Since questions about Vegas hotels get asked a lot, I figured I’d throw together a quick little post with reviews of the hotels I’ve stayed in.
These are in the reverse order of when I stayed the hotel, so the properties toward the bottom could be quite different now.
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Aria
The location of this place is fantastic. You’re quite central on the Strip, and if you’re a shopper it’s pretty much ideal. There are gorgeous shops at Crystals next door, and you have the Miracle Mile shops across the street at Planet Hollywood, which have more down to Earth stores and prices. We had dinner at Social House at Crystals and it was incredible, and drinks at the Todd English pub, which had a great beer selection.
One thing that’s almost sort of creepy, though, is that a LOT of CityCenter is residences. Empty, empty residences. The Veer Towers and the residential section of the Mandarin Oriental were almost entirely dark at night. I suppose that’s a good thing for guests at the hotels because if those suckers were full it would be a zoo. Some of the stores at Crystals were busy, but many times we were the only ones in whatever shop we were in. The casino was reasonably busy, but we never had much trouble finding $10 tables.
We had a city view room that faced south toward the Monte Carlo. I think at one time the rooms on the other side of the hotel must have had a sick view of the Bellagio fountains, but now all you can see are the Cosmopolitan towers (our friends were on that side). I’d say the room is similar in size to our room at the Bellagio although obviously newer, but way smaller than the rooms at Encore or THEhotel. They get super excited about having this central remote thing for all the lights/electronics/curtains, but when you’re in a basic hotel room and a few steps from everything I don’t see the point really. I think the Bellagio’s bathroom was a little bigger with more counter space. An advantage of the Aria bathroom is that you walk through the shower to get t the tub, which was handy for when you want to rinse off after you get out of the tub, whereas at Bellagio the tub and shower were on opposite sides of the bathroom. I also liked the Aria’s bath products, which have a really light fruity smell and not a heavy perfumey one like a lot of hotels’ products. It was pretty quiet, and we were on a non-smoking floor, which was nice. Speaking of non-smoking, if you’re interested in staying at Vdara really look at the location. It’s set way in the back of CityCenter–I’m not even sure how you get there from the Strip, especially with the Cosmopolitan towers blocking it.
As far as the staff, everyone we ran into was very nice. They did give us an upgrade and sent chocolate-covered strawberries to our room because it was my husband’s birthday, and the standard checkout time is noon, not 11, so snaps for that. BUT the checkout line in the lobby on Sunday was insane. It was even longer than the cab line at the airport! I’m not quite sure why because you can use your TV to check out. One of those Vegas mysteries I guess.
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Price:I’ve always been a huge advocate of signing up for email alerts and booking Vegas hotels directly. This time I decided to check the price of booking my hotel with my flight through Southwest, and I was shocked at how much cheaper it was. Initially I was going to stay at the Hard Rock because I was seeing a show there, and at first I wasn’t even sure they were showing me the “bundled” price for flight and hotel or just my flight alone. And you can still cancel the hotel reservation without a penalty as long as you do it before the hotel’s cancellation cut off. With that Southwest rate, the Aria was about the same as what we paid for the Bellagio. There is also a resort fee of $22 per day, which includes WiFi and two free drinks and some other stuff that we didn’t use.
Bellagio
I was really excited to stay at the Bellagio for a trip with my husband and some of our friends. I’ve never stayed so central, and it’s probably the most well-known Strip hotel. While I don’t regret staying there, I have to say, “Meh.” THEhotel and Encore have much nicer rooms, it was always crowded with people, the line for the Bellagio Cafe on Sunday morning was enormous (and this was a “dead” weekend for Vegas–there were $10 tables!), which was problematic because there aren’t many casual dining options in the hotel. Don’t get me wrong, the room was very nice, but I was expecting quite a bit more due to the hype. We were in a Spa Tower room, which was in great shape, but still your basic nice hotel room. I will say that the location is fantastic, especially with CityCenter next door now.
Price If you’re interested in staying at the Bellagio, definitely sign up for e-mails. They’ve been running a deal for a while now where if you book a certain number of days in advance you get a discount, and we managed to get 25% off. It actually made Bellagio cheaper than a lot of the comparable Strip hotels.
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Encore
Sort of the newer sister property to the Wynn. Beautiful room. Not quite a proper suite like at THEhotel, but still large with a really nice bathroom and sitting area. Our room had a view looking south down the Strip plus west to the mountains. Nice casino, decent restaurants, although the pools seemed a little small. Very high end shopping between it and the Wynn. There’s really not much farther north on the Strip, and it’s a bit of walk to the central Strip area.
