21
May
Walking into the room I noticed right away three bottles of Stella Artois in the ice bucket next to the tv. Someone actually read that questionnaire where I listed all six pets’ names. The pets didn’t get any gifts from the hotel, but I appreciated the beer. Read More…
Won’t you please come to Chicago?
And here I am in the JW Marriott Chicago checking out the hotel for a few days. This is a FAM trip, the travel industry term for media visits, where press gets hosted by the hotel, wined and dined. Going beyond staying at a hotel to actually sharing the types of experiences you can have at a hotel provides more insight to these destinations. Read More…
Los Angeles revealed another facet of her urban jewels yesterday as I solo toured Century City, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. I was in eight hotels and I have to say that I recommend any of them for a nice stay in L.A. Read More…
This post is not a bitch piece about the One&Only Ocean Club Resort, Paradise Island, Bahamas. I was kicked out of the resort for snapping photos as a non-guest visitor from Atlantis. That comes with the territory of being a punk blogger. I like to ‘feel’ a hotel unescorted, but sometimes I am escorted out of a hotel prematurely. I have noticed a correlation between higher room rates and less toleration for camera wielding tourists.
The history of the Ocean Club fascinated me after my brief visit to a world famous resort on Paradise Island, Nassau, Bahamas. This resort is not just another new build island retreat offering sands and tans. Ocean Club has been a luxury retreat for the past half-century and the grounds gave me the feeling of being on a Caribbean European style colonial estate – for the 15 minutes before I was told to leave.
Do a Marriott Courtyard and a Hilton Garden Inn have about the same room rate on average? How do Hyatt Place and Starwood Hotels aloft brands stack up in room rates?
STR and STR Global package hotel industry data. I like to read HotelNewsNow.com to see hotel industry trends and average room rates, although to get detailed information about hotel brands and places requires paying for information. I stick with the free stuff.
One of the valuable STR resources for me is the chain scale hotel list that categorizes hundreds of USA and global hotel brands on a scale of six market segments from economy to luxury. Hotel brands are placed on the scale solely using average daily rate as the factor. Note: the average daily rate data was added March 7 based on Smith Travel Research data for January 2012.
Any specific hotel may have a large rate differential from another hotel in that brand, but the average rate says something about the brand overall across the hotel chain and across the USA and globe.
STR and STR Global have moved some hotel brands to a higher chain scale based on 2011 average daily rates.
• Best Western Premier moved from upper-midscale to upscale. Best Western launched a rebranding campaign in 2011 to distinguish the better hotels in the 4,000+ global chain.
All the other chains operate several different hotel brands across different market segments and Best Western finally got into the game with three tiers of Best Western, (3,000 or so hotels), Best Western Plus (1,000+ hotels) and Best Western Premier (over 100 hotels). The numbers given here are just rough estimates based on past data I have seen.
Best Western Premier moves to upscale hotels. My stay last year in Napa was a great room in an old motel style building. The room was definitely upscale.
Napa, California Best Western Premier Hotel Ivy
Hotel Ivy Napa, Best Western Premier Hotel.
Hotel Ivy Napa, Best Western Premier.
• Country Inns & Suites moved from midscale to upper-midscale. That is a huge accomplishment for Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group working to become a more recognized name in the chain scale competition.
Upper midscale includes brands like Hampton Inn, Clarion, Best Western Plus, Fairfield Inn, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express.
Candlewood Suites, La Quinta and Ramada are examples of hotel brands in the midscale segment.
Hyatt Place, Hilton Garden Inn, Courtyard, Residence Inn and Four Points are in the higher upscale segment. The bad news for Club Carlson members is this chain segment change indicates rates are rising at Country Inns.
Loyalty Traveler note: This post originally had seven hotel brand changes based on a HotelNewsNow.com article (media arm of STR and STRGlobal). I received an email on March 7 stating HNN will issue a correction on their article and only Best Western Premier and Country Inns are changing in the hotel chain scale. I deleted references to the other hotel brands originally included in this post.
Reggae music blaring from loudspeakers was a constant during the 9am to 5pm hours at Atlantis pools. The music I heard from my room in Royal Towers came from the Grotto Pool at Aquaventure water park. Slides, pools, water rides and cafes fill the 141-acre park beside the Atlantis Royal Towers.
