Free self-parking for locals at Las Vegas MGM properties ends Wednesday

Free self-parking for local residents comes to an end at MGM Resorts International properties in Las Vegas at 11:59 p.m. Wednesday, just before guests begin arriving for the New Year’s Eve holiday weekend.

The company’s announcement came Thursday in the form of an email promotion for an M life-branded credit card. M life is MGM’s customer loyalty program and now can be tied to a Mastercard.

Holders of a no-fee M life Mastercard that carries a 19.99 percent annual rate on purchases will continue to get free self-parking in addition to priority hotel check-ins and can be used as a line pass at MGM buffets. It also upgrades the holder to Pearl status, one level higher than the Sapphire entry level of the five-tier program.

Terms listed by the card’s issuer, First National Bank of Omaha, say there’s no interest charge if a balance is paid in full within 21 days of the close of each billing cycle with a minimum $1.75 charge.

Card applicants must be at least 21 to apply for the program and can sign up at any M life desk at any of the company’s 10 local properties.

MGM’s $90 million parking initiative, announced in April and implemented in June, enabled local residents’ free parking by having a bar code on the back of their driver’s licenses scanned.

The code identifies the license holder as a Nevada resident and triggers the mechanisms opening the gate to the garage. MGM officials had said free self-parking for Nevadans would continue through Dec. 29 at which time it would re-evaluate the program.

The re-evaluation apparently determined that locals should pay.

Beginning late Wednesday night, the maximum self-parking fee will be $10 per day for vehicles parked longer than four hours at Bellagio, Aria, MGM Grand, Mandalay Bay, The Mirage, Excalibur, Luxor and New York-New York for all vehicles. The valet parking fee will top out at $18 a day at those properties and at the Delano and Vdara.

Self-parking at Circus Circus will remain free, but valet parking there isn’t.

The company will continue to offer a one-hour free grace period in self-parking for people picking up tickets for an event or running an errand.

MGM is using revenue generated by parking fees to build a $54 million, 3,000-space parking structure west of Excalibur, near the T-Mobile Arena. The garage is under construction and expected to be completed by summer.

The company also will invest $36 million in upgrades and enhancements to existing parking facilities. Most of MGM’s current parking lots lack modern technology such as space availability locators and way-finding systems.

MGM Resorts spends $30 million annually to maintain its 37,000 Strip parking spaces.

Customers and local residents reacted angrily when MGM first announced that it would take away free parking on the Strip, a perk that has existed since hotels were first built on Las Vegas Boulevard. Through social media, people have vowed to boycott MGM properties.

In November and December, other Strip properties announced plans to charge for parking.

Caesars Entertainment Corp. said it would implement paid self-parking and valet fees at its Strip properties next year. Wynn Resorts Ltd. announced it would begin charging for valet parking this month. And, The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, one of the first companies to develop a parking garage with a system identifying the location of empty spaces, announced it would soon charge for self-parking.

Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter.