Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino

The Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino is a hotel, casino, and timeshare resort in Winchester, Nevada. Located near the northern end of the Las Vegas Strip, it is owned by Westgate Resorts. It opened in 1969 as the International Hotel, and was known for many years as the Las Vegas Hilton, then briefly as the LVH – Las Vegas Hotel and Casino. From 1981 to 1990, it was the largest hotel in the world. The hotel and casino occupy a 64-acre (26 ha) site on the east side of Paradise Road. The 30-story hotel tower is 375 feet (114 m) tall with 2,956 rooms. while the casino has 54,923 square feet (5,102.5 m2) of gaming space and a sportsbook called the Superbook. There are also a food court, a convention center, recreational amenities, and a Las Vegas Monorail station. Martin Stern designed the hotel in the International Style, with a Y-shaped design inspired by the UNESCO Headquarters. The property's entertainment venues include the 1,607-seat International Theater, the 400-seat Westgate Cabaret, and an attraction themed to Elvis Presley (a frequent performer in the hotel's early years). The resort formerly included an attraction called Star Trek: The Experience. The hotel has also hosted professional boxing and other sports. After the site was acquired in 1967 by real estate developer Kirk Kerkorian, the International Hotel opened there on July 2, 1969. Hilton Hotels soon bought the hotel and renamed it the Las Vegas Hilton in July 1971, adding two expansions in 1975 and 1979. An arson in 1981 killed eight people and damaged the hotel. Hilton opened the Superbook in 1986 and added the Sky Villas in 1995. The resort was sold to Colony Capital for $280 million in 2004, but due to the Great Recession, Colony defaulted on its loans. The property was renamed LVH – Las Vegas Hotel and Casino in 2012, and Goldman Sachs and Gramercy Capital bought it that year. Westgate Resorts purchased the property in 2014 and subsequently began renovating it, converting rooms into timeshares.