Aquaventure rides are complimentary for guests at Atlantis hotels. Thousands of people visit Nassau everyday on cruise ships and a limited number of day passes are available at rates around $120/adult and $80 for children up to 12 years.
The Grotto Pool is one of perhaps four pools that featured a live dj playing reggae tunes with upbeat rhythms and frequent Bob Marley oldies blasting out across the resort.
This balcony sits between the two towers of Royal Towers and stairways lead to the Royal Pool.
Pools off to the sides were filled with stingrays.
Here is the same walkway viewed from my room balcony.
Staff were continually at work maintaining the pool marine life exhibits.
The Royal Pool.
Aquaventure
The Mayan Temple caught my attention where I could see the sharks swimming in the pool at night from my room balcony. One of my best memories of being at Atlantis was sitting out on the balcony in the warm breeze in the quiet hours after midnight watching the animals swim in the lighted pools.
View of Royal Towers standing at the shark pool of the Mayan Temple. A slide tube runs through the pool and riders emerge out in another pool below.
Teenagers, children and adults were loving the water slides of the Mayan Temple.
This photo was taken just after 5pm when the Aquaventure pools and most other pools around Atlantis closed during the week of my stay. I have read the hours are extended in spring and summer.
A children’s water big toy is near the Mayan Temple.
This water feature was wild with little kids during the day with screaming children and exhausted looking parents.
There are snack bars around the pools with burgers, sandwiches, drinks and ice cream.
Sample snack bar prices:
Power Tower is one of the other slide features at Aquaventure.
There are a lot of stairs to walk for these slide rides.
Mayan Temple and Power Tower each list four types of slides.
Lazy River Ride and The Current were two rides where an intertube carries you around the park. Two person intertubes are required for smaller children who must be accompanied by an adult.
One of the safety features I liked was the presence of numerous lifeguards and spotters around the rides.
Mayan Temple Pools leading to the Grotto Pool.
The Grotto Pool.
The large Paradise Lagoon was another area of Atlantis with water activities.
These are the Coral Towers hotel buildings in background. The Lagoon Bar & Grill is the shell covered feature. Beneath the Lagoon Bar & Grill are many of the aquarium exhibits at Atlantis including the clear underwater tunnel.
My next post on Atlantis Resort Paradise Island will describe some of the marine life exhibits around Atlantis.
Atlantis Resort is nicknamed “Vegas-by-the-sea” and located on the privately owned Paradise Island 5.5 miles long and less than one mile across just north of the city of Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. A toll bridge across Nassau Harbour connects Paradise Island to New Providence island, 21 miles by 7 miles. The airport is a $32 taxi ride to the western side of New Providence Island. Cruise ships at Nassau port dock in the harbour near Paradise Island. The taxi cost is $4.00 to go to/from downtown Nassau or the Prince George Dock for cruise ships with an $11.00 minimum fare.
Atlantis developed over the past two decades and consists of six different hotels at the resort. Royal Towers is the iconic feature most recognizable as Atlantis.
My room in Royal Towers was the top floor, third window in on right end. The central bridge is a nearly 5,000 square feet, ten room Bridge Suite that was ranked one of the most expensive hotel rooms in the world by Forbes magazine in 2003 at $25,000 per night.
23
Dec
Mandarin Oriental is a small luxury hotel chain with fewer than 30 branded hotels worldwide. The hotel brand is planning to grow by 50% over the next few years with hotel projects currently in development. There are six Mandarin Oriental hotels in the U.S. and one in Bermuda and one in Riviera Maya Mexico.
Link: Global Mandarin Oriental hotel locations.
Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas is one of three hotels in the MGM/Dubai World $9 billion dollar CityCenter project on the Las Vegas Strip between the Bellagio and Monte Carlo casino resorts. Aria Resort & Casino is the focal point of CityCenter and the only hotel of the three with a casino. Vdara is a mixed-use hotel and residential building located adjacent to the Cosmopolitan, the newest Las Vegas casino resort opened December 15, 2010, although a separate property from the CityCenter complex.
Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas opened one year ago in December 2009 with the CityCenter Las Vegas grand opening. Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas at CityCenter is a 539-ft building. The building is 47 stories, with the hotel in the lower 23 floors containing 392 guest rooms and suites.
The 23rd floor is the top Sky Lobby hotel floor at the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas.
