Las Vegas Highs and Lows - Hotels

[KarenG]

Originally Posted by mossyflossy

Hi lovely Karen, enjoyed your mini review so much.

Im pleased to see you enjoyed grand lux cafe. its one of our favourites, we were at the one in sawgrass mills this time last week!

We tried Hhagg in Orlando and enjoyed it too, had a banana waffle signature dish, mmmmm.

Can I ask for a comparison between the Venetian or palazzo and the MGM signature, and also theOne and the signature pretty please, did your girls find the sofa bed ok or did you have 2 doubles?

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Yes, see below

Originally Posted by WileyCoyote

Karen, cant wait to see some pics, thanks for the reviews, am jealous you got to In'n'Out Burger as we failed to on our 2 weeks in Cali ! Sounds like a mix of good and not bad there but a real shame about the place at GCNP

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Thanks Amanda

Originally Posted by mossyflossy

Diaminoddog, thank you so much for that comprehensive comparison, very helpful. We have stayed in a 1 bed suite at the signature and thought it was fabulous, especially liked the smoke free environment there.

We thought the only real negative to signature was its location if you don't have a car, having stayed on honeymoon in the strip a good few years ago it took longer to get to places.

You're right I meant the suites attached to Mandalay bay... again a lovely hotel but far away from the action... hmmmmm, a dilemma, but a nice dilemma to have. Thanks so much for taking the time to reply.


And off topic completely, Amanda, what was liki tiki like?

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I deliberately didn't read DD's comments as I wanted to give you an untarnished perspective, and I am sure subconsciously I would have ended up parroting what he wrote DD, I will read them after I've posted this

Well, you know I found the Signature an amazing place (one bedroom suite) with the slightly off strip location being the only slight negative. And as you know, it's not very off strip.

Let's deal with the Vdara first as its quick- sofa bed was absolutely awful for the girls, Amber said it was like sleeping on ribs Jon tried it for a minute and it really was awful. We were only there for two nights though. Loved having a washer dryer and the massive bathroom (but it actually was a lot of wasted space). Great having massive fridge freezer, but we only used it for water

THEHotel - although it was bigger than the Venetian, it didn't feel that way. It was really nice to have the separate bedroom (two beds! The girls were happy after the Vdara ) and we were able to specify that on the room type. We had a nice bathroom, with shower, bath, and toilet, and a separate toilet. We did definitely miss the two full bathrooms that we'd had at the Signature, but the extra toilet was better than nothing! I think we had an unrefurbished room, but it was very clean, tidy, big TVs, TV in bathroom etc. The communal areas were, I felt, extremely nice compared to the Sig, but the room not as nice in terms of how "luxurious" it felt. I missed the fridge.
I had a slight concern re the location, but am pleased to say that we (bizarrely) preferred it to the Sig location. I say bizarrely, as it is, of course, further from Mid Strip, so let me explain why! The walk from The Sig to the Strip is what it is - whether you went along E. Harmon, or through MGM and up past the MGM store, Hawaiian Marketplace (which is probably my VERY worst part of the Strip, don't like that walk at all). The walk from THEhotel is much nicer, even if it is slightly longer. You come out right by the Mandalay Bay Shoppes, so no need to go through the MBay casino; quick walk through the Shoppes and into Luxor where there is a lot to look at en route to the moving walkways into Excalibur (kids liked it here, us not so much). My point being, the walk is interesting, air conditioned, mostly on cushioned floor or carpet, and frankly much more enjoyable than E. Harmon (or south strip and going through MGM's casino).
The pool area was great. Jon preferred it to MGM, but I'd still put MGM ahead. Either way, it was very good. Decent cheap ish food selections, small lazy river, wave pool was very relaxing (waves very sedate compared to TL or even BB), loungers a bit close together but there were loads of them, shop selling essentials* was there too, which I don't remember being at MGM.

So, tricky one to choose a favourite - we preferred the Sig room but THEhotel location. Glad we tried both as I was tempted to go back to the Sig as we had enjoyed it!

The Venetian was my favourite though

Although it was just one big room, the living area being stepped down and railed off made it feel psychologically separate, so Jon and I were able to read / chat / watch TV without feeling we were disturbing them. We had two beds there. It felt beautifully themed and upmarket in a classic Italian style. Just walking around the corridors was quite a joyful experience. We found the casino and shops relatively easy to navigate and found the range of dining options far better than MGM. (I will confess here too that I'm not especially a fan of the MGM itself, compared to other hotels). The pool area was beautiful, albeit with no distractions such as wave pool or lazy river.

*essentials = snacks, drinks, sun tan lotion, swimming suits, T shirts, vests, swimming shorts, books, magazines, jewellery etc etc

[mossyflossy]

Fantastic, thanks for that too Karen, so let me ask another question so I'm clear in my mind, did the 2 girls sleep in the 2nd double at Venetian, or in the sofa bed on the step down? And was there a fridge in room at Venetian? And what was difference in cost between 2? Like you I prefer the Venetian or palazzo location but had decided to just rent a car at signature as the space and privacy of the 1 bed suite was great for us, and then I thought location, location, location, so round in a big circle!

[KarenG]

Originally Posted by mossyflossy

Fantastic, thanks for that too Karen, so let me ask another question so I'm clear in my mind, did the 2 girls sleep in the 2nd double at Venetian, or in the sofa bed on the step down? And was there a fridge in room at Venetian? And what was difference in cost between 2? Like you I prefer the Venetian or palazzo location but had decided to just rent a car at signature as the space and privacy of the 1 bed suite was great for us, and then I thought location, location, location, so round in a big circle!

