MGM Resorts International is deeply entwined with Las Vegas culture

The hospitality, entertainment, and sports behemoth spans 31 properties in Massachusetts, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, and Ohio, as well as China, with projects underway in Dubai and Japan as well. But the lion’s share of its developments is found in Las Vegas, the city the brand was born in. Today, MGM, which traces its roots to the late 1960s, is Nevada’s largest employer.

With MGM hotels accounting for more than 40 percent of the local market (the portfolio comprises the Bellagio Hotel & Casino, Aria Resort & Casino, Vdara Hotel & Spa, the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, MGM Grand, the Signature at MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, the recently rebranded W Las Vegas, Four Seasons Hotel Las Vegas, Park MGM Las Vegas, NoMad Las Vegas, New York-New York Hotel & Casino, Luxor Hotel & Casino, and Excalibur Hotel & Casino) chief content, hospitality, and development officer Ari Kastrati feels MGM has a duty and responsibility to leave a memorable imprint on the city.

“Las Vegas is synonymous with the word ambition,” says Kastrati. “I’ve been here for 25 years, and I’ve seen it evolve over that time. We’re all blessed to be here right now. Travelers come to this city with a great curiosity. Imagine the expectations they have for Vegas when they have the luxury of exploring other destinations.”

Secret to Success

A sculptural chandelier hangs over the dining table in one of KES Studio’s Sky Villas at the Aria Resort & Casino

Experiences are what propel each of MGM’s distinctive integrated resorts, which operate as “large ecosystems that tell a narrative through the hotel, food and beverage, and entertainment,” adds Kastrati. “We take a meticulous approach in understanding the guest journey. How do we engage them for the three, four, or five days they are staying and have surprises for them every time they come?”

A commitment to design is crucial to orchestrating these compelling journeys. “New developments are one thing that’s always challenging for us,” explains Nicole Fournier, MGM’s vice president of interior design. “How do you move a concept forward so the story feels consistent?” She revels in matching the right projects with the right designers, seeking out those who can best execute MGM’s vision—a creative process buoyed by storyboards that help shape a cohesive language.

Although many of the firms selected are powerhouses, as Fournier puts it, MGM is also keen to work with emerging designers. Every week, Fournier and Joyce Ceryance, director of interior design, peruse portfolios that have been submitted to them, adding the ones that make an impression to a database with the hope they might be a fit for an upcoming project. Collaboration is Fournier’s favorite part of the job, considering herself a caretaker in the partnership. “I get to be a voyeur and see into the eyes of the talented people in our industry,” she says. “Everyone sees things differently.”

Redefining F&B

For the renovation of Bellagio’s Prime Steakhouse, Woogmaster Studio enhanced the dining room’s French blue and chocolate palette

Dynamic F&B venues, increasingly blurring the lines between dining and entertainment, encapsulate the MGM ethos. “It lifts the experience and expectations for guests and puts Las Vegas in a unique position for someone making a choice to come here,” points out Kastrati.

Consider Tao Group Hospitality’s Palm Tree Beach Club, opening in May at the MGM Grand. The open-air retreat, designed by New York’s Rockwell Group with bungalows, cabanas, daybeds, and chaise lounges, doubles as Norwegian DJ, music producer, and Palm Tree Crew cofounder Kygo’s daytime residency. Likewise, in 2024, the Pinky Ring by Bruno Mars, the music sensation’s Rat Pack era-style lounge and music venue, debuted at the Bellagio with a mirrored passageway, halo-like chandelier with tiers of hanging crystals, and a sunken conversation pit courtesy of Toronto- and New York-based design firm Yabu Pushelberg.

Found at the Bellagio, curving forms dominate the Pinky Ring by Bruno Mars, the handiwork of Yabu Pushelberg

Prime Steakhouse, from chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten, has been a fixture at the Bellagio since 1998, but earlier this year, local practice Woogmaster Studio (the firm also revamped the property’s pool complex, beauty salon, and barbershop) gave it a new look that respects its past.