The lobby reception desk on the 23rd floor is also the concierge desk on the right end. The lobby is a bright space in day with large windows letting in the Vegas sunny sky and a dimly lit space at night with great views north along the Las Vegas Strip and City Center building lights and sights.
Sky Lobby 23rd floor - photo courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
The reception desk, lobby seating, Mandarin Bar and Twist restaurant are located at the Sky Lobby. The 3rd floor holds the hotel conference center wing and the all-day restaurant MOzen.
The hotel ground floor lobby entrance has elevators giving access only to the 3rd floor and 23rd floor Sky Lobby.
MOzen Bistro - photo courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas elevators have a cushioned bench.
Eating and Drinking at the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
Tea Lounge: The lobby lounge area seating offers a high tea service daily in the afternoon from 2:30 to 5 pm.
MOzen is seemingly Mandarin Oriental zen, although I like the American twist for mo’ zen in a BustaRhymes gimme some mo’ word way to have ‘more zen’ all-day dining restaurant. Prices are high with oatmeal breakfast in double digits and breakfast plate around $30.
Mandarin Bar is currently only open evenings with 5pm to 1am hours or 2am Friday and Saturday. The view from Mandarin Bar is one of the best publicly accessible views in Las Vegas. One drink is worth the cost of admission if a good window seat is available. Think $20 to $30 for each set of drinks for a couple.
Mandarin Bar - photo courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
I lounged for about an hour in a chair by the picture windows looking out to Planet Hollywood and Paris Las Vegas. Great bar snack crunchies of three varieties including wasabi nuts came with the beer. $12 poorer upon departure. Cool feature for CityCenter hotels is charges for Aria and Vdara bar and dining can be direct billed to Mandarin Oriental hotel bill and same for guests of those hotels.
Mandarin Bar - The Edge - photo courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
Twist is evening fine dining on the 23rd floor of Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas. The cuisine is fusion, creative, and around $50 per entrée.
Twist by Pierre Gagnaire - photo courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
Large Windows on 23rd floor define Mandarin Bar and top of Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas Hotel. Higher floors are Mandarin Oriental residences.
Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas - photo courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
Sky Lobby and Mandarin Bar are left window bank and Twist is right window bank on 23rd floor.
Arrival at Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
Mandarin Oriental is a luxury hotel with prices in the luxury range for everything except the room rates. Room rates under $200 per night, particularly with a flight inclusive travel package through sites like Expedia and Orbitz make Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas one of the lowest priced Mandarin Oriental hotels in the world.
Parking is valet only and $30 for overnight at the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas. The hotel entrance is on Las Vegas Boulevard just past the City Center entrance. You can save $30 parking fee if you take the CityCenter entrance and self-park at Aria Casino and walk to the Mandarin Oriental hotel.
Aria Resort & Casino has free self-parking and takes a five minute walk to Mandarin Oriental from the Aria self-park garage casino entrance using the outdoor sidewalk in the CityCenter complex.
By the large colorful typewriter eraser art sculpture is a flight of stairs from the sidewalk to the entry level of Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Alternative to the stairs is a sidewalk escalator by the pedestrian overpass and at the bottom of the escalators is the world’s slowest 3-ft. elevator ride from the CityCenter sidewalk down to the Mandarin Oriental driveway.
CityCenter sidewalks in front of Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
CityCenter pedestrian overpass and road to Aria self-park or Aria hotel entrance.
The Aria garage is at the left side of the Aria Hotel in the background. The Mandarin Oriental is to the left of the pedestrian overpass.
Mandarin Oriental and CityCenter - photo courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
The Lower Lobby
Lower Lobby - photo courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas has a small ground level lobby with seating area, staff desk and elevators to the 23rd floor main reception desk in the Sky Lobby.
Sky Lobby – 23rd floor Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
The hotel guest is greeted with this image when the elevator opens to the Sky Lobby.
Sky Lobby Elevator Opens to View - photo courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas CityScape Room
Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas requires two sets of elevators to go from the entrance to guest rooms. A separate set of elevators takes guests from Floor 23 Sky Lobby level down to lower floor guest rooms within the hotel. Key card access is required for hotel elevators to guest rooms.
Hotel guest room floors are 4 through 22. There is no floor 13. Spa, fitness rooms and pools are accessed on Floor 8.
I stayed in room 1124 on the 11th floor booked in a King CityScape room basic room on a higher floor.
