Opened in 2009 as the centerpiece of the $8.5 billion CityCenter development, ARIA Resort & Casino commanded new direction for the Las Vegas resort-casino model. Next-generation in every way, from its curvilinear architecture and sustainable design to its high-end amenities and advanced group space, the AAA Five Diamond resort, like its name suggests, offers an arresting melody of meeting and convention options.
Announced in December 2015 following a record year for conventions, ARIA is primed to further cement its place in the North American large-scale meetings market with a $154 million expansion of its convention center. Targeting completion in February 2018, work is scheduled to begin this May on the addition of 200,000 square feet of meeting space to the property, creating more than 500,000 square feet of total event space.
As Tony Yousfi, ARIA’s vice president of sales, told Meetings Today in December, the expansion was prompted by “unbelievably strong demand from the corporate segment.”
Taking over the space currently occupied by Cirque du Soleil’s Zarkana (closing this April), the four-story expansion will maintain MGM Resorts International’s commitment to LEED Gold standards or better while emphasizing technological advancement—right in line with ARIA’s core customer base.
“The Silicon Valley/West Coast tech sector is bringing in the majority of events here at ARIA,” explained Yousfi,” adding, “that’s a tribute to ARIA and the focus on technology from the moment you enter the building and its spaces.”
Highlights include a spacious, open first-level ballroom; versatile indoor-outdoor breakout rooms on the second level; a large ballroom and naturally lit prefunction spaces connecting to the existing convention center on the third floor; and on the top floor, a vast ballroom with an outdoor patio for up to 2,000 guests dramatically overlooking the new T-Mobile Arena and surrounding park.
Technology is also served via ARIA’s collaboration with U.K.-based Crave Interactive to provide in-room tablets in all 4,004 guest rooms, with additional customized services for Deluxe Rooms, Tower Suites and Sky Suites’ guests.
In other developments, JEWEL is taking over the former HAZE space. Set to open this spring, the 24,000-square-foot Rockwell Group-designed nightclub can host 1,925 people and will feature five secluded suites above the dance floor.
