Took me three days to drink it though with all the wine being served at each press media meal. And I had to hit up the Club Lounge attendant for a big cup of ice when I had two beers and a bottle of wine to consume before my flight home to California. The beers were no problem.

Some Chicago local hanging out on a bench reading the newspaper at ORD left the airport with a free bottle of unopened wine courtesy of me and JW Marriott Chicago.

Might have been pizza if I’d answered the questionnaire differently?

JW Marriott Chicago Standard Room 1231

JW Marriott Chicago Standard Room 1231

JW Marriott Chicago is a 2010 hotel in a 1914 former bank building designed by renowned Chicago architect Daniel Burnham. The building housing the JW Marriott is a 21-story building known as the Continental & Commercial National Bank Building in Chicago’s Downtown Loop District, the historic commercial center of Chicago. The JW Marriott hotel is a $400 million dollar refurbishment of the 12 lower floors of the building that opened in November 2010. There are 610 rooms with 29 suites.

Daniel Burnham died in 1912 two years before the Continental & Commercial National Bank Building was completed. This building was the last building he worked on.

Lobby staircase JW Marriott Chicago (W City Center hotel is visible directly across West Adams Street).

Human or Tech information interface choices

JW Marriott Chicago electronic concierge is near the staffed Concierge desk in the lobby.

The original building design had a five story atrium that has been replaced with four floors holding the lobby, restaurants, conference rooms and ballrooms.

Remnants of the original atrium ceiling are found in 4th floor ceiling at Burnham Ballroom.

JW Marriott Chicago 4th Floor ceiling.

JW Marriott Chicago Burnham Ballroom ceiling

JW Wine Ambassador Program

The bottle of wine accompanying this food selection: 2007 Rancia, Chiant Classico Riserva, Tuscany.

This Sangiovese has a brilliant rich ruby red color. The nose is spicy with floral notes and berry nuances. Spice continues in the mouth, nicely complemented by a dense, soft fabirc of youthful tannins; excellent structure and superb overall character.

Paired with food:

• Heirloom Tomato Bruschetta & Asiago Crackers
• Chef’s Signature Rubbed All-Natural Tenderloin Panini, Arugula, Brussels Sprouts, Chianti Aioli (I downed the slider even before taking the photo above. All that is left is the stick.)
• Double Chocolate & Frango Mint cupcake

This wine and food tray was the welcome amenity waiting with my beers upon arrival into the room.

No time for wine in the room since a tour of the JW Marriott Chicago specialty suites was scheduled within the hour. Photos of those suites are in my earlier post.

Architectural wall art outside Burnham Ballroom, JW Marriott Chicago.

JW Marriott Chicago’s Spring Media Reception May 15, 2012

Our small media group of about a dozen attendees were treated to a meal and six wines in the 4th floor Hospitality Suite.

Starter – Fresh Ricotta and Zucchini Ravioli, Spring Garlic paired with 2010 Littorai Pinot Noir The Pivot, Sonoma Coast.

Starter – Heirloom Tomato and Watermelon Salad, Barrel Aged Feta, White Balsamic Reduction paired with 2011 Villa Maria, Sauvignon Blanc, Marlborough, New Zealand.

Herb Rubbed Rack of Lamb, local peas, morels, fingerling potatoes paired with 2007 Altamura, Sangiovese, Wooden Valley, California.

Finale – Floating Island paired with 2010 Marenco Brachetto d’Acqui, Piemonte, Italy

This meal was designed by Chef Michael Reich and Director of Restaurants Olivier Lau.

Olivier Lau mentioned the JW Marriott Chicago runs monthly Facebook and Twitter contests for locals around Chicago to receive invitations to wine tastings at the hotel. Here is a Chicago Eater article on the wine ambassador contest from last month.

This was one of just three meals I had at JW Marriott Chicago. I barely ate for days after the hotel stay. Florentine is the fine dining restaurant at the hotel and we also had lunch at the Lobby Lounge. Dinner at the Florentine Italian Restaurant JW Marriott Chicago was the final event of the press trip and included a wine pairing with five courses. Those meals and photos will have to be in a different post.

Living in a Historical Bank

Here are some exterior shots of the JW Marriott Chicago building.

La Salle street entrance to JW Marriott Chicago is used by office workers in higher floors and VIP types who can bypass main lobby.

JW Marriott Chicago is on right with Willis Tower (Sears Tower), the tallest building in U.S. in background.

Daniel Burnham designed JW Marriott building is a Chicago Landmark.

JW Marriott Chicago main entrance at 151 West Adams Street.

Loyalty Traveler Paired with Press Relations

For months now I have wanted to write about press trips and the relationship of PR teams to hotels and hotel loyalty programs. This is an area of the hotel industry I am still trying to figure out. In six years I have only accepted a handful of media trips. I didn’t start Loyalty Traveler to get free trips from hotel companies. I had been doing just fine for more than a decade with hotel loyalty points before I ever took a freebie.

JW Marriott Chicago is my fifth press trip where I have had a complimentary hotel stay while attending a tour or meeting as Loyalty Traveler blogger.

The common complaint by readers is a “freebie” is not indicative of the same experience as the common guest to the hotel.

I have to agree.

Press trips tend to be fast paced agendas stuffed full of food dining and activities, designed to fill the day with experiences for story writing in magazines, newspapers and online sites like my blog. Generally it is pretty damn nice to have a free room, free meals and drinks, waived conference fees and free activities as a press media attendee.

“That’s the way you do it, money for nothing and your chicks trips for free.” my version of Money for Nothing – Dire Straits

While not my typical guest experience, this JW Marriott Chicago trip provided samples of the Wine Ambassador program, several multi-course meals, a two-hour spa treatment, and a field trip to the Frank LLoyd Wright Home & Studio in Oak Park and the Robie House in Hyde Park.

Most of these experiences are available to paying guests except perhaps the tour of the JW Marriott Chicago specialty suites and you might not necessarily have tour guides from the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust.

Seriously, media trips seem to be the standard in the travel industry, unless you have a deep pockets employer to cover all the travel bills.

After a few of these trips I have come to think of them as a kind of professional development opportunity. I get the chance to meet other journalists, most not working primarily in the blogosphere, and I learn more about the hotel industry each trip through meetings with upper level management, tourism board representatives and staff members of major PR firms. Often there are more PR people around than hotel staff.

I’ll continue to accept opportunities for hotel travel and local tourism press trips when I think the experience will provide good content for Loyalty Traveler. My focus, as always, is finding good value for hotel travelers. Spa treatments and multi-course meals with wine is not my typical travel style, but it might be yours. Hopefully these sponsored trips still provide good information to readers.

Thanks JW Marriott Chicago and Caiti Carrow from Wagstaff Worldwide Public Relations for inviting me on this trip.

Still to come in other posts: the 12th floor lounge, and the bathroom photos, Valeo Spa and the fitness center. Florentine Restaurant and the Lobby Lounge will also be covered.

Turns out I didn’t get many lobby photos. Too much security all around the floor in advance of the NATO Summit.

JW Marriott Chicago 

Marriott Rewards Category 7 Hotel = 35,000 points/night.

JW Hotel of the Year

JW Marriott proudly announces that the new luxury, landmark hotel located in the heart of Chicago’s Loop district has been named ‘JW Hotel of the Year’ at the recent 2012 Global General Managers Conference. Recognized as the top JW hotel for service, guest experience and financial success.

JW Marriott Chicago Sample Rates:May 25-27, 2012

• $224 per night standard King room.
• $269 standard room with breakfast for two.
• $399 per night for 930 sq. ft. luxury suite.

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.

JW Marriott Chicago invited a handful of journalists and social media types to check out the hotel this week. I am happy to get the opportunity to share some of the JW Marriott Chicago experiences with readers that I would not be writing about otherwise with my not-so-deep Loyalty Traveler pockets.