Link to Mandarin Oriental hotel room and suite categories.
CityScape Room - photo courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
Here are my photos of this room with a different orientation in the hotel.
Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas PR image for CityScape room differs from my image in that the sliding doors on the bathroom wall panel reveals the robed woman and conceals the glass bath wall from the bedroom when opened.
The TV shows the electronic master controls available for room lighting and entertainment using the TV remote. These are same electronic controls found in Aria Resort with wall switches, TV master remote and a nightstand remote pad.
The nightstand remote pad was not working properly in my Mandarin Oriental room. Actually, the remote may have worked, but the screen was too dim to read icon options. I reported the dim nightstand screen twice and I was told to contact them again if I couldn’t figure out how to make the screen brighter.
Hey, I had already pushed every button on the gadget to no effect. I used the TV remote for my stay. The remote system ran a little more smoothly than at Aria room.
Weirdest thing about the hotel is my hotel room in this building had the distinction of providing the worst access I’ve ever had in the USA to Verizon Wireless. Mandarin Bar was much better than my room.
Internet access at Mandarin Oriental is $18 per day.
In contrast to the high tech room electronics was the old fashioned tub with bath salts for a relaxing soak.
A small TV and vanity mirror are on left side of counter. Aromatic sandalwood soaps are provided. I like the smell. My wife, the soap purist, thinks the Aromatherapy Associates soap makes her skin too dry.
Shower marble and tile
My pictures do not give the room justice. Furnishings were all high quality. The bed was quite comfortable for me and my preferences. Funny thing is I commented on the Aria hotel bed being too soft for me in my Loyalty Traveler review and a highly detailed review I read of the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas complained the bed was too hard.
To each his/her own.
Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas 10-minute video walkthrough
HeWhoTravels (Ether on FlyerTalk) has a FlyerTalk post describing the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas in far more detail than I will here. He also posted an excellent January 2010 edited 10-minute YouTube video with musical soundtrack. The video opens with views of CityCenter from the pedestrian bridge and a walk-through of the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas with detailed views of a Premier Room. All the features of the premier room are the same as the CityScape room I stayed except for my lower category room did not have a sink by the toilet and the Premier room video shows an extra chair with footstool and small table.
My initial thought was being thankful I had stayed in Aria Resort the week before this stay since I probably would have been less favorable to Aria if I had stayed in the Mandarin Oriental hotel room first. I always prefer to finish my stay with the top of the line hotel when hotel hopping in a city.
Mandarin Oriental 8th Floor Lap Pools and Spa Tubs
Every staff member at the hotel told me the pools were closed for the winter, except for the guy who actually works at the fitness center in front of the pool doors. He said pool hours were 9am to 5pm.
Pool deck - photo courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
The pool area was lovely in the 65 degree weather of December. Odd everyone kept saying it was closed.
Spots on the pool deck showed cement bubbling and cracking from the intense desert sun and those 14 hour days of summer heat.
View of south lap pool from room 1124
View from Mandarin Oriental room 1124 of hotel’s north lap pool and Aria Resort & Casino in background.
North pool view across CityCenter. Hot tub is located at far end of this pool near patio windows.
Light and Dark
Light plays an important role in the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas experience.
Subtle hall lighting creates light space design in Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas.
Hallway overhead lighting gives multiple color effects.
Hallway wall mounted light fixture at Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas.
Elevators to hall in Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas.
Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas Building
The building itself is a beautiful structure designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox. Their KPF.com architectural firm website has several nice photos of the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas hotel property.
The windows and metal frame reflect a variety of colors as the day evolves.
Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas in morning light.
Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas mid-day.
Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas afternoon sunlight.
Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas in sunset light.
Dusk - photo courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
view of Las Vegas Strip looking north - photo courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
CityCenter Night - photo courtesy of Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas
Mandarin Oriental hotels are outside my normal realm of loyalty travel. The opportunity to stay at the AAA 5-diamond Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas hotel came at an incredible bargain of $12 for one night in a CityScape King room for an Expedia.ca Air + Hotel travel package with airfare included on US Airways from San Francisco to Las Vegas. Here is my Loyalty Traveler November 20, 2010 post on this special 48 hour Expedia Canada opportunity for incredible Las Vegas hotel deals that put me in CityCenter Las Vegas for three nights at the Aria Resort and Mandarin Oriental in December 2010 on two separate trips from California for under $100 all-in, including airfare.