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They slept on the second double in the Venetian.

There wasn't theoretically a fridge in the room.

I paid £78/night at the Venetian (no weekend) through Hotwire (I was 99.99% it was the Venetian or Palazzo).

I paid £115/night at Vdara (included a Saturday night and $150 resort credit)

I paid £61/night at THEhotel (no weekend and $150 resort credit)

I had some cash back for the Venetian which reduced the real price by £5 ish a night. None of the above includes resort fee of 25$ plus tax.

Feel free to ask anything else

[AndyJ]

Originally Posted by KarenG

Vdara - lovely lovely 8/900 sq ft room with fantastic view south of mountains, MBay etc, but seemed a bit sterile, and like we could have been anywhere in the world.

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Ooooo Nooooo :0)

The Vdara was one of my favourite hotel rooms in our 14 hotel, 21 day trip this year I get that the hotel was originally planned as a residence, and that that its odd the rooms have doorbells lol But if you want to do something a bit different the Vdara is one way to do it.

You can grab food from Walmart et al, and then cook your own food and dine watching out over a great view.

It's one way of balancing room cost vs dining.

Originally Posted by KarenG

Back again

I'm just going to list where we ate and random thoughts:

Hash House A Go Go, Quad location and West Sahara. Both times had fantastic food - lots of it - and we shared meals, which made it great value. Favourites were chicken and waffle tower and banana brown sugar flapjack

In And Out Burger

Whole Foods (Town Square) very expensive and not good food here for two out of our four choices.

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Hash House A Go Go Nom Nom, as in In and Out :-)

Whole Foods, I've always loved. Did get ripped on a WaterMelon though, paid $13 for one which was worth it's organic #### :-)

[KarenG]

Originally Posted by AndyJ

Ooooo Nooooo :0)

The Vdara was one of my favourite hotel rooms in our 14 hotel, 21 day trip this year I get that the hotel was originally planned as a residence, and that that its odd the rooms have doorbells lol But if you want to do something a bit different the Vdara is one way to do it.

You can grab food from Walmart et al, and then cook your own food and dine watching out over a great view.

It's one way of balancing room cost vs dining.




Hash House A Go Go Nom Nom, as in In and Out :-)

Whole Foods, I've always loved. Did get ripped on a WaterMelon though, paid $13 for one which was worth it's organic #### :-)

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LOL Andy, hell would freeze over before I'd cook on holiday but a good tip nonetheless. The fridge and freezer were bigger than mine at home

I didn't even notice a doorbell! But it didn't work well for our family at all. Though it is beautiful

I've always loved Whole Foods too - I might admit to visiting the one in Cheltenham as often as possible I guess that's partly why the indifferent / uninterested service was so very unusual.

[Diamonddog2801]

Interesting your description of the Vdara as sterile, Karen - exactly the same phrase I used after we stayed at the Aria.

I seriously think City Centre is a monumental waste of money - no one seems that pleased with it, its flagship (The Cosmopolitan) is losing money hand over fist, and The Harmon sits there as a huge testament to engineering/construction stupidity, right on the Strip frontage as the largest (and most expensive) billboard on the planet.

A sorry state of affairs.

[daytonababe]

Originally Posted by Diamonddog2801

Interesting your description of the Vdara as sterile, Karen - exactly the same phrase I used after we stayed at the Aria.

I seriously think City Centre is a monumental waste of money - no one seems that pleased with it, its flagship (The Cosmopolitan) is losing money hand over fist, and The Harmon sits there as a huge testament to engineering/construction stupidity, right on the Strip frontage as the largest (and most expensive) billboard on the planet.

A sorry state of affairs.

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Isn't the Harmon being demolished soon? most expensive billboard ever is a very apt description .

I'm not a fan of the whole City Centre development , i think its just not Vegas, it always looks odd and out of place to me.

[pennycrayon]

I loved the city center development! I am a big fan of Daniel Libeskind the architect for the crystals shopping centre, the development was one of my favourite parts of the strip.

[daytonababe]

I think crystals lacks atmosphere . I know it's mostly very high end stores but everytime a I've been in its been very quiet , much quieter than say the Bellagio shops which have similar stores .

[Diamonddog2801]

Crystals is losing money too - they had to seriously slash the rental prices just to get them filled and those rentals barely cover the origination cost of the development let alone the exhorbitant interest charges the MGM?Mirage group ran up on the whole facility.

The Cosmoploitan's casino operation has already entered Las Vegas folklore as being particularly inept - for a very high end place, its payout schedules (on both slots and table games) are extremely poor and the policy on comps is notoriously mean too. Add in very expensive rooms, a lack of low end eateries and ultra high drinks prices and, well, what inducement is there to stay?

All in all, I think City Centre will be viewed in time as the moment that Las Vegas finally realised that it can try and change but, in the end, people still want to be entertained and (most importantly) feel as though they got value for money. I hear very few "I'd LOVE to stay there again.." anecdotes regarding any of the City Centre properties and that has to be the final nail in the coffin for the place really. If you can't get repeat customers in Las Vegas, you're dead.

As regards The Harmon - yes, it is due to be imploded but is still in the middle of a byzantine tri-legal fallout between MGM/Mirage, the developers and the courts, that shows no sign of a quick resolution yet. Whatever happens, that whole sorry farrago is the quintessential tale of how not to build a casino/hotel in Las Vegas (or anywhere else).