Upon Arrival: My name is …

Upon arrival from Chicago O’Hare the taxi driver was thinking I might be a celebrity or some VIP when the JW Marriott Chicago doorman greeted me by name. I told the driver he read the name off the big BoardingArea-Loyalty Traveler business card on my computer bag.

I think you need good eyesight to be a high-end hotel doorman.

What did catch me by surprise though is the two other staff people in the lobby who greeted me by name as I walked to the front desk.

These people are wired. I mean the guys in the lobby look like secret service types with their ear pieces. Obviously they are in communication with each other.

Safety is their concern

Security is a feature I have always associated with the high-end Marriott hotels. I make this association due to the fact that I have been kicked out of more Marriott hotels than any other hotel chain for walking around taking photos when I was not a guest at the hotel. That comes with the territory of being a spontaneous hotel drop-in blogger.

This past year I have been much better about actually requesting appointments and introducing myself at the front desk of hotels when I arrive to check a new hotel out.

Feels nice to be a welcomed guest at JW Marriott Chicago.

Security is a significant concern for a major city hotel like JW Marriott Chicago. This is the kind of hotel that regularly hosts captains of industry, celebrities and heads of state.

The city of Chicago recently hosted the 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates April 23-25, 2012. Several of the attendees stayed at the JW Marriott Chicago. And the Nato Summit comes to town May 20-21. Police presence is heavy all around this financial district part of Chicago.

This Suite is for You

So what kind of hotel room do you get when you are someone like His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama or President Mikhail Gorbachev? 

Here are photos of three specialty suites at JW Marriott Chicago just in case you care to see what a 2,000 square feet suite hotel contains.

Foyer of La Salle Suite, JW Marriott Chicago

Living room of La Salle Suite, JW Marriott Chicago

Living room of La Salle Suite, JW Marriott Chicago.

LaSalle Suite Bedroom

LaSalle Suite bedroom tv.

Deep tub in La Salle Suite, JW Marriott Chicago.

The simple elegance of the La Salle Suite apparently accommodated the Dalai Lama for the Nobel Peace Laureate Summit.

All rooms at the JW Marriott Chicago have both a tub and a separate shower. The shower stall is shown in McCormick Suite photos below.

McCormick Suite at JW Marriott

La Salle Suite is simple elegance, but what does a former head of state like President Clinton need in a hotel suite?

Perhaps more room space.

McCormick Suite living room at JW Marriott Chicago

McCormick Suite office at JW Marriott Chicago.

Dining table in McCormick Suite JW Marriott Chicago.

A dining room is more functional with an en suite kitchen.

McCormick Suite living room and office and entry foyer.

McCormick Suite bedroom at JW Marriott Chicago.

Bedroom TV corner in McCormick Suite, JW Marriott Chicago.

Left door is toilet, right is dual head shower, dual sinks and TV embedded in mirror.

Soaking in the tub staring at giraffes might be more relaxing than a shower.

The McCormick Suite is nice, but my personal favorite is the Lincoln Suite.

Lincoln Suite, JW Marriott Chicago

The Lincoln Suite really appealed to me as a comfortable social living space. Now if only it would come at a LivingSocial room rate.

Lincoln Suite living room at JW Marriott Chicago.

Another view.

Lincoln Suite dining room at JW Marriott Chicago.

Lincoln Suite kitchen at JW Marriott Chicago.

Library corner in Lincoln Suite.

Office space in Lincoln Suite.

Lincoln Suite hallway art.

Lincoln Suite bedroom.

The bathroom in the Lincoln Suite is similar to McCormick Suite.

JW Marriott Experiences

These photos share a little of the suite life at the JW Marriott Chicago. I’d love to say that I spent the night in one of these suites, but I didn’t. The opportunity to check out these suites was just one of the treats during this trip.

The standard room where I stayed was on the 12th floor Executive lounge floor; the top hotel floor in the 21-story Daniel Burnham design building. Even the standard rooms of the JW Marriott Chicago have plenty of fine features for a comfortable stay.

I commend JW Marriott for exemplary service levels during my stay. The hotel truly provided outstanding service, even from staff who likely did not know I would be writing about my stay at the hotel.

Additional posts over the next week will describe the JW Marriott Wine Ambassador program, Valeo Spa, my guest room and Executive Lounge, and Florentine Restaurant.

Also, a field trip tour of two Frank Lloyd Wright houses with guides from the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust provided plenty of material for a good architecture style post.

This JW Marriott Chicago visit has definitely been experiential.

I’ll follow-up with more extensive hotel reviews for individual properties once I am settled back at home. Today is a perfectly clear blue sky day for driving Highway 1 along the Big Sur coast back to Monterey. Los Angeles had some big rain Wednesday night and it wasn’t until yesterday afternoon that the sun finally came out after five cloudy days. The cloudy skies made point-and-shoot photography tough.

Andaz West Hollywood (Hyatt Hotels)

Best Western Sunset Plaza, West Hollywood courtyard pool.

The Mondrian L.A. (Morgans Hotel Group)

Historic Chateau Marmont in Hollywood. 

Beverly Hills has old trees on quiet residential streets where you can park a car during the day and walk around neighborhoods. 

Bucolic Beverly Hills is such a contrast to the vibrant music and party scene of adjacent West Hollywood. I enjoyed both locations thoroughly.

Penthouse rooftop view from Beverly Hilton.

Yoga space with a view of Beverly Hills and the Hollywood Hills from the rooftop helipad at InterContinental Los Angeles Century City. The little white spot at the top of the mountains in the center of this photo is the Hollywood sign.

My entourage missed this scene at the Hyatt Century Plaza.

I drove Sunset Blvd. to sunset on PCH-Highway 1 for the drive north through Malibu and out of Los Angeles County.

And now its time for the Big Sur coast today – I am going home to Monterey.

Update April 30: I uploaded 85 photos of Andaz West Hollywood with captions on Loyalty Traveler Facebook.

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.

Leaving One&Only Ocean Club was one of the best parts of my trip to the Bahamas. I was directed to leave the resort via the Versailles Gardens which led me to the Cloister. This strip of land cutting across Paradise Island north to south is some of the most beautiful imagery to see if your journeys take you to Nassau.

And as long as you don’t wander too close to the One&Only swimming pool, the Versailles Gardens is open to the public and there is no impediment to visiting the Cloisters on the south side of Paradise Island Road to the golf course.

The terraced gardens have statues and pools and green lawns touched with floral color landscape.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt statue in distance.

“Dr. Livingstone I presume”

No woman, no cry. – Bob Marley. Not really the name of the sculpturethough.

The view of the gardens across the island is magnificent.

The Cloister is on the south side of Paradise Island Road.

The narrow garden continues between two timeshare/villa properties.  The cloister is a 13th century Augustine cloister from France that passed through the hands of Randolph William Hearst to Huntington Hartford.  The Cloister was reassembled piece by piece by hand and supposedly with no directions.

“This cloister was built in the XII-XIII centuries, Montrejau, France by the Augustinian Order. It was rebuilt in 1968 by J.J. Castremanne for H. Hartford. Architect J.L. Volk”

A gazebo is near the garden’s edge.

View of Cloister from Gazebo.

Versailles Gardens and the Cloister

KarensGardenTips.com also has a piece on Versailles Gardens and Cloister.

A Canadian floral blogger posted a piece February 24, 2012 with photos of the gardens and cloister with nice photos for more detailed look of Versailles Gardens and the Cloister.

My Day Trip On the Beach

Paradise Island has a long beach on the north side where the hotel resorts are located. Atlantis to One&Only Ocean Club is a walk along the beach of about 500 yards. Alternatively, a shuttle transports visitors from Atlantis resorts to the front door of the Ocean Club.

Checkout at Atlantis is 11am and I stored my luggage with a plan to see many of the sights of Paradise Island I’d not yet visited in three days of meetings and parties at the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group 2012 Global Business Conference. This meant dressing in shorts and tennis shoes and carrying a small pack with some water bottles, swim suit, spare shirt, suntan lotion and sandals for a day at hotels, the beach and swimming pools. The Atlantis pools are only open 9am-5pm – Las Vegas Strip hours – and I had not yet made it into a pool for a swim after three days.

Outside the Royal Towers of Atlantis I waited for the complimentary shuttle to the Ocean Club.

I had eaten at the Royal Towers Marketplace breakfast buffet immediately before checkout at Atlantis, so when I arrived around noon at the One&Only Ocean Club, a Leading Hotels of the World member, I thought I’d wander around the grounds and see what a $1,000 per night resort offers guests.  Then I figured I would sit back at Dune, the Ocean Club’s restaurant/bar overlooking the beach, and have a drink or two.

Stepping outside onto the serenity of the green grass lawn and ocean overlook deck revealed a quiet, low-key resort for true relaxation without the crowds and ever present noise of DJ rhythms blaring from pool loudspeakers during the daytime hours at Atlantis.

The wing with the cheapest rooms at Ocean Club is located to the left of the library.

A couple who exited the Atlantis resort shuttle bus with me walked directly to Dune.

The telescope on the ocean overlook deck caught my eye and I wanted to watch a couple paragliding several hundred yards off the coast up close.

The deck provided views down the beach.

The Cove hotel unit of Atlantis is visible in the distance from One&Only Ocean Club resort.

The green grass lawn has the feeling of being on a Caribbean colonial estate. This development of the Ocean Club is a remnant of colonial estates. Axel Wenner-Gren (1881-1961), Swedish and one of the world’s wealthiest men in the 1930s (Electrolux vacuum, Disneyland monorail construction), retired during WWII to his estate on then-called Hog Island.

Many of the current features of Paradise Island including the Ocean Club, Versailles Gardens and the Cloister and the golf course were developed by Huntington Hartford (1911-2008), the A&P supermarket heir. He purchased Hog Island from Axel Wenner-Gren, renamed it Paradise Island, and developed the area from 1959-1962 when the Ocean Club opened.  Hartford secured the gambling license for the island and with partner Jim Crosby heading a company Resorts International, the island was developed as a resort destination.

Huntington Hartford was a wealthy man. A&P grocers was like the Walmart of the 20th century from 1915 to 1975. As a kid in the 1960s I learned A&P was the largest grocery store chain in the USA and that baffled me living in California where I never saw an A&P market. A&P started out as a 19th century New York City based specialty shops for tea and coffee. The business developed into the first self-serve markets in the US. A&P went from 1,600 grocery stores in 1915 to 16,000 by 1930 and became the world’s largest retailer.

The gist of this information is Ocean Club Paradise Island has been a resort destination and land holdings of global billionaires for most of the past century.

Donald Trump owned Paradise Island briefly in the late 1980s and then Merv Griffin. The islands gambling development had significant tie-ins with development of Atlantic City casinos. Merv Griffin went bankrupt with Paridse Island and the property was purchased in 1994 by Sol Kerzner, South African hotel-casino magnate.

Kerzner launched One&Only resorts in 2002.

Private Property – No Trespassing

Getting back to the beach on Paradise Island from the road without going through Versailles Gardens turned out to be a little difficult.

I walked past the industrial laundry facility for Paradise Island and the electric power plant and ended up at the Gold Course guard gate. They directed me back to the laundry facility street. The street at lunch time was lined with parked cars, vans and trucks and I realized this was what we call in California Taco Truck diner alleys. There were several cars with the doors and hatchbacks open selling hot food items to local workers out on the street.

At the end of the road I found myself at two sets of condominiums, each with large no trespassing – no beach access signs. I asked a local black guy working on a car in the alley how to get to the beach and he points to the two sets of condos and says walk through either one. Duh? I pass a white guy on the narrow sidewalk in between about a dozen condo units before I reach the beach gate access.

Wooden beach stairs lead to sand and I almost lose a tennis show when I stop to strip barefoot and my shoe drops off the side of the steps and gets caught on the top branches of a beach bush. It would have been gnarly if I had to try and retrieve the shoe from the dense lower branches nestled up against the sand dune beach barrier between the buildings and the sea.

The beach sand and cool water felt good after walking around for an hour in the 80-degree sun.

I guess there were plenty of $1,000 per night guests around the One&Only resort, but for my fifteen minutes of fame, I was the only guy using many of the enchanting spaces around Ocean Club Paradise Island on a February Friday afternoon.

Casually walking back to Atlantis Resort in the gently lapping surf of the north shore Paradise Island felt refreshing on a bright sunshiny day.

Related Links:

Points, Miles & Martinis – Earn Triple Miles with One & Only Resort Stays (March 8, 2012) – This blogger has actually experienced Ocean Club as a guest. They would have to comp me the room rate for me to afford a One&Only hotel stay. Even Atlantis is far more than I typically spend for hotel travel and resorts.

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.

• Luxury = $262 ADR
• Upper Upscale = $148 ADR
• Upscale = $112 ADR
• Upper Midscale = $94 ADR
• Midscale = $73 ADR
• Economy = $50 ADR

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.

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:

• French Fries $3.75
• Ice Cream $7.00
• Hot Dog $6.50
• Hamburger $8.50
• Pesto pasta salad $10.00
• Roast beef sandwich $13.00
• Drinks ? – prices were not listed on menu in my photo.

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 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.

View from room 15596 in Royal Towers.

This post will focus on the hotel properties at Atlantis and I will follow up with separate posts on Aquaventure water park, pools, aquarium exhibits and the beaches. I only ate at two restaurants of two dozen at the resort during my four days at Atlantis. While I walked through the casino several times, I did not gamble, so I have little insight to dining and gambling at Atlantis.

History of Atlantis

Atlantis opened in December 1998 after the former Paradise island Resort and casino went bankrupt and South African hotel and casino magnate Sol Kerzer purchased the property in 1994. Kerzer at the time was best known for developing the South Africa resort and casino Sun City.

I remember the 1985 MTV anti-apartheid video hit “Sun City” by Steve van Zandt (Springsteen’s E Street band guitarist). The Paradise Island Resort was transformed into Atlantis with the construction of one of the largest man-made marine habitats in the world and the design of Royal Towers on the west side of the casino as the iconic centerpiece hotel building for the resort.

The Royal Towers opened in December 1998 with a construction cost of $480 million and the Atlantis resort was an $800 million dollar project overall to construct the world’s largest marine habitat with lagoons, aquariums, pools, waterfalls and the largest casino in the Caribbean.

Coral Towers and Beach Towers

The photo above shows the older properties of Atlantis consisting of the Coral Towers on the right and the low level building close to the beach. The Beach Towers are three hotel wings around a central axis in the background behind the low rise hotel wing. The tallest building in the distance is the Riu Resort and not part of Atlantis. The Beach Towers and Coral Towers rooms tend to be the lowest priced rooms at the resort.

Beach Towers

Beach Towers is the oldest building of Atlantis and originally was named Trump Plaza when Donald Trump was invested in Paradise Island.

These rooms are the closest rooms to the convention center at Atlantis. I had to plan about 20 minutes to walk from my room at Royal Towers to the convention center meeting rooms for the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group 2012 Global Conference.

Coral Towers

Atlantis is so large that I didn’t even wander around the grounds outside the Beach and Coral Towers until my fourth day at the resort.

Shark lagoon outside Coral Towers low rise wing. Coral Towers was a much quieter part of the resort compared to the pools around Royal Towers. One of the features of Atlantis is the opportunity to observe and even participate in activities around the resort. At the time I was exploring this portion of Atlantis I watched children feeding stingrays (free activity) and some teenage girls feeding the sharks seen in the photo above (fee activity available for booking through Atlantis Adventures desk).

Feeding stingrays in a Coral Towers lagoon.