Related Posts:
Betting on Expedia.ca for a Vegas Suite Deal (Nov 20, 2010) [This post tells how I bought my flight to Las Vegas and an upgraded room at the Mandarin Oriental for $12.]
CityCenter Las Vegas – Art, Architecture and Space (Dec 16, 2010)
Hotel Detail – Aria Resort and Casino Las Vegas in HD (Dec 11, 2010)
Aria Resort Las Vegas – Pools, Spa and Dining (Dec 12, 2010)
Aria Resort Corner Suite and SkySuites (Dec 18, 2010)
Aria Resort Las Vegas SkyVilla 19 (Dec 19, 2010)
Vdara Hotel, CityCenter Las Vegas (Dec 19, 2010)
Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas (Dec 23, 2010)
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (Dec 21, 2010) (The Cosmopolitan is next to Vdara Hotel, but not part of CityCenter complex. The Cosmopolitan is a Marriott Autograph Collection Hotel.)
With fresh eyes I woke up to see the Aria Resort for a second day and a good day of hotel viewing. I like to get up early to take photos when the hotel floors are their emptiest of people. This is about the time many people are heading to their beds.
The 4,004 room Aria hotel has 16 restaurants and over a dozen drinking places. First I toured floors to see different views from hotel windows.
Aria Elevators
Aria hotel has six different sets of elevators to divide guests by room floors.
There were eight elevators for the nine floors 16 to 24 in my hotel elevator section. The most I ever waited for an elevator was 15 seconds. Impressive speed.
There is an exclusive key access elevator section for Aria SkySuites and SkyVillas on the upper floors of the central towers.
The Spa and Fitness Room
The Spa, pools and fitness room are accessed through the Promenade level, above the ground level Casino floor. The Fitness room opens at 6am and is accessed through The Spa doorway. The place was quite active when I arrived around 7am.
Fountain in front of fitness room
Aria Tip – Free coffee is available in dispensers during morning hours at the relaxation lounge outside the Fitness room. A trip to this section of the hotel through the Spa will save you $3 a cup at one of the Casino outlets and also provide a comfortable place with soft music, TV, a fireplace, and newspapers for lounging in the hotel in the morning.
Many pieces of the workout equipment face the hotel pools and there is a bank of TVs in the room. The fitness room is large, but too many exercisers were present for photos.
Aria Spa is a section of the hotel I just passed through. I have no insight to its services.
Aria Pools
The pools at Aria were only open from 9am to 4pm. I have written previously about the ridiculously short pool hours year-round in Las Vegas Casino resorts.
Pool Bar
Breeze Cafe
A feature I do not like about the pool area is two of the spa pools are situated near the windows of The Buffet restaurant.
One spa pool is concealed in the palm trees.
There are only a couple of hotels like the Westin Casuarina with pool hours in the evening. When staying in Las Vegas during summer and it is 95 degrees at 9pm in the evening, you can forget about a plunge at most hotel resort pools. The pool area will likely have closed sometime between 5pm and 7pm.
Pool view of Aria architecture
Dining at Aria
During my stay I only ate at The Buffet and drank at Bar Moderno. There are plenty of fine dining options at the hotel with a variety of restaurants serving different types of cuisine.
Barmasa for Japanese food is located at the end of the Aria hotel lobby. This lobby has been likened to an airport terminal by some. I actually like the open space of the lobby, although the seating is not particularly appealing. The Bellagio Hotel is a place I think stands out for comfortable seating in the halls for guests to relax.
Barmasa gate at the end of the Aria lobby is open 5-11pm Wednesday through Sunday. The restaurant is aesthetically appealing in a minimalist design.
Sage is American dining in the lobby location by Barmasa. I like the metal grill covers in the shape of wine glasses.
My parents said they enjoyed a dinner at Julian Serrano Tapas when my sister was in town. My sisters are the fine diners in our family.
My parents and I usually head to Ellis Island for $1.75 pints and $10 full rack of ribs dinner when I am in town. This casino has the smoky ambience of a locals dive bar and usually requires a wait of around an hour to eat, but if you like cheap microbrew draught beer and barbecue ribs and chicken or you want an inexpensive full steak dinner, then this place is worth a trip while you are in Vegas. Ellis Island is located diagonally across the street from the Westin Casuarina Hotel, two long blocks east of the Las Vegas Strip casinos around Paris and Planet Hollywood.
