11:00 PM to 4:00 AM, Drai's After Hours from 4:00 to 7:00 AM.

From XS or Encore Beach Club(Encore/Wynn): Exit via the Las Vegas Boulevard entrance and either walk the 12 to 15 minutes south to Vanderpump Hotel or take a rideshare (3 to 5 minutes, though surge pricing at 4:00 AM MDW is common). The XS-to-Drai's transfer is one of the most common MDW after-hours moves in Las Vegas because XS closes firmly at 4:00 AM and the crowd leaving MDW XS is at its most energized at last call.

From Hakkasan(MGM Grand): Rideshare north on the Strip approximately 10 minutes to Vanderpump Hotel, or walk via the back corridor and Flamingo/Las Vegas Blvd intersection in approximately 20 minutes. Hakkasan MDW transfers to Drai's After Hours work particularly well for guests attending Hakkasan's hip-hop programming who want to continue in the hip-hop room at Drai's rather than shifting to an electronic-dominant after-hours venue.

From OMNIA(Caesars Palace): Walk south on the Strip 10 to 12 minutes or take a rideshare 3 to 4 minutes. OMNIA guests transferring to Drai's After Hours can continue the electronic programming thread from the main room into the Drai's After Hours electronic room — a consistent genre transition that maintains the MDW electronic music energy past the standard nightclub close.

Staying on property: Guests staying at Vanderpump Hotel can literally ride the elevator from their room floor to the basement after-hours venue — no transit, no rideshare, no exposure to the 4:00 AM Strip crowds. The Vanderpump Hotel proximity advantage for Drai's After Hours MDW cannot be overstated if your group is committed to the after-hours session. Rooms at the hotel book quickly for MDW weekend; if you want this option, secure accommodation as far in advance as possible.

Drai's After Hours enforces its dress code on all MDW nights. The enforcement is consistent across all four sessions — the 1:00 AM opening and the 5:00 AM continuation both apply the same standards. Dress code: upscale casual to fashionable. For men, dark jeans or chinos, clean shirts (button-down or fitted casual), dress shoes or clean designer sneakers. No athletic wear, no sports jerseys, no basketball shorts, no flip-flops. For women, cocktail attire, dresses, jumpsuits, or going-out outfits.

The critical MDW note: guests arriving directly from another Strip nightclub are already in appropriate Drai's dress code, having cleared that venue's stricter screening. If your MDW group is transferring from XS, OMNIA, or Hakkasan directly to Drai's After Hours, there is no dress code gap to bridge — you are already dressed to enter. Groups that want to go back to their hotel to change before heading to Drai's After Hours should account for the 30 to 45 minutes that process requires, which may mean arriving at Drai's closer to 5:00 AM than 4:00 AM on peak Saturday.

The after-hours licensing context means Drai's operates under specific compliance rules. Valid government-issued photo ID is required at the door for all guests. Digital ID scanning is in use — a damaged or unreadable barcode will cause admission issues even for guests with a valid guest list signup. Bring a physical government-issued ID, not a phone photo. The check-in process includes ID scanning and security screening. On peak MDW Saturday, budget 10 to 15 minutes for the door process from the time you arrive at the Vanderpump Hotel entrance.

Drai's After Hours is not a substitute for the main Strip nightclubs on Memorial Day Weekend — it is a complement to them. The question is not “Drai's After Hours or XS” but “which main nightclub plus Drai's After Hours,” or “Drai's After Hours instead of returning to the hotel at 4:00 AM.” Understanding which MDW nightlife option fits your group's preferences requires clarity on what each venue delivers.

Choose a main nightclub onlyif your group wants the full headliner EDM or hip-hop experience — the LED production, the 10:30 PM crowd energy, the peak-hour spectacle at venues like XS or OMNIA — and has no interest in extending past 4:00 AM. The main nightclubs are better for groups on tighter budgets (table minimums are high at MDW, but the 4:00 AM close creates a defined cost ceiling), and they are better for guests who are operating on a full-night-sleep schedule and need to function the next day for activities like pool parties or early flights.

Choose Drai's After Hours as an additionif your group has the energy and inclination to extend MDW into the early morning. The combination of a main nightclub from 11:00 PM to 4:00 AM and Drai's After Hours from 4:00 to 7:00 AM is the most comprehensive single-night MDW Las Vegas experience available — you cover the peak-energy headliner window and the late-night after-hours window in one continuous evening. Groups on multi-night MDW visits who want to pick one night for the full arc should choose MDW Saturday: The Chainsmokers at XS from 11:00 PM to 4:00 AM, transfer to Drai's After Hours House + Hip-Hop Saturday session, 7:00 AM return to hotel.

Choose Drai's After Hours as a standalone optionif your group is flying in late on a MDW night, if the main nightclub tickets are sold out or budget-prohibitive, or if your group is specifically interested in the after-hours format and genre diversity that only Drai's provides. At $500 to $900 table minimums on Thursday and Sunday, Drai's After Hours standalone is the most affordable MDW table service option in Las Vegas — providing a six-hour dedicated service window in a multi-room venue at a fraction of the MDW nightclub table pricing at any of the major Strip venues.