The Venetian and The Palazzo Las Vegas are celebrating one year as the charter members of the InterContinental Alliance Resorts with a May 8 one-day redemption sale today-only for reward nights at  25,000 points per night for stays from June 10 to August 16, 2012. This special offer ends at midnight eastern or about 9pm Pacific time May 8.  Update May 8: The countdown clock for this offer is not working correctly. An hour after I posted this the clock still reads 13 hours, 44 minutes remaining for the sale.

• Only Sunday-Thursday nights June 10-June 30.
• Any night of week July 1-August 16. Read More…

U.S. Travel Association offers five weeks of Daily Getaways travel discounts Monday through Friday from April 9 to May 11, 2012. These discounts are mostly for hotel stays and loyalty points and car rental discounts. There are also theme park and tourism discounts. Quantities are limited and buyers need to be ready to make an immediate purchase when these items go on sale.

At this time the offers are posted only for the first three weeks of the 2012 five weeks of sales. Read More…

Lake Las Vegas, about 20 miles from the Las Vegas Strip outside the suburb of Henderson, Nevada has a new Starwood Resort today with The Westin Lake Las Vegas Resort & Spa.

The hotel has actually been around since 1999, first as the Hyatt Regency Lake Las Vegas Resort. Since 2006 the property has been the Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort.

The Westin Lake Las Vegas enters SPG as a category 3 hotel.

Rates tonight are $179. There is a grand opening special stating rates from $125, but I did not see any rates lower than $161 for dates I checked in April and May. I didn’t find any availability for $125 per night before June 1.

I expect some good deals that will be significantly lower than $179 after the initial rebranding launch. Cash & Points stays at $45 and 2,800 points are also a good option, but again no availability today until June.

Lake Las Vegas: a man-made resort folly.

The economic recession that has resulted in 1 out of every 9 homes in Las Vegas in foreclosure also impacted the region’s hotels. The Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas went bankrupt, closed down in May 2010 and reopened February 2011 as Ravella at Lake Las Vegas, a Dolce conference center resort.

Loews Lake Las Vegas defaulted on a $117 million mortgage in 2009 and was placed in receivership. Pyramid Hotel Group has been managing the hotel since it defaulted and also manages the Westin Las Vegas Hotel, Casino & Spa since the previous owners turned over the keys last year in bankruptcy.

Westin Las Vegas Hotel was seized by lenders after defaulting on a $160 million mortgage. I have to wonder if Starwood will drop Westin Las Vegas Hotel since it is generally not a highly rated hotel by SPG members. There are very few suites and I have never had anything more than a standard size room in several stays. The hotel is a couple blocks off the strip and kind of a letdown when there are so many great values in the major casino hotels for the same rate as the Westin.

I really enjoy the family environment around Lake Las Vegas and the Ravella property and now the Westin Lake Las Vegas. I think this is a great addition for Starwood Hotels.

Here is a Loyalty Traveler post from August 2009 on Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort. I also did a piece on Ravella Lake Las Vegas in June 2011 when there was a $59 rate. This piece has links to two other posts with photos of the former Ritz-Carlton property.

Las Vegas Sun (March 28) -

Loews hotel at Lake Las Vegas switching to Westin brand.

I just got off the phone with my mother. She celebrated her birthday this week at the Wynn in Las Vegas. Mom needed to vent her frustrations.

So why does my Mom say she will boycott the Wynn hotel now?

My sisters prepaid her hotel stay. Turns out that when my mother checked into the Wynn she was asked for the credit card used to prepay the hotel room. She told the desk agent that the room was a birthday gift from her daughters, and then the desk agent asked if her daughter had given her the credit card for check-in.

“Why would I have my daughter’s credit card?” was my mother’s reply.

Read More…

MGM CityCenter in Las Vegas is the $9 billion dollar casino resort complex with the Aria Resort & Casino, Mandarin Oriental luxury hotel and residences, Vdara – a mixed use hotel and residences, a high-end boutique shopping mall, Veer Towers condominiums, and the Harmon  – a structurally deficient tower that is the most expensive billboard on the Las Vegas Strip.

Harmon building is most expensive posterboard on Las Vegas Strip

The Wall Street Journal reports CityCenter’s senior vice president of facility improvements sent a letter to Clark County Director of Development Services stating CityCenter will demolish the Harmon Building to abate potential for structural collapse in case of an earthquake.

The Harmon, CityCenter Las Vegas

The fate of the building is currently in limbo tied up with court litigation between MGM Resorts International and CityCenter’s general contractor Perini Building Company over $200 million in payments.

CityCenter was a complex I watched being built over several years from rooms at the Planet Hollywood hotel across the street.

CityCenter construction August 2009. Harmon building on right.

The Harmon building is directly across the street from Marriott’s newly opened in December 2010 Cosmopolitan Hotel. I wonder if guests can stay on the Harmon side of the Cosmopolitan during the implosion? The Cosmopolitan outdoor pools are also on the Harmon side of the hotel.

Hilton Worldwide corporate has put Las Vegas Hilton on notice that it intends to end the hotel casino licensing agreement January 1, 2012 and remove the property from Hilton HHonors. The hotel has been a Hilton since the 1970s, but the recession and downturn in casino revenue in Las Vegas has placed Colony Capital, the current owners since 2004, in financial straits. The owners blame fixed labor and benefits cost in their inability to maintain loan payments. News story link.

Las Vegas Hilton is a major business hotel adjacent to the Las Vegas Convention Center. The hotel is also a tram stop on the Vegas monorail.

Las Vegas Hilton is generally an incredible bargain for HHonors members and one of the lowest priced Las Vegas hotels in a major hotel loyalty program.

Thursday, June 30 rate going into the July 4 holiday weekend is $43 for a standard room and $93 for a room with Club Lounge privileges. A Grand Room for $73 is  a large room at 600 square feet, even by luxury hotel standards.

$102.55 per night will put you in a standard room five nights for the entire 4^th of July weekend from Thursday, June 30 through Tuesday, July 5.

The Las Vegas Hilton hotel has no resort fees; an additional charge quite common in Las Vegas. Resort fees add $20 or so per night to the cost of rooms at the Westin Casuarina and InterContinental Alliance Resorts The Venetian and The Palazzo.

You know which major hotel loyalty programs are missing a convention size hotel in Las Vegas?

Hyatt and Starwood.

Las Vegas Hilton October 2009

Ravella Lake Las Vegas is the former Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas that rebranded this year. There is an incredible summer rate of $59 per night + $22 resort fee with daily breakfast being offered through a TravelZoo promotion with wide open availability this summer for many dates I checked. The hotel even offers complimentary shuttle 20 miles to the Las Vegas Strip.

Personally I love this remote location 20 miles away from the bright lights, glitz, stumbling drunks and porn hawkers of the Strip. Lake Las Vegas has a family and couples quiet retreat getaway feel. There are small boats available for rent to cruise the lake and there are larger boats for lake cruising while you relax and drink.

Ravella at Lake Las Vegas lobby patio view

Casino MonteLago in the lakeside village adjacent to the Ravella Lake Las Vegas hotel just reopened two weeks ago.

Book online or call Ravella at Lake Las Vegas 1-888-810-0440 and mention promotion code OFFER.

Related Loyalty Traveler posts: Ravella at Lake Las Vegas Summer Sale for Cheap Luxury (May 17, 2011).

Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas (August 21, 2009) – This post has more photos. I visited the hotel last month and the property basically looks the same as when it was the Ritz-Carlton at 70% off the former rates.

Ravella at Lake Las Vegas is located on a man-made lake east of Henderson, Nevada about 17 miles from the Las Vegas Strip. The hotel reopened this year under Dolce Hotels management after the formerly Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas hotel closed down last year. Dolce Hotels are convention and meeting specialists and plan to focus Ravella’s business around business conferences and conventions.

Currently there is a sale for up to 50% off Best Available Rate  for Ravella Lake Las Vegas hotel stays from May 9 through September 30, 2011. These sale rates include breakfast for two adults and children under 12. The rates are a big discount on prevailing rates in April when I was at the property.

Sample room rates: Wednesday, July 6 to Friday, July 8.

• $93.30 per night for a Lake View King (486 square feet) + $22 daily resort fee + tax
• $107.30 per night for Ravella King (486 square feet)
• $142.30 per night for Executive king (960 square feet)
• $359.30 per night Presidential Suite (2,400 square feet) Photos here and here and here indicate it is several rooms and there are two Presidential Suites on the property.

This is one of my favorite locations in the Las Vegas area.

Ravella balcony view of Lake Las Vegas

There is one casino adjacent to Ravella and a few restaurants in the Village.

The Village at Lake Las Vegas adjacent to Ravella

There is sun, swimming pools that stay open in the evening (not the case at Las Vegas Strip hotels), and boat and bike rentals for activity.  

Ravella lobby

Ravella Lake Las Vegas lobby bar

Ravella Lake Las Vegas Pontevecchio Bridge

Ravella Lake Las Vegas

Ravella Lake Las Vegas pool area

Ravella Lake Las Vegas courtyard

Ravella Lake Las Vegas summer escape rates will be hard to beat for a larger upper upscale room in the Las Vegas area.

The Palazzo has an entire city block of pools wrapped around two sides of the hotel. I read somewhere there are seven pools. I guess that depends on which ones are counted.

The view from my room looked down to the Azure Luxury Pools in the top right. These pools require a premium spend to hang out. The days I was there the charge was $250.  The large oval pool is open to all guests. Two pools and spa tub in Azure are nearer Las Vegas Blvd.

The large pool outside the main hotel pool doors was packed on a Friday afternoon. Pool hours were 9am to 6pm in late April. One of the most disappointing features of the major hotels on the Las Vegas Strip are short day pool hours. Few pools stay open to even 8pm in peak summer when it can be 90 degrees at midnight and many pools have open hours as short as 10am-4pm in winter, even on days when it is 75 degrees.

The pools look out to the Venetian in one direction and the Wynn and Encore Hotels across Spring Mountain Road in the other direction.

The large pool centrally located directly outside of the hotel pool entrance on the 3rd floor is at the hallway to Canyon Ranch Spa and there is a cafe and bar on the hotel side of the pool and another bar on the other side of the pool.

A smaller pool is empty and showed Reserve signs on lounge chairs when I walked by.

The long pool has views of the Venetian Resort.

Pool Cabana

TV, couch and table.

Two chairs.

Canyon Ranch Spa was a treat just to walk through to reach a different set of swimming pools. I know nothing about the spa, except there are two fitness rooms and a café. The walk engaged me with the walls as I wandered the corridors alone.

The first mile  is a warm-up walk to what else is inside for a workout.

And down the hall and another corner and there is a reception desk and beyond that a rock climbing wall.

There are around a dozen or so spa pools located around teh resort pools. I didn’t count them all.

The best “swimming” pool is around the back side of the Palazzo outside the doors of the Canyon Ranch Spa.

Pool Bars are located in several places around the pools. Drink prices range from $6 for beer to $12 for cocktails.

The pools nearest the Venetian get the most early morning sun at this time of year in the early spring months.

These pools bake in the early morning while the long pool and other pools in the front side ot the Palazzo linger in the shadows.

Loyalty Traveler post: The Palazzo Las Vegas – Part 1 The Bella Suite

The Palazzo and The Venetian in Las Vegas became InterContinental Alliance Resorts on April 1, 2011. These two adjacent Las Vegas Strip resorts are currently the only two hotels in the newly created branding alliance within the InterContinental Hotels Group.

The Palazzo Resort Las Vegas, an InterContinental Alliance Resort

I booked a room for Friday night, April 22, 2011 at The Palazzo using a Priority Club Points & Cash reward night at 30,000 points + $60 cash. The room rates for that date were $199 for a King Luxury Suite or $229 for a Bella Suite with two Queen beds. Priority Club let me book either room type with an award. The paid rates were $30 more for a View room in these two hotel categories.

My sister pointed out that most Las Vegas strip hotels charge more for two beds than for one King bed. I had never noticed this before since I am 99% a King.

This is part one of a two part post on The Palazzo Las Vegas Resort.

• Part One: The Palazzo Luxury and Bella Suites
• Part Two: The Palazzo Resort Recreation and Entertainment

Hallway from Palazzo Casino to Palazzo Shops

 

The Palazzo Resort Basic Room Type – Luxury or Bella Suite

Check-in at The Palazzo:

Actual check-in time was listed as 3:00pm on my reservation. I arrived at the hotel around 2:00pm.

The parking garage has one set of elevators that take you directly to the lobby area with hotel registration desks. Another set of elevators from the garage take you close to the hotel room floor entrance and its sets of room floor elevators. The hotel rooms are located on the opposite side of the casino from the Palazzo front entrance and registration desks.

The Palazzo Las Vegas lobby

There is a dedicated check-in desk for Priority Club Elite members.

The Palazzo Priority Club elite member desk

My check-in agent was charmingly friendly and seemed genuine in her conversational interest while setting up the hotel stay. She welcomed me as a Priority Club Platinum elite and said I was receiving an upgrade to a view room on the 32^nd floor. There are three sets of room elevators for floors up to 23, 23-36 and 37-50.

Late check-out at 1 pm rather than the normal time of 11am was offered as a complimentary benefit.

Royal Ambassadors have their own separate registration lounge room at The Palazzo.

The Palazzo Royal Ambassador hotel registration lounge

I received a Bella View suite on Floor 32 with my Priority Club Points & Cash room. The room rate for this last minute reward night was $290 for room with tax. My 30,000 Priority Club points were worth $230 or $7.67 per 1,000 points. That is why buying points at $6 per 1,000 is a good idea when you get the chance with Points & Cash rewards.

$7.67 per 1,000 points is actually a low redemption value for my Priority Club reward stays where I generally spend points for $10+ per 1,000 points. The primary reason I went with points was to avoid spending $230 more for the hotel night. I burned points to save the cash for other hotel stays I need to make in May 2011 that will earn back far more than 30,000 Priority Club points.

P for Palazzo in marble

Check-in Amenities:

There is a mandatory Palazzo Resort fee of $17.00 + 12% tax = $19.04 per day. This fee includes free wi-fi and access to Canyon Ranch Spa fitness rooms. There is even a rock-climbing wall in the spa. This is also a location where breakfast can be purchased at a café far less crowded than the pool area or casino locations.

There was a set of coupons provided at check-in which appeared to be geared for Priority Club members. My sister who booked a rate not using Priority Club had different coupons for her stay.

The Palazzo discount coupons provided with my Priority Club reward night stay had the following offers:

• Canyon Ranch Spa $35 off any 50 minute or longer Massage or Facial.
• Morels French Steakhouse & Bistro – 20% off breakfast or brunch.
• Zine Noodles DimSum – Asian cuisine – $30 off $60 purchase.
• LAVO Nightclub – complimentary line pass and admission.
• Piano Bar two for one drinks.

The Palazzo Las Vegas lobby ceiling

Prestige at The Palazzo

Prestige at The Palazzo is a nightly paid upgrade for an additional $100 that includes:

• Private champagne check-in starting at noon (normal check-in time is 3pm).
• Deluxe continental breakfast from 7am – 10am.
• Coffee and tea on 23^rd floor from 10am – 4pm.
• Hot and cold hors d’oeuvres from 5pm – 7pm.
• Complimentary cocktail reception from 5pm – 8pm in the 23^rd floor lounge.
• Desserts from 7pm – 9pm.
• Plasma TV screens throughout the 23^rd floor lounge.
• Complimentary wi-fi on 23^rd floor.
• DVD library for suite.
• Personal concierge service 7am – 9pm.

Basically Prestige is an extra $93 after tax over the otherwise mandatory resort fee of $17 + tax. For two people this could be a decent value for the additional food and drinks.

Complimentary continental breakfast in the Floor 23 lounge is perhaps a $25 per day value. The Grand Lux in the Palazzo casino has many more food selections with a buffet breakfast at $15.95 per person. This is a relatively good deal at Grand Lux dining room for a Las Vegas Strip resort breakfast.

Drinks are $6 beer and $12 cocktails in most places around the Palazzo Resort, so 3 hours of free drinks could be a significant value depending on your intake. Evening appetizers and dessert are probably another $25 to $30 value.

Prestige at the Palazzo for $100 + $12 tax = $112 per day is a reasonable price for 23^rd floor lounge access if you are staying as a couple and will be hanging around the hotel for the free food and drinks. Most of the other amenities like wi-fi and fitness room access are provided with the regular daily resort fee.

The View

The room view overlooked the pools, but from the 32^nd floor the pools are rather far away.

The Palazzo Las Vegas - pool view from Floor 32

Straight ahead window view was Treasure Island and that hotel had an 8:30 pm pirate ship battle and performance. Again, this was far away for seeing the people performing in the show so our visual attention focused on the overall light effect, fireballs and sinking ship. Hundreds of people were gathered on the sidewalks watching the show outside Treasure Island.

The Palazzo Las Vegas view of Treasure Island

The lights at night stretching across the valley are pretty to watch.

The Palazzo Las Vegas view

The Room:

The entry-rate standard room category at The Palazzo is either a Luxury Suite (King bed) or Bella Suite (two Queen Beds). My family had one of each room type for this stay and both rooms were identical with the exception of the beds. These are large rooms at 720 square feet. Most commonly a luxury class hotel room is about 500 to 600 sq. ft. at the entry level room category.

The Palazzo Las Vegas Bella Suite

The Bella Suite has two Queen beds. Good quality pillows and linens make these comfortable beds.

Each bed has a seat at the foot of the bed. There was seating for at least ten people in the room.

The Palazzo Las Vegas bed seat.

The bed section of the suite has a wall-mounted 42-inch TV.

The Sitting Room

The couch is extra large and contains a pull-out bed.

The Palazzo Las Vegas large couch and desk

The Palazzo Las Vegas Bella Suite TV

The TV in the sitting room seemed slightly smaller, perhaps 37-inch. This piece of furniture also had stocked electronic mini-bar and room safe.  A small round table with three chairs in front of the window provided a place to eat or sit. Two stairs between beds and sitting room could be an issue for some guests.  

The Palazzo Las Vegas Bella Suite curtains

The Bathroom

The bathroom is a large space at 130 square feet with separate shower and bathtub, dual sinks, a separate toilet room and stand alone vanity table.

The Palazzo Las Vegas bathroom vanity table in Bella Suite

Separate shower and tub.

Dual sinks and just outside this picture on the right is a wall mounted TV.

Separate toilet room.

My overall impression is the size of the room at The Palazzo makes this hotel a great choice if you want room to move about in your room at a price that is likely cheaper than upgrading to a room this size at most of the other Las Vegas Strip hotels.

Part Two at The Palazzo Las Vegas has photos of  the seven or so pools and Canyon Ranch Spa.

This is a good YouTube video posted by SuperCabbie1 showing the standard Palazzo luxury suite with a King bed. There is an extra chair that is not present in Bella Suites with two Queen Beds. The room location in the video is the non-view room that looks southeast to the Venetian and lots of low roof tops over the casino and spa and parking garages behind the Las Vegas Strip resorts.

Caesars Entertainment has 50% offers for Caesars Palace Las Vegas, Harrahs Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe Spa Getaway discounted travel packages on sale today Thursday April 14, 2011 at DiscoverAmerica.com. The sale begins at 12 noon ET (New York time). There are a limited number of items for sale.

DiscoverAmerica.com Daily Getaways link.

$264 Harrah’s Las Vegas. ($237.60 with American Express payment)

• 2 nights in Mini-Suite room and
• roundtrip Airport Transportation, and
• bottle of champagne in room.
• 15 packages available.
• Maximum one package per person.

$275 Harrah’s Las Vegas ($247.50 with American Express payment).

• 3 nights in Deluxe room,
• 2 show tickets and
• $100 dining credit.
• 20 items for sale.
• Maximum one package per person.
• Travel must be completed by May 12, 2012.
• Travel must be booked at least 30 days in advance. 

$275 Lake Tahoe Spa Getaway  at Harrah’s or Harvey’s ($247.50 with American Express payment).

• 2 nights accommodation in luxury room plus spa treatment at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe Resort or Harvey’s Lake Tahoe.
• Two spa treatments with either 50-minute Swedish Therapeutic Massage or a Classic European Facial.
• Sunday through Thursday nights only. No weekend stays allowed.
• Travel package must be redeemed by March 29, 2012.
• 5 items for sale.
• Maximum one package per person.  

$481 Caesars Palace Las Vegas. ($432.90 with American Express payment).

• 2 nights accommodation (no room type specified).
• 2 all-day Buffet of Buffets passes.
• 2 fitness center day passes.
• Roundtrip airport transportation by limo.
• 25 items for sale.
• Maximum one package per person.
• Travel must be completed by May 12, 2012.
• Travel must be booked at least 30 days in advance.

$1,110 Caesars Palace VIP Stay ($999 with American Express payment).

• 3 nights in a suite.
• $250 dining credit.
• 2 show tickets of your choice at any of 8 Caesars Entertainment properties.
• 2 Roman Rituals day passes for QUA Baths & Spa.
• Roundtrip limousine transportation from Las Vegas Airport.
• Bottle of champagne in room.
• Travel must be completed by May 12, 2012.
• Travel must be booked at least 30 days in advance.
• 20 items for sale.
• Maximum one package per person.

These hotel discount sales are high value discounts and some items sell out quickly. You need to be ready to make a purchase at the start of the sale if you really desire one of these items.

About DiscoverAmerica.com

DiscoverAmerica.com is the official travel and tourism website of the United States. The Daily Getaways are sponsored by American Express and prices are discounted by 10% when using American Express as payment. DiscoverAmerica.com has 25 days of discounted travel opportunities with a focus on hotels and car rentals through its “Daily Getaways” on its website.

Hyatt Gold Passport points Daily Getaway offer, Friday, April 15 – 12 noon ET

Hyatt Gold Passport points are available at a significant discount through DiscoverAmerica.com (about $10/1,000 points) compared to the purchase price through Hyatt Gold Passport ($24/1,000 points).

Currently the first three weeks of DiscoverAmerica.com DailyGetaways offers have posted.

Week 1: April 11-15, 2011

Week 2: April 18-22, 2011

Week 3: April 25-29, 2011