Todd English British Pub is located next to Julian Serrano Tapas. This pub is actually part of CityCenter Crystals shopping area and not the Aria hotel restaurants.
There are other restaurants around the casino floor. Café Vettro is open 24 hours and casual dining.
Blossom serves Chinese food and Lemongrass is Thai. I missed these restaurants entirely during my walkabouts. They are located by the SkySuites elevator section off the center of the casino floor near the escalators.
Above the Casino floor is the Promenade level with the Viva Elvis theater and several fine dining restaurants as well as The Buffet restaurant.
The Buffet serves weekday Monday through Friday breakfast for $15.99 (7-11am), lunch for $19.99 (11am-4pm) and dinner for $24.99 (Mon-Thur 4pm-10pm). Prices are higher on weekends with just brunch (7am-4pm) and gourmet dinner (Fri-Sun 4-10pm).
I ate lunch and enjoyed the Asian foods with chicken tandoori, naan bread, sushi and black bean beef. The snow crab is very popular. This past month has been Dungeness crab season in California so I am spoiled on good crab. I thought the snow crab was way too salty. The shrimp was flavorless. I waited too long for the waitress to come by for a drink order. You can’t even get a glass of water without a waitress.
The buffet selections covered many food types and the price is about standard for Las Vegas buffets. The weekends offer lobster gourmet dinner buffet.
The hall across from The Buffet features fine dining at Sirio Ristorante, American Fish a Michael Mina restaurant and Jean Georges Steakhouse.
Cactus garden in between Sirio, Steakhouse and American Fish
Blossom and Sirio Ristorante were closed during my stay.
Union Restaurant and Lounge offered a casino floor dining experience with 5 – 7pm happy hour offering half off drinks and appetizers seven days a week.
Jean Philippe Patisserie, located right by the main guest floor elevators was a popular place throughout the day for a quick snack or coffee.
Next up - Aria Resort and Casino – Part 3 – Art, Architecture and Space
Tomorrow I will be back in Las Vegas at the Mandarin Oriental.
Tuesday I am hoping to be invited for a pre-opening press tour of The Cosmopolitan Hotel. The hotel says it has to approve my press credentials. Really now. Who else is going to give the hotel more complete coverage?
[update Dec 25, 2010 - VegasChatter.com has given the Cosmopolitan extensive coverage in the past two weeks if you want critiques and reviews of various aspects of The Cosmopolitan rooms, pools, dining.]
Related Posts:
Betting on Expedia.ca for a Vegas Suite Deal (Nov 20, 2010) [This post tells how I bought my flight to Las Vegas and an upgraded room at the Mandarin Oriental for $12.]
CityCenter Las Vegas – Art, Architecture and Space (Dec 16, 2010)
Hotel Detail – Aria Resort and Casino Las Vegas in HD (Dec 11, 2010)
Aria Resort Las Vegas – Pools, Spa and Dining (Dec 12, 2010)
Aria Resort Corner Suite and SkySuites (Dec 18, 2010)
Aria Resort Las Vegas SkyVilla 19 (Dec 19, 2010)
Vdara Hotel, CityCenter Las Vegas (Dec 19, 2010)
Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas (Dec 23, 2010)
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (Dec 21, 2010) (The Cosmopolitan is next to Vdara Hotel, but not part of CityCenter complex. The Cosmopolitan is a Marriott Autograph Collection Hotel.)
Aria Resort, CityCenter Las Vegas: Lines, Angles and Color
The Aria hotel opened almost one year ago on December 17, 2009 in CityCenter complex Las Vegas located between Bellagio and Monte Carlo resorts.
Aria Resort is listed as the 9th largest hotel in the world by number of rooms in Wikipedia. Aria has 4,004 rooms, including 568 suites, housed in two curvilinear glass towers of 59 room floors according to elevator buttons, or 61 floors according to the hotel website. The 59th floor two-story Aria Sky Villas are equipped with a two-floor elevator inside the room to create 60 floors for the hotel central towers as listed in many Aria descriptions. Smaller tower wings extend through central towers. My 24th floor room was the top floor of the northwest wing overlooking the pools.
