International Hotel (1969–1971) The hotel site was previously part of the grounds of
Las Vegas Park, a defunct racetrack. In 1965, the track site was purchased by National Equities, a real estate development firm chaired by
Marvin Kratter. Kratter announced development plans for the site to include a 40-floor, 1,500-room hotel, as well as a golf course and private homes. After considering several potential locations, he selected the racetrack site, reasoning that it was natural to put a hotel next to the Convention Center. Kratter had decided not to build a hotel himself, and in 1967, National Equities sold a portion of the site to Kerkorian for $5 million. Kerkorian announced that he would build a 30-story hotel with 1,510 rooms, at a cost of $50 million. Some believed it was very risky to build such a property away from the Strip, but Kerkorian believed that it would spark the development of a "second Strip" along Paradise Road. Kerkorian's hotel would be named the International Hotel, matching the name of Kratter's International Country Club (now the Las Vegas Country Club). He hired airline executive
Fred Benninger to oversee the development, and
Martin Stern Jr., who had designed several noted Las Vegas high-rises, as the hotel's architect. The general contractor selected to build the hotel was Taylor Construction Co. Construction began with an elaborate
groundbreaking ceremony in February 1968. With planning for the hotel underway, Kerkorian purchased the
Flamingo casino, to serve as a training ground for the International's staff. Later, during the International's construction, Kerkorian formed the publicly traded company International Leisure to own the two casinos.
Howard Hughes, the eccentric billionaire who had purchased several Las Vegas casinos, saw Kerkorian as a rival and the International as unwelcome competition. He attempted to deter Kerkorian from building the project, first by making a sham announcement of a major planned expansion of his
Sands Hotel, and then by conveying false claims to Kerkorian about damage to buildings from
nearby nuclear tests. When these ruses failed, Hughes schemed to buy the project from Kerkorian and halt its construction, but this plan came to nothing. Hughes completed construction of the Landmark and opened it one day before Kerkorian's hotel. The International Hotel opened on July 2, 1969. At the time, it was
Nevada's tallest building and largest hotel. Entertainment director
Bill Miller signed
Barbra Streisand to open in the showroom, along with
Peggy Lee performing in the hotel's lounge. In keeping with the hotel's name, rooms were furnished with different international decors, with each floor featuring either a Spanish, Italian, or French theme. There was also a complex of international restaurants, offering
Bavarian,
Italian,
Japanese and
Mexican cuisines. Employees were outfitted in costumes from different cultures, such as
Scottish kilts,
Slavic shirts, and
French gendarme uniforms. On July 31, 1969, immediately following Streisand's engagement,
Elvis Presley performed the first show of what would become a seven-year run at the hotel, encompassing 636 consecutive sold-out shows. Many of the performers who worked the International before Presley were upset at their disrupted prospects. Late in 1969, Kerkorian made plans to raise $29 million through a
secondary offering of International Leisure stock. He needed the money to help pay off loans that he had taken out to purchase major stakes in
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and
Western Airlines. The offering was rejected, however, by the
Securities and Exchange Commission, because the company was unable to provide five years of financial history for the Flamingo. Short on cash, Kerkorian was forced to put International Leisure up for sale. The International was renamed the Las Vegas Hilton in July 1971. Hilton took complete ownership in 1972, acquiring all outstanding shares of International Leisure. The hotel had performed unevenly in its early years as the International, but as the Hilton, it soon came to be regarded as the most successful hotel in Las Vegas. An east tower extension with 620 rooms was completed in 1975 at a cost of $20 million. In 1977, the hotel opened the Hilton Pavilion, a $7.5-million venue for sports and entertainment events, with a seating capacity of up to 5,000 people. A $23-million expansion added another 644 rooms to the north tower. The general contractor selected to build the expansion was
Del E. Webb Corporation. Ground was broken in 1977 and it was completed in 1979.
1981 fire On the night of February 10, 1981, a major fire occurred at the Hilton. Philip Bruce Cline, a hotel busboy who was under the influence of drugs, set fire to a curtain in an elevator lobby on the eighth floor of the east tower. The fire spread to the exterior of the tower and then traveled up to the top of the building within 25 minutes. Eight people were killed, and approximately 350 were injured, including 48 firefighters. Among the victims treated for
smoke inhalation was singer
Natalie Cole. The casino and hotel reopened nine days after the fire with 1,000 available rooms. The rest of the rooms were repaired over the following three months, at an estimated cost of $10 million. Cline was convicted in 1982 of arson and murder and sentenced to life in prison without parole. Hilton and other companies involved in the hotel paid a $23 million settlement to victims. The tragedy, in combination with the
MGM Grand fire that had occurred months earlier, inspired major changes to Nevada's fire safety regulations.
