Megaresort

A Megaresort is a type of destination resort which is of an exceptionally large size, sometimes featuring large-scale attractions (casino, golf course, theme park, multiple accommodations). The hotels along the Las Vegas Strip are most typically thought of as megaresorts owing to their immense size and complexity.

Las Vegas hotels

Two projects in Las Vegas in 1969 and 1973^[1]^[2]^[3] by architect Martin Stern, Jr. and entrepreneur Kirk Kerkorian, the International Hotel (later the Las Vegas Hilton) and the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino (later Bally's Las Vegas), set the standard for such casino resorts. After the International and the MGM Grand, the first megaresort is generally considered^{[citation needed]} to have been The Mirage given its size and emphasis on non-gaming entertainment options like shopping and fine dining to draw in customers. Megaresorts use the same fantastic or mythical theme (medieval life at Excalibur, tropical at The Mirage, famous cities, etc.) throughout their properties.

Basic Styles of Megaresorts

Many megaresorts have a large theme park as its centerpiece. Resorts such as the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts feature multiple hotels, multiple theme parks, a shopping complex and other features. Other megaresorts exist with no specific centerpiece, having many features that are considered prominent, such as Atlantis Paradise Island and it's upcoming sister park in Dubai.

At Genting Highlands Resort, it is considered a megaresort due to its large size and number of amenities. It is located on Pahang hill facing Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. The resort consists of five hotels, named Genting Hotel, Highlands Hotel, Resort Hotel, Theme Park Hotel and the First World Hotel. The First World Hotel is currently the world's largest hotel with 6118 rooms with an indoor theme park. The resort contains two casinos, a large outdoor theme park, hostels and an apartments building. Over forty years of success have transformed this lone hill to one of the leading casino resorts in the world, commonly known as the Las Vegas of Malaysia.

The Famosa Resort located at the historical state of Malacca, Malaysia is a complex developed from turning empty land into a giant tourist attraction. The resort includes a water theme park, safari, "cowboy town", hotels and bungalows.

Examples

The following resorts fall under the categorization 'Megaresort'.

On the Las Vegas Strip

Theme Park Resorts

Other Megaresorts

References

^ ""The Hidden History of the Xanadu"" (html). University of Nevada, Las Vegas Center for Gaming Research. Two Martin Stern-designed and Kirk Kerkorian-built casinos, the International (later Las Vegas Hilton) and MGM Grand (later Bally's) had just raised the bar in casino/hotel design. Whereas previous casinos had featured modest, low-slung motel wings or mid-rise hotel extensions, these two structures opened with over 2000 rooms and suites located in mammoth hotel towers. These two projects boasted virtually every feature of what is today canonical casino resort construction: a single complex combining casino, dining, and entertainment facilities with a massive hotel.
^ ""Remembering Martin Stern, Jr.: Architect of the Modern Casino Resort"" (html). University of Nevada, Las Vegas Center for Gaming Research. Stern's most enduring contribution to the Strip was his trailblazing fusion of convention hotel, casino space, and retail, seen first in 1969 in Kirk Kerkorian's International (now the Las Vegas Hilton) and then in his original MGM Grand (now Bally's Las Vegas), which opened in 1973. These behemoths integrated high-rise hotel towers, parking garages, convention space, gaming, entertainment, and shopping for the first time. These structurally-integrated designs supplanted the patchwork of older Strip casinos, which had grown by adding a showroom here or a hotel tower there. And the International pioneered the tri-form, y-shaped design that has become a Strip trademark. The freshly-minted mega-resorts of the 1990s, from The Mirage to Paris, all used Stern's basic ideas of casino design.
^ ""Nevada Swings Into the Seventies"" (html). Southwest Contractor. The massive, 2.5 million sq.-ft. MGM Grand set a new standard in defining the mega-resort. The monolithic building, larger than in size than the Empire State Building, had over 300 miles of draperies, 2,300 television sets, and enough heating and cooling capacity to serve 8,000 homes.