Price We got a stay one night get one free deal through our credit card, so it was pretty reasonable. I don’t think it’s known for running good specials, and I’m not sure I consider it worth it at full price.
We went back and stayed here a second time, and I really enjoyed it again. We were there for Halloween weekend, so a lot of the hotels were crazy packed. However, the Wynn wasn’t too nuts, which was nice. Also when we checked in I asked if we could have a room with a similar view to the one we had last time. They said they didn’t have any, but we could upgrade to a room on one of the top floors for a mere $30 a night, which we did and loved our view.
THEhotel at Mandalay Bay
Pretty much our default hotel in Vegas. I’ve stayed twice (maybe three times?) and my husband has stayed a couple more times. The rooms are fantastic–proper suites with a living room that’s separate from the bedroom (with a door and everything!), and a half bath by the entrance in addition to the huge “master” bathroom. Because of the setup I think it’s great for groups. You have access to the Mandalay Bay pool area, which is top notch (just make sure you each have a key). However, the pool is a bit of a walk, and through the casino at that, from THEhotel. The blackjack rules at the casino are good (although who knows when they’ll catch up with the rest of the Strip hotels and start having the dealer stand on soft 17).
The downside is that it’s really far at the south end of the Strip. There’s a free monorail to the Excalibur, but then it’s still a walk to the center of the Strip. However, if you’re looking for a resort-type experience in Vegas, this does it pretty well. There’s some basic shopping, and the restaurants are good. So if you’ve been to Vegas before and are just there to relax by the pool and have a couple good meals, it’s great for that. I also get the impression that it doesn’t get as many non-guests wandering around as the more central hotels do, so it can feel a lot quieter than, say, the Bellagio. While I think this is the case for Mandalay Bay in general, it’s especially true of THEhotel since there’s not much reason to be there if you’re not staying there except for Mix.
Price Sometimes THEhotel is very expensive, but I’ve also gotten fantastic prices on it, especially mid-week. It’s such a nice room I consider getting it for less that $150 a night a great bargain, and it’s usually the first one we check when we’re planning a trip to Vegas.
Hard Rock Hotel
2011 update: I saw a concert at The Joint in January 2011 with a friend (we stayed at the Aria). It’s a fine place to see a show, but it’s so freakishly clean! If you’re used to places with sticky floors that still reek of smoke even though it was banned years ago, it’s disconcerting. Even the bathrooms are clean! There was a really long line for cabs after the show, but we walked around to the new Tower valet, and the cab line was only 3 people. So that’s my tip! We had dinner before at the Pink Taco, which was packed but we managed to find room at the bar. The name is gross but the food is good and comes very fast, and they had good margaritas.
I went here during the week in the late fall, so the party atmosphere it’s notorious for wasn’t anywhere to be seen (although Kevin Federline might have been at our blackjack table, but I’m not sure it was him). It was also before the new tower was built, so I imagine it’s busier in general now. The atmosphere of the hotel was very cool, but the blackjack rules were ridiculous and the rooms were pretty plain. One bonus was that you could open double doors to get fresh air, which is quite nice (I don’t think this would be the case with the new tower rooms). When we stayed there they had a shuttle running to and from the Strip that stopped at 7 p.m., but I’m not sure if it’s still running. We never walked up to the Strip from it, but it would probably take a few minutes.
Price This place can get super cheap during the week if there’s nothing going on. I think I got it for under $100 a night and you can still get prices like that sometimes. Weekends can get pretty pricey, though.
The Rio
The first place I ever stayed in Vegas. Not a bad hotel off the Strip. The rooms are very big, but they’re not an interesting configuration or anything–just a big ol’ room. We were there in early spring, so the pool wasn’t fully operational yet, but the pool area was nice. The Voodoo Lounge on the top floor is fun and has good views. There’s a shuttle that runs to the Strip. I think we walked once before we realized that distances in Vegas are much greater than they appear, and it’s a hike. With the Palms close by now at least there’s something else over there.
Price It was so long ago I don’t remember what we paid, but I think it was pretty low. It looks like you can still get some pretty good rates here.
Renting a car
Renting a car in Vegas is one of those fun little never-ending debates. Some people would rather just cab around, some people are fine with taking a bus, and some people like renting cars. We’re in the last category. For one thing, renting a car in Vegas is usually incredibly cheap, especially since parking’s free at all the hotels. Primarily we get a car because there’s great hiking around Vegas, so we need a car for that. We’ve also had great experiences eating off-Strip (Raku to name one), which we probably wouldn’t bother doing if we didn’t have a car. If it’s your first trip to Vegas and you’re just going to be checking out the Strip, then a car probably isn’t necessary. But once you start returning I think it’s worth getting one to explore.
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