The Library – 15 minutes Free Internet Access Daily

Coral Towers is where “The Library” is located offering about 10 computers where guests can access the internet for free for 15 minutes each day. The $20 per day internet fee kept me off my computer for most of my stay at Atlantis.

The Library in Coral Towers

View of the high-rise Coral Towers building from the Library.

Royal Towers

Atlantis is such a large resort that shuttles transport guests and luggage between the hotel buildings. I generally walked all over the resort after a couple of times waiting 30 minutes for a shuttle for what would be a 15 minute walk.

Entry drive to Royal Towers, Atlantis

The Marina seen from entry to Royal Towers.

Harborside Resort is a timeshare villas complex with nearly 400 residences and part of the Atlantis complex.

The fountain in the entry drive of the Royal Towers.

Reception area rotunda at Royal Towers.

Rotunda ceiling.

One of several murals around the rotunda at Royal Towers reception area.

Grand hallway leading to the Atlantis casino. Rotunda on right and the aquarium and lagoon views on the left.

The stairway to the floor below the Rotunda of the Royal Towers reveals the aquarium and the entrance to “The Dig” where visitors can view thousands of marine animals. I will cover this feature of Atlantis in a separate post.

My room 15596

The room was comfortable and offered a great view of Atlantis.

I had a full balcony with chairs which is an upgraded room for Royal Towers where most rooms have shallow French balconies without the space to sit outside.

Sunrise on Paradise Island – view from my balcony room.

There are two features of the room worth pointing out. An energy saving feature is the AC shuts down automatically when the patio doors are open. The other item of note was the Gilchrist & Soames bath amenities. I am kind of annoyed that I didn’t load up my luggage with the three bars of soap in my room when I checked out. I am running low on bath soap and one measure I use for the caliber of my hotel stays is when I run out of fine soaps at home, then I figure it has been too long since I have stayed in a luxury hotel.

Mayan Temple water slide with shark tank pool to the right of the temple. This is a view from my room balcony.

Atlantis is a full-service Resort

Beach resorts are not my thing, but Atlantis is nearly all I can imagine I’d want in a beach resort, except for the fact that there was not a hot tub or pool open after 5pm for guests. From reviews I read, the pool hours may go to 7pm in spring and summer months, but only 8 to 10 hours of pool time each day is one of the most annoying aspects of this resort. As in Las Vegas, the objective at Atlantis seems to be getting guests dining in the dozens of high-priced restaurants and bars around the resort and gambling in the casino during the evening hours.

From the moment I stepped out of the taxi I was impressed by the 5-star service I experienced at Atlantis. I was addressed by name upon arrival and I wondered how the person could possibly know my name. I then saw the Alaska Airlines paper luggage tag was open and the staff member had read my name off the tag.

Being addressed by name was a common occurrence during my stay as staff members read my name off the Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group Global Conference lanyard. I was amazed that so many people had eyesight that good. One of the signs of a 5-star resort is being addressed by name.

Blogger Disclosure

Atlantis was the Carlson Rezidor 2012 Global Conference venue (Radisson and Country Inns & Suites hotel chains) and is not a hotel property connected with Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. The fact that my stay at Atlantis was paid by the Carlson Rezidor folks as a media representative for their global conference does not really impact my review of the hotel, except to say I enjoyed one of the most expensive hotel resorts in the world much more than I probably would have if I had been paying the high prices to stay and dine there.

Suffice to say that this is one expensive resort to experience, but my impression is Atlantis is one of the most expansive hotel resorts I have ever seen and certainly an interesting place to experience.

There are so many things to share about Atlantis. I will follow up this post with several more to detail more features of the resort and provide links between the posts.

Ocean Club, Paradise Island, Nassau, Bahamas

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 23^rd floor is the top Sky Lobby hotel floor at the Mandarin Oriental Las Vegas. 

The lobby reception desk on the 23^rd 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 3^rd 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 23^rd 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 23^rd 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 23^rd 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 23^rd 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 23^rd floor main reception desk in the Sky Lobby.

Sky Lobby – 23^rd 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 11^th 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 8^th 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.)

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.)