First Impression is Maya Lin
The check-in desk is at the hotel entrance if you arrive at the front door in a car from Las Vegas Boulevard and drive by the Lumia central fountain and before the fountain wall. The concierge desk is located at the hotel entrance on the right wall along with an expansive registration desk looking the length of the Colorado River.
If you arrive by public transit or self-park and have luggage, you walk into an entrance with three large metallic sculptures. You can walk outside from here and take the sidewalk alongside the wall fountain to the main entrance of the hotel or you can walk into the casino.
Far fewer people and incredible design views of CityCenter and the front of the Aria Hotel day or night makes walking outside the recommended path if you are rolling luggage to hotel check-in. Otherwise you pass through the casino across the length of the large hotel on a possibly crowded floor. Inside the casino you will pass by several restaurants and bars in a softly lit interior walk along the periphery of the gaming area to the registration desk at the far side of the building.
Check-in
I was offered a suite upgrade for $75 per night, but apparently my attention was captivated by the long piece of shiny metal running the wall behind the registration desk since I turned down the offer.
Silver River is 84-feet of reclaimed silver cast sculpture of the Colorado River by American artist Maya Lin. She is probably most famous for designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., a public design competition she won at the age of 21.
Aria Resort and Casino is the centerpiece of CityCenter Las Vegas. Opened in December 2009, CityCenter is the largest privately funded real estate development in the U.S. at a cost around 8.5 billion dollars to MGM Mirage.
Pelli Clark Pelli Architects designed Aria Resort and Casino. This is the same firm that designed the iconic Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur. The architectural firm received the Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Award in 2010 for Aria Resort and Casino.
Aria is the largest hotel in the world to have received LEED Gold certification. LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system providing third-party independent verification that a building meets design requirements for energy savings, water efficiency, improved indoor environmental quality, green building design and maintenance.
So what about the hotel rooms?
My 24th floor room seemed about 120 yards from the elevators. I am convinced you could walk a mile just covering the hallways of this single floor a couple of times. The rooms on this floor spread out in a curving fashion.
The windows in this wing (upper left in map) hallway look out to Vdara, a sister MGM Resorts hotel at CityCenter, and the Cosmopolitan hotel, adjacent to Vdara, but not actually part of CityCenter project. The Cosmopolitan opens next week on December 15, 2010 and has signed as a Marriott Autograph Collection brand.
The room key operates by radio frequency and opens the door by waving the key in front of the door’s circular pad rather than sliding into a lock mechanism.
Upon entering the room for the first time the drapes and blinds electronically open automatically and music plays on the TV. I enjoyed the musical selection playing but I never again found that music type on the sound system after my initial room entry. My room ovelooked the pool area of Aria Resort and the back side of the hotel looking toward the southwest portion of Las Vegas and the mountains.
The 520-square foot room has high-tech electronics controlled by master switches on the walls, a nightstand touchscreen control panel I had some difficulty working and through the TV remote that I also had some difficulty working for certain functions.
The complaint I read most for this hotel in guest reviews was the difficulty in getting the technology to work properly. In all fairness to Aria’s room system, I was able to get most functions to work correctly without issue, but little glitches like the wake-up alarm not setting properly, switching to the TV through a remote control glitch when I was trying to change music selections, and finding it difficult to turn off the lights while keeping the blinds open were challenges I faced during my stay.
Wall and nightstand electronic switches are accompanied by a nightstand master remote unit and the TV remote.
The bed had quite a bit of bedding. The first night I was not particularly comfortable since I prefer a harder bed. The second night I slept better. The bed is probably perfectly fine for most guests.
The desk had plugs for a variety of media inputs. Wireless is part of the $20 daily resort fee implemented just last week at the Aria Resort.
The resort fee includes complimentary access to fitness room and a daily paper privilege you must redeem yourself at the hotel store. I also received two free drink coupons worth $8.65 each for a pint of Stella Artois at the Bar Moderno. The drink coupon is redeemable at four of Aria’s hotel bars.
The bathroom in my King Deluxe had adjacent shower and bathtub in a single glass door unit. Higher category rooms at the hotel have a separate tub and shower unit.
All Aria rooms I saw had a double sink vanity unit in the bathroom.
The basic room like mine had a standard water efficient toilet. High category rooms at the Aria Resort have electronic units with sensors that open the toilet automatically when you walk into the stall and a variety of wash functions. I will write another blog post to show features of different category hotel rooms I saw during my room tour of the Aria Resort.
The entry hall has closets, robes, drawers and a full length mirror. The door e-panel has buttons for room privacy and room servicing indicator messages in the hall outside the door.
The room had a room safe in the nightstand drawer. My dad in his practical way asked “What would keep someone from just taking the whole drawer out of the unit?”
As I played with the safe in the drawer (I was not attempting to remove the drawer) a message came up on the TV. I suppose there would be some kind of an electronic alarm for hotel security if the drawer were taken out of the unit.
The hotel mini-bar is the electronic type meaning you are charged when you move an object inside. The air temperature unit worked quite well as I turned down the temperature to a comfortable 66 degrees for me during my entire stay from the 72 degrees default setting.
My next post will cover the other aspects of Aria Resort like the restaurants and bars, pools, Aria Spa, fitness room, art installations, and different room types in the hotel.
Loyalty Traveler Disclosure on this hotel review- I have not been paid or received any compensation by MGM Mirage or hotels mentioned in this piece. I did not receive complimentary rooms for this hotel stay.
When I rave about something, I rave about it because the hotel appealed to me personally. When I complain about a hotel, then my complaint is due to a problem I had or the potential for a guest problem I foresee with a hotel.
I am a consumer analyst covering hotels for hotel guests.
Over the next week I will be writing extensively about several new hotels in Las Vegas with stays at Aria and Mandarin Oriental. These trips to Las Vegas and my hotel reviews are a result of incredible hotel + air package deals I purchased through Expedia Canada’s SAVE300 promotion in November when trips to Las Vegas were discounted by $300. While the Expedia promotion was meant for travel from Canada, there was a window of opportunity to book these packages from any location.
Trips from California to Las Vegas priced out at under $300 all-in for one and two night stays at 5-star Las Vegas resorts like Wynn, Bellagio, Aria, Four Seasons and Mandarin Oriental. My two night stay at Aria Resort in a basic room with a roundtrip ticket from San Jose, California cost a total of $82 Canadian dollars. The same package from San Francisco would have been free, or I could have upgraded to a higher category room for a slightly higher rate.
Ultimately I saw several different room categories at the Aria Hotel during my two-night stay. The tour was not just for me being Loyalty Traveler asking for a hotel tour, but by a lucky coincidence. My hotel stay dates and request matched an arranged tour time for travel agents attending the Luxury Travel Expo 2010 at Mandalay Bay Las Vegas, another MGM Resorts property.
Aria’s open house reception showed off the hotel to perhaps a hundred travel agents from the Expo. I tagged along at the invitation of the Aria hotel with a group of about ten others. The tour started with the basic King Deluxe, the same category room at 520 square feet size that I stayed in, although the tour room had a more desirable hotel higher floor location and view. I saw a King Deluxe corner room with Strip view, a one-bedroom suite, a one-bedroom Sky Suite on the 51st floor and a top of the line 58th floor 3-bedroom Sky Villa. One article I read listed a rate around $6,000 per night for this Sky Villa at some point in 2010.
I found the Aria Resort to be a top-level hotel room and beautifully designed resort in CityCenter Las Vegas. The group of travel agents I spent a couple of hours with on Thursday evening touring rooms at Aria Resort and Casino also seemed impressed by the hotel room design, views, and features. This AAA 5-diamond rated hotel is truly luxury at a bargain price with rates as low as $129 per night for many weekdays in December 2010.
Related Posts:
Betting on Expedia.ca for a Vegas Suite Deal (Nov 20, 2010) [This post tells how I bought my flight to Las Vegas and an upgraded room at the Mandarin Oriental for $12.]
CityCenter Las Vegas – Art, Architecture and Space (Dec 16, 2010)
Hotel Detail – Aria Resort and Casino Las Vegas in HD (Dec 11, 2010)
Aria Resort Las Vegas – Pools, Spa and Dining (Dec 12, 2010)
Aria Resort Corner Suite and SkySuites (Dec 18, 2010)
Aria Resort Las Vegas SkyVilla 19 (Dec 19, 2010)
Vdara Hotel, CityCenter Las Vegas (Dec 19, 2010)
Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas (Dec 23, 2010)
The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas (Dec 21, 2010) (The Cosmopolitan is next to Vdara Hotel, but not part of CityCenter complex. The Cosmopolitan is a Marriott Autograph Collection Hotel.)
