Throughout its 52-year history, the MGM Grand name has been synonymous with what is new and what is next in Las Vegas. Opened in 1973, the first building to carry the name set a new standard for the crucial role that sheer scale, physical environment and theming play in the Vegas customer experience.
I got a taste of this customer experience firsthand in early October when I traveled to “The Entertainment Capital of the World” to attend IMEX America and spent an evening at MGM Grand Hotel and Casino, seeing for myself how a half-century’s worth of history in the hospitality space continues to shape the MGM Grand story of today.
In 1969, legendary casino and movie studio mogul Kirk Kerkorian opened the world’s largest hotel, the 1,500-room International Hotel (now Westgate), in Vegas. In 1973, he transformed Vegas again with the 2,084-room MGM Grand.
The building fused the Hollywood touch of owner Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) with Vegas magic. Each “petite suite” had a gold star on the door. Dean Martin and other stars filled the 800-seat Ziegfeld and 1,200-seat Celebrity showrooms. Guests watched MGM classics in a movie theater with in-seat food and beverage service. Other hallmarks included the world’s largest casino, dozens of upscale shops and marble statues and crystal chandeliers galore.
Reflagged as Bally’s in 1986 and Horseshoe Las Vegas in 2022, the first MGM Grand was an extravagant blueprint for future Vegas form and function.
In December 1993, Kerkorian went even bigger with the current MGM Grand Hotel and Casino. Built on the site of the former Tropicana Country Club and Marina resort, the 5,005-room colossus, clad in emerald-green glass, was another incubator and template for innovation.
Not all original ideas worked. By 2000, the Wizard of Oz attraction, movie-themed rooms and 33-acre Adventures theme park were gone. The open-mouthed lion entrance, considered bad luck by Asian visitors, was replaced by the current 50-ton bronze and gold lion statue.
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Elements with game-changing, precedent-setting influence on the Vegas scene, meanwhile, include the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Inaugurated by Barbra Streisand in 1993, the versatile 17,000-seat multipurpose venue was the Strip’s first large-scale concert and sporting event facility. Other group-ready attractions at “The Entertainment Authority,” as MGM Grand is known, include KÀ by Cirque du Soleil, Topgolf Las Vegas and five-level Hakkasan nightclub.
In 1995, MGM Grand launched the Las Vegas Monorail with service to Bally’s—since extended to Sahara Las Vegas—as a transportation alternative on the Strip.
Constructed in 1997, the three-story conference center was instrumental in accelerating the Vegas group market. Following a $130 million, 250,000-square-foot expansion in December 2018, the award-winning facility offers 850,000-plus square feet of versatile space.
MGM Grand was at the forefront of Vegas’s celebrity chef scene. In 2003, the late Joël Robuchon, the most Michelin-decorated chef in history, brought his one Michelin star L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon concept to the property, followed by his adjacent three Michelin star Restaurant Joël Robuchon in 2006. MGM Grand’s diverse culinary collection includes other prized event-capable restaurants such as Morimoto Las Vegas and Tom Colicchio’s Craftsteak, alongside newcomers like Netflix Bites.
Recreational amenities include a four-pool complex, luxurious spa and salon and Palm Tree Beach Club.
Now offering 4,762 rooms, MGM Grand integrates exclusive spaces such as The Mansion, an elite enclave of 29 Florentine-inspired villas, and 51 top-floor Skylofts. Plus, 700 Studio Tower rooms, last refreshed in 2022, and the latest reinvestment, the $300 million remodel of all 3,969 Main Tower rooms and suites.
Inspired by the disco era and MGM Grand’s entertainment legacy, the transformed rooms are inviting contemporary interpretations of yesteryear sophistication and glamor. Styles include the north-facing Marquee Suite, featuring two bedrooms, a pool table and views of the Sphere.
South-facing units include my 23rd floor king, a handsome retreat overlooking the former Tropicana Las Vegas site, where foundation work is underway on the Las Vegas A’s ballpark.
Surveying the landscape, I reflected once more on how Vegas perpetually evolves, while visionary pioneers like Kirk Kerkorian, who paved the way for the creation of MGM Resorts International before his passing in 2015, create everlasting magic.
