Integrated resorts meet more diversified needs of visitors
Now that betting anywhere, anytime online is the norm, gaming has become one facet of the stay-and-play opportunities offered at integrated resorts around the world. Concerts, unique shopping, theme parks and “dinutainment” add to the allure of the flashing lights and games of chance.
The same is true in the conference centers linked to these experiential extravaganzas. From advanced AV technology to star-rated cuisine in the restaurant and meeting space, integrated resorts are often the safest bet for sourcing memorable attendee experiences.
Las Vegas of the East
The gambling capital of the world, Macau, China, blends history and futuristic technology. In addition to the signature gold Grand Lisboa, familiar names to Vegas regulars include The Venetian Macao (part of a network of Las Vegas Sands properties with more than 3,000 guest rooms, 402,200 sq. ft. of meeting space and the largest pillarless ballroom in Asia), MGM Macau (600 guest rooms and 104,400 sq. ft. of meeting space) and two Wynn five-star properties (one on the Macau Peninsula and one in Cotai).
Smart tables employ RFID and AI technology to enhance security, appeal to individual player behavior and speed up gameplay. AI bartenders can personalize drinks, check IDs and banter about the weather while robots serve coffee and cocktails.
Outside the casino, transportation wonders such as the Light Rapid Transit streamline access from booming Macau International Airport (MFM) and mainland China.
Modern Vegas, Baby
Back on The Strip in Southern Nevada, neon has given way to LEDs. The face of 59-story, 3,506-room Resorts World Las Vegas is a 673-foot-tall screen that offers branding for conferences taking over the property and serving the expanded Las Vegas Convention Center across the street. Inside, three Hilton brands (Las Vegas Hilton, Conrad and Crockfords) offer tiered experiences.
A 50-foot LED video globe in the property’s The District shopping center employes 20-million pixels as a digital mirror advertising ball. Its 350,000 sq. ft. of meeting space includes a 70,000-square-foot ballroom with a view of The Strip.
At the other end of the street, steps from The Venetian Las Vegas, Sphere Entertainment Group opened the largest ball of video surface on Earth in 2024. Inside 17,600 seats are optimized for 4D physical effects from a wrap-around, 16K resolution screen with beamforming and wave field synthesis speakers to direct sound waves with precision and control the attendee experience in every seat. Two more iterations of the immersive, horizon-defining domed venue have been announced in Abu Dhabi and Tokyo.
MGM Resorts-owned Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino recently completed a $100 million redesign of its 2.1 million-square-foot convention center with upgraded technology and digital signage at the top of the checklist. Cat6A Ethernet cabling, 11 digital walls and a bounty of mobile display units add to the flexibility and ease of using the space.
“The number of devices people bring to an event that need to be connected is just increasing, so we invested in the bandwidth and density of Wi-Fi infrastructure in the meetings spaces, the public spaces and the guest rooms,” said MGM Resorts International Senior Vice President and Chief Sales Officer Stephanie Glanzer. “AI will just add to that demand.”
Celebrity Resorts
Caesars Entertainment has been investing millions of dollars in properties across the country to bring influencer sparkle to the table (quite literally). The largest casino brand in the world announced recently that The Cromwell will transform into The Vanderpump Hotel, the television personality’s first. Her industrial romantic style is being applied to the 188-room (boutique by Las Vegas standards) property mid-Strip and a soon-to-be-opened lounge that is already home to a Giada restaurant.
“Guests from around the world will soon be able to experience her signature style, elegant taste and meticulous design detail through a hotel experience unlike anything else on The Strip,” said Caesars Chief Commercial Officer Sean McBurney.
The resort-wide transformation is part of the evolution of a partnership that already includes Pinky’s by Vanderpump at Flamingo Las Vegas, Vanderpump Cocktail Garden at Caesars Palace Las Vegas, Vanderpump à Paris at Paris Las Vegas and Wolf by Vanderpump at the rebranded Caesars Republic Lake Tahoe.
The brand’s Reno properties have also gotten in on the influencer action. Silver Legacy Resort Casino is home to Ramsay’s Kitchen by Gordon Ramsay and a Gordon Ramsay Fish and Chips.
Caesars has gone all-in on celebrity cred at restaurants across the portfolio. Options include hospitality legend Martha Stewart’s first restaurant, The Bedford at Paris Las Vegas, and Nobu restaurants at Caesars Palace Las Vegas and Caesars Atlantic City, in addition to Bobby Flay’s Parisian-style steakhouse Brasserie B by Bobby Flay, Italian fishmonger Amalfi by Bobby Flay and Bobby’s Burgers at Caesars Palace. Look for more as-seen-on-television partnerships for their Instagram and bragging rights appeal.
Sports Mania
Sports betting may be one of the factors disrupting the casino model, but some properties are doubling down on the energy of watching sports en masse. Phone screens can’t compete with 40-foot-tall high-definition monitors at Circa’s Stadium Swim, viewed from six swimming pools and an outdoor patio perched above Fremont Street that can hold 4,000 of your closest friends.
Inside, Circa tower, a three-story Sportsbook, offers room for up to 1,000 people where the Vegas Stats and Information Network broadcasts analysis daily from an on-site studio.
One of the original video walls can be found at Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, where a 30,000-square-foot screen, leather recliners equipped with betting tablets, a full-service bar and grill service turn any game into an event. Monorail and Las Vegas Loop access from Las Vegas Convention Center adds to the convenience.
Green Casinos
Did we mention that all these advances also need to be sustainable?
“People don’t always think of Las Vegas as a sustainable destination, but we operate at the highest levels of efficiency,” said MGM Resorts’ Glanzer.
MGM Resorts are completely powered by solar; 100% of light on the casino floor was harvested directly from the sun.
MGM was also a leader in water recycling, signing on early to the CEO Water Mandate, a UN Global Compact. More than 17 billion gallons have been saved since 2007 through the installation of low-flow and touchless fixtures. A 700,000-gallon cistern captures and reuses rainwater for cooling, and water from the Bellagio Fountains, O Theater and Shark Reef Aquarium is reused. Atmospheric water generators capture cooling tower vapors and produce water for Las Vegas Grand Prix track preparation.
MGM Resorts’ Feeding Forward program rescues unserved food from banquets, restaurants and buffets to support local food banks.
Read More: Turning Surplus Into Service: How Food Rescue Strengthens Community and Sustainability
“These are things we have done for a long time and will continue to do so we can help planners and attendees feel good about meeting,” she said.
Planned Serendipity
Beyond the casinos, meeting spaces and restaurants, look for more venues designed to encourage human-scale interaction—inside and out. That could mean private dining rooms or meeting nooks built into the prefunction space for an impromptu deal, a quick phone call or a breather.
“Networking and experiential areas are where the relationships are made,” said MGM’s Glanzer. “Those private and semi-private places make the most of being together.”
The same goes for outdoor areas. Destinations such as Reno, Nevada, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, are embracing the link to beautiful outdoor spaces. Downtown Reno sits blocks from the Truckee River and the arts and dining community that has grown up around the greenspace there. Similarly, Atlantic City’s Boardwalk is the background for views from the prefunction space at Ocean Atlantic City and at properties up and down the coast, including MGM Tower at Borgata.
At Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona, life well-played takes advantage of the two championship golf courses groomed as backdrops for amateur golf tournaments and memorable outdoor experiences when the meeting in the almost 37,000 sq. ft. of meeting space is wrapped up.