1981–2012 Around the end of 1981, another extension to the north tower was completed, adding 391 rooms at a cost of $21 million. This made the Las Vegas Hilton the
largest hotel in the world, with a total of 3,174 rooms. (The
Rossiya Hotel in Moscow had more rooms, but was not deemed to be a larger hotel by the
Guinness Book of World Records because many of its rooms were used as dormitories.) It held this title until 1990, when it was surpassed by the Flamingo. In 1986, amid growing popularity of sports betting in Nevada, the Hilton opened its race and sports book, the Superbook, at a cost of $17 million. In 1991, the Hilton was at the center of the
Tailhook scandal, in which numerous
United States Navy officers were accused of acts of sexual assault during a convention at the hotel. One of the victims,
Paula Coughlin, sued the Hilton for providing inadequate security for the convention, and eventually was paid a $5.2 million judgment. The lawsuit led Hilton to successfully lobby for the so-called "Tailhook bill", a state law shielding hotels from liability for injuries to patrons caused by third parties. The property's original marquee sign was approximately tall and stood for 24 years, until it was removed in 1993. The hotel completed a new , $4-million marquee sign in 1994. Later that year, however, it was partially destroyed by a windstorm. In 1994, the hotel entered an arrangement with the
Sahara Country Club, which was renamed as the Las Vegas Hilton Country Club. This lasted until 1997, when the course became the Las Vegas National Golf Club. Hilton attempted to buy the neighboring Las Vegas Country Club the following year, but its $60-million offer was rejected. In 1995, the Hilton completed a $40-million renovation of its penthouse floor to construct the Sky Villas. The hotel also spent $12 million on a new room for
baccarat, a favorite game of Asian high rollers. The Hilton at the time was one of only four Las Vegas casinos able to compete for the business of the "whales", the top tier of high rollers. It opened in 1999 with 230 suites. Around 1999, Park Place began seeking a buyer for the Las Vegas Hilton, because the company hoped to concentrate on its properties on the Las Vegas Strip, especially the newly acquired Caesars Palace. In 2000, Park Place agreed to sell the Hilton to
Edward Roski Jr. for $365 million. Roski planned to transform the Hilton to shift its focus away from high rollers and toward convention attendees. The Las Vegas Monorail opened in 2004, with one of its stations located at the Hilton. The system had been under construction since 2001. Hilton had led the group of hotels that had promulgated the proposal for the monorail as early as 1996. In June 2004, Caesars Entertainment (formerly Park Place) sold the Las Vegas Hilton to
Colony Capital for $280 million. Colony partnered in the purchase with
Goldman Sachs, which also lent $200 million of the purchase price. In 2005, the Hilton was placed under the banner of Colony's newly formed casino affiliate,
Resorts International Holdings, which was headquartered at the property. The Hilton prospered in its first few years under Colony's management, but began losing money in the face of the
Great Recession and an oversupply of hotel rooms in Las Vegas. In June 2011, the Hilton began defaulting on payments to Goldman Sachs on the loan. Goldman Sachs issued a
foreclosure notice in September 2011. At Goldman's request, a court appointed a
receiver to take control of the property.
LVH (2012–2014) On January 3, 2012, the Las Vegas Hilton became the LVH – Las Vegas Hotel and Casino, as the contract to use the Hilton brand ended. Colony Capital initially tried to fight against foreclosure of the property, but ultimately concluded that its
equity in the LVH was worthless, and agreed to let the foreclosure proceed. They bought the property at its foreclosure auction in October 2012, where they were the only bidder. The
Navegante Group was retained to manage the LVH on their behalf.
Westgate Las Vegas (2014–present) On June 30, 2014, timeshare developer
Westgate Resorts bought the LVH from Goldman and Gramercy for a price between $150 and $170 million. Westgate CEO
David Siegel was hoisted to the top of the hotel's sign the following day to begin removing the letters "LVH" to make way for the property's new name, Westgate Las Vegas. Siegel stated that the company would spend at least $160 million on renovations, and that it would begin converting hotel rooms into timeshare units. According to Siegel, the timeshare conversion would take 15 to 20 years, and, even after its completion, at least 30 percent of the units would remain available as hotel rooms at any given time. In 2020, GVII LLC, a company formed by former gaming regulator
Mark Lipparelli, replaced Paragon as the casino manager. In 2023, a tunnel was drilled to the resort for a future
Las Vegas Convention Center Loop underground
Tesla shuttle service station. ==Architecture==