Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Resort hotel" in English language version.
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.
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.
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 and then in his original MGM Grand, 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.
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.
