MGM to offer free parking when its Las Vegas properties are allowed to reopen

MGM Resorts announced Monday the return of free parking at its Las Vegas properties as it prepares to reopen them after the coronavirus shutdown.

“MGM Resorts is updating many of our offerings as we prepare to welcome guests back, and that includes implementing free parking," the company said in a statement.

A start date has not been disclosed. In the wake of COVID-19, MGM won't open all hotels at once, but rather start with two or three targeted at different traveler budgets, Reno Gazette-Journal reports. According to MGM, New York-New York Hotel & Casino and Bellagio will be the first two resorts that will reopen with free parking when shutdown orders are lifted.

🚗🚙Free parking will be available at each resort as it opens. We couldn’t be more excited to open our doors and get back to doing what we do best. Continue to follow https://t.co/QoluTAD7J3 for more information. pic.twitter.com/ZEFewkb8Rg

— MGM Resorts (@MGMResortsIntl) May 18, 2020

In 2016, a majority of casino companies started charging tourists to keep their cars in the parking garages of Strip properties, a move that raised concerns that free parking would soon fade away. MGM Resorts became the first resort operator on the Strip to start charging for self-parking and valet service. In 2019, after experimenting with a paid parking model, Wynn Resorts broke ranks with the bulk of hotel-casinos on the Strip and announced free self-parking would resume at its Wynn and Encore resorts. 

MGM Resorts will soon join a small group of resort neighbors — Treasure Island, SLS Las Vegas, Wynn, Encore, Venetian and Palazzo — that offer free self-parking.