MGM to charge for parking on Vegas Strip, bucking tradition

LAS VEGAS (AP) — In a city built on luring tourists with cheap thrills and free cocktails, a big part of the Las Vegas Strip will soon slash its most-basic freebie: parking.

MGM Resorts International announced today that it will become the first major casino company to start charging visitors this year for parking. The move could bring in millions of dollars annually and dramatically change a tourism hotspot that increasingly caters to visitors who come for pricey attractions besides gambling.

Experts called the parking fee surprising, but it follows another trend MGM pioneered: the "resort fee," now the standard on the Strip.

Sin City's largest hotel-casino operator said it will charge up to $10 for overnight self-parking at most of its Strip properties starting this spring, coinciding with the April opening of the Las Vegas-based company's T-Mobile Arena.

MGM Resorts has 35,310 rooms and 37,000 parking spots on the Strip, which come at a premium during major events. The parking fees will come at Mandalay Bay, Delano, Luxor, Excalibur, Monte Carlo, New York-New York, Vdara, Aria, Bellagio, The Mirage and MGM Grand.

Valet parking will cost more, but some parking at the Circus Circus hotel and the Crystals and Mandalay Bay Place shopping centers will still be free, as will MGM's properties in Mississippi, Michigan and China.