“Prime has a Hollywood Regency air, and we looked back to that history while we invented complementing layers to amplify the room,” says founder Alex Woogmaster. The beloved French blue and chocolate palette was maintained, but now it’s elevated with woven metal mesh screens, cut-crystal mirrors, Brutalist-reminiscent gold-leaf wallcovering, and “handmade bas-relief doors depicting the fountains just outside,” adds Woogmaster. “We are in love with the added texture throughout.”

For the pool deck, home to Como Poolside Café & Bar and coveted cabanas, Woogmaster drew from the greenhouses of Rome’s Villa Borghese. “The interplay of the new, classically inspired soft architecture and the renewed gardens are stately but made approachable by a sense of resort color that doesn’t take itself too seriously,” he says. “That’s the trick here, playfulness amidst classicism.”

Fournier loves walking into this space and taking in the striped canopies and bright teal and limoncello hues. “We’re trying to build upon the classical nature Bellagio was founded on, and seeing what’s happened at Como and Prime is an exciting evolution,” she points out.

Stay Awhile

Floral motifs in the corridors of the Bellagio’s Spa Tower contrast pared-back suites, courtesy of Champalimaud Design

Most of what’s on the boards for MGM is currently under wraps, but in the fall, MGM Grand will roll out its new guestrooms by Gensler. The Bellagio is still reveling in the $110 million 2023 renovation of its Spa Tower, including 819 guestrooms designed by Chicago-based the Gettys Group, and 104 suites completed by New York’s Champalimaud Design.

The Gettys Group mingled marble, granite, and velvet to conjure Italy’s Lake Como and the picturesque town of Bellagio in the guestrooms. Some “channel the soft, crisp energy of a sunrise over the lake,” says director Matt Swope, while others “reflect the warm, calming glow of sunset.” Adds CEO Ron Swidler: “One of our favorite details is the mother-of-pearl inlay on the vanity mirrors—subtle, luminous, and evocative of water’s reflective beauty.”

Champalimaud Design also looked to northern Italy in the suites, embracing colors like granite, indigo, and rose. “We wanted them to exude elegance without pretension,” says partner and CEO Ed Bakos. This translated to subtle design moments like architectural headboards, color-blocked consoles, and furniture embellished with fringe. “The tapering of a leg, the detail of drapery, it’s a montage that transports you to that Italian mindset,” adds Bakos.

The dramatic bronze staircase is the centerpiece of KES Studio’s Sky Villa

In 2022, Aria Resort & Casino announced the reimagining of its seven Sky Villas and 423 Sky suites. Houston-, New York-, and Los Angeles-based Rottet Studio designed the latter as a serene counterpoint to the buzz of the Strip. “Gray, beige, and cream [hues] ground the space, while deep blue and rich terracotta accents echo the drama of the surrounding mountains and sky,” says founding principal Lauren Rottet. Large windows, curated art books, and sculptural seating all create “space that holds you in its quiet elegance,” she adds.

Kara Smith, founder of KES Studio in New York and Los Angeles, has a vast residential background that informed her design of the Sky Villas (with more to come). The high-roller pads—complete with a theater, gaming room, office, lounge, dining room, bar, and karaoke—take cues from the hedonistic 1980s with its mélange of marble, alabaster, walnut, and lacquer. “It is a breathtaking experience to enter and see the vastness of the space, the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the Las Vegas Strip, anchored by the double-height staircase made of pure bronze that we restored to its original condition with some additional shine and polish from the previous renovation 20 or so years ago,” Smith says. “It creates an immediate sense of opulence and sexiness.”

Kastrati and Fournier are dazzled every time by such creations and how they continuously fuel MGM’s momentum. “A director doesn’t take credit for the work they do on a film, but instead for the team they have assembled,” points out Kastrati. “It’s no different from development.”

 

This article originally appeared in HD’s April 2025 issue.

Photos by Brandon Barré, Sean Davidson, Clint Jenkins, Ye Rin Mok, Vanessa Rogers, and courtesy of KES Studio and MGM Resorts International