Is UNLV College of Hospitality Still Open? Bar Rescue Update

Bar Rescue, Season 6, Episode 30 Aired April 7, 2019

Unlike a typical Bar Rescue episode built around a struggling bar, "Back to School," broadcast April 7, 2019, followed Jon Taffer to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he worked with students and faculty at the William F. Harrah College of Hospitality rather than rescuing a failing business. The episode centered on the college's roughly 2,400 hospitality students preparing to stage a white-glove cocktail and food event for the school's donors and industry sponsors, with the new campus venue for the event not yet ready in the days before the reception. Taffer brought in chef Tiffany Derry and mixologist Brian Van Flandern to run condensed, real-world training sessions with the college's culinary and bartending students over about a week, covering high-volume cocktail production, plating, and guest service under time pressure similar to what the show's usual bar owners face during a stress test.

The Harrah College of Hospitality itself, rather than any single bar, is the subject of this record. Founded in 1967 as a department within UNLV's business school and elevated to its own college in 1969, the program moved into the school's dedicated Hospitality Hall building in 2018, the year before the episode aired. As of 2026, the college's own site and independent rankings describe it as the top-ranked hospitality and tourism program in the United States, with roughly 1,500 students, more than 20,000 alumni, and a newly launched sport hospitality management degree beginning in 2026, indicating the institution featured in the episode remains active and operating on the UNLV campus.

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, Season 14, Episode 8 Aired June 4, 2012

In the 'International Eats' episode (aired 2012-06-04), Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives visited UNLV's Harrah College of Hospitality, where Guy Fieri returned to his alma mater and cooked alongside his former advisor, Vince Eade, and executive chef John Gremo. According to a UNLV news article, the segment centered on a Thai shrimp dish prepared with hospitality students at the program's teaching restaurant, then known as the Stan Fulton Bistro.