Las Vegas Highs and Lows - Hotels

[LRMD]

Great reviews, wanna try Hash House a Go Go and Peppermill! And Wicked Spoon as we are at the Cosmo.

[Cabbie]

Even though I've been a few times before you never stop learning about Vegas, thanks for the mini report.

I'm there in a couple of weeks and other than the flight I haven't booked anything

-Steve

[KarenG]

Originally Posted by Cabbie

Even though I've been a few times before you never stop learning about Vegas, thanks for the mini report.

I'm there in a couple of weeks and other than the flight I haven't booked anything

-Steve

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Hardcore! I'm impressed! We only booked two of our Vegas hotels a few weeks before we arrived (which was a big deal for the OCD planner, me!). Where have you stayed before? Are you inclined to repeat somewhere you loved or do you like to try new places... ?

Originally Posted by LRMD

Great reviews, wanna try Hash House a Go Go and Peppermill! And Wicked Spoon as we are at the Cosmo.

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It would be rude not to!

[Cabbie]

Originally Posted by KarenG

Hardcore! I'm impressed! We only booked two of our Vegas hotels a few weeks before we arrived (which was a big deal for the OCD planner, me!). Where have you stayed before? Are you inclined to repeat somewhere you loved or do you like to try new places... ?

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Not sure about Hardcore more like being lazy

Stayed at Luxor, Palazzo, Bellagio and the Mandarin Oriental. Never stayed at the same place twice and will be trying somewhere new this time.

-Steve

[Glee Fan]

Can't believe you're back already! Sounds like you had an amazing time.

Also done the tasting menu at Mix and loved it (not so much the bill though! ) and am absolutely devestated at the thought of the angry mac and cheese being no more at the Wicked Spoon!

Your mini report so makes me want to return. Maybe the year after next

[KarenG]

Originally Posted by Cabbie

Not sure about Hardcore more like being lazy

Stayed at Luxor, Palazzo, Bellagio and the Mandarin Oriental. Never stayed at the same place twice and will be trying somewhere new this time.

-Steve

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I like staying in new places too. Let us know what you decide!

Originally Posted by Glee Fan

Can't believe you're back already! Sounds like you had an amazing time.

Also done the tasting menu at Mix and loved it (not so much the bill though! ) and am absolutely devestated at the thought of the angry mac and cheese being no more at the Wicked Spoon!

Your mini report so makes me want to return. Maybe the year after next

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The bill was a bit LOL

Do not be afraid about the angry mac and cheese! That was still there, in a bug serving bowl. Just no m and c bar now that I could see

[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?

[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

[Diamonddog2801]

Originally Posted by mossyflossy

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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I'm sure Karen will update you but, having stayed at both The Signature and The Venetian, I can give you my opinion?

The Signature is a proper suite - it has cooking facilities in the kitchenette and certainly is a more 'practical' choice (especially if you have kids) because of that. It also has a fridge/freezer - which is a rarity in Las Vegas (yes, even in a lot of suite rooms!). The smallest suite (a Junior suite) at The Signature is aprox 550 sq ft - the smallest at the Venetian/Palazzo is around 725 sq ft. You have to be careful when comparing the two properties/rooms as they are not necessarily like for like.

The Venetian/Palazzo is a hotel/casino - the Signature has no casino (but is adjoined to the MGM by an air conditioned walkway, that takes a maximum of ten minutes to get to). The Venetian/Palazzo room is, I would say, more 'plush' - The Signature more functional. Obviously, because of where it is, The Venetian/Palazzo is closer to The Strip and that beautiful hotel.

The properties are similar in that they share facilities with another property - everything is available to guests at the Venetian or The Palazzo in the corresponding property. Similarly The Signature guests have full use of The MGM facilities- the MGM guests do not, however, have access to The Signature facilities.

In terms of pool areas - The Venetian/Palazzo have a shared third deck pool area, consisting of the huge Venetian pool, plus the six/seven smaller Palazzo pools. This is strictly controlled by a key gated entry point. It's a really beautiful area but... because it sits west of the hotels, it suffers from shadows on certain parts of the pool areas until midday (if you're a tanning freak, you'll need to physically move around the area to stay in the sun ). Also it does have the 'Tao Beach' club, which is a 'cool pool' facility (which costs to enter) and can pump out loud music for the patrons entertainment. I found it a bit of a nuisance, others won't. The MGM pool area is fully operational for Signature guests (again, key entry only) and is - for me- the best overall pool facility in Las Vegas. It has a magnificent lazy river and five other relatively large pools. One of those is Wet Republic, which is a similar scene to Tao Beach but it's tucked away and the noise doesn't seem to seep through at all to the rest of the complex. As a Signature guest, you also get full access to the three Olympic type pools at the three Signature Towers - which are nice to relax in if the main area gets a bit congested.

In terms of bedding - you really need to check the individual room you're booking. The Junior Suite at the Signature had a king size and a sofa bed - I used the sofa bed and it's at least a double size and very comfortable. The Venetian/Palazzo also had a similar arrangement - but the sofa bed was slightly smaller (as I recall). But still perfectly usable. It also had a huge sofa that was easy to sleep on all night too!

Just be aware that The Signature is a split property - the suites advertised on the MGM site are owned by the hotel, but about 50% of the rooms are privately owned and are rented out by the owners. The privately owned rooms are generally much cheaper... but you have to pay separately for room cleaning etc, so you need to factor that into the overall cost. You can find a lot of those rooms available on vrbo

I'm not sure when you said TheOne you meant TheHotel? If you did, I've stayed there too - it is much more similar to Venetian/Palazzo than it is to The Signature. It has a different, less classical feel to it than Venetian/Palazzo but is very similar otherwise. The room we had had two king beds in a bedroom separated from the main living area - I would say it certainly felt bigger than Venetian/Palazzo suite, but I'd say there's very little between them. TheHotel is adjoined to Mandalay Bay and, like The Signature/MGM, you have full use of those facilities but there's no reciprocal arrangement. This does mean you have full access to the MB pool area - which I would rate as my second favourite in Las Vegas, with a (smaller) lazy river but the wonderful wave machine in the main pool. The Hotel was bought by the Delano Group a couple of years back and is due to be launched as a Delano hotel this year (not sure of the progress with that). This involved refurbing every room, so I'm not sure how that has affected the property (I'm sure Karen will let you know). The girls (who were 15 & 10 at the time) really loved TheHotel.

TheHotel & Venetian/Palazzo rooms are similarly priced (The Hotel slightly cheaper, I'd say) at around $150 per night...but you can get deals to take that price down (or, more likely, extras added to make them more attractive). The Signature rooms are generally cheaper - you can pick up privately owned suites for less than $100 per night (but beware those add ons).

Hope this helps and I'm sure Karen will give you her perspective, which may well differ from mine!

[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?