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.)

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 9^th 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 59^th 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 24^th 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.)

16 months later I am in the center of the action at CityCenter. This is Tomorrow Land of Las Vegas.

CityCenter tram passing in front of Aria Resort at night, Las Vegas December 2010

Aria Resort is high-tech room experience.  I had a wonderful hotel tour of Aria Resort in my Loyalty Traveler freeloader kind of way by tagging along with a bunch of travel agents from the Luxury Travel Expo 2010 conference at Mandalay Bay who were escorted around the Aria Hotel yesterday evening. The tour culminated with a wine reception in a top-floor 6,000 square feet, bi-level SkyVilla with three bedrooms, six or seven bathrooms (I’ll have to count my photos – toilets aren’t something I normally photograph, but these toilets were exceptional), a sauna, workout room, barber chair, massage table, and incredible views of the Las Vegas basin in all its nighttime lighted beauty.

Extensive coverage will follow this weekend after I actually have some real sleep.

Thanks Expedia.ca  for allowing all of us American freeloaders to take advantage of your Canadian Las Vegas Save300 promotion.

You provided me a priceless opportunity to experience high-roller luxury in a AAA 5-Diamond Resort Hotel.

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 hotel opened three weeks ago with 610 guestrooms on the lower 12 floors of the building. TimeOut Chicago has a 21 photo slideshow of the new hotel interior.

Dom Perignon Champagne & Andy Warhol-inspired snacks

Wednesday, December 1 from 4-9 pm there will be an event in the JW Marriott Lounge hosted by Dom Perignon to release a new limited edition collection of Warhol-inspired DP champagne bottles with a 2002 vintage. The bottles come in six colors and Warhol inspired appetizers will accompany the specially priced champagne.

Sounds like an interesting event if you have the time and inclination to check out the new JW Marriott Chicago hotel.

Room rates currently run at $239 per night for this weekend Dec 3-5, 2010.

My goal is to show readers what is possible with hotel loyalty programs. Sometimes I probably get a nice upgrade due to being Loyalty Traveler, but the nice upgrades were a benefit I received as an elite hotel loyalty program member for many years prior to writing this blog.

Here is an example of how I stayed mostly in upper upscale and luxury hotels in Chicago for under $100 per night this past week even though a major Opthalmologist Convention was happening and filling many of the downtown Chicago hotels.

Holiday Inn Elk Grove (O’Hare Airport)

• Points & Cash = 0 points + $30
• Priority Club elite benefit = free Gatorade and chips from hotel pantry
• Published room rate = $109 or $122.08 after tax
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $30 + $5 maid tip = $35
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $87.08

Holiday Inn Elk Grove Village (O'Hare)

Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers

• SPG Cash & Points $60 + 4,000 points
• SPG Platinum benefits = 33^rd floor lounge access with evening snacks and sodas, morning lounge breakfast, free internet, SPG Platinum Welcome Amenity 500 points and late checkout
• Published Room Rate = $265 or $304.75 after tax.
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $69 + $5 maid tip = $74
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $230.75
• There is no cash equivalent value given for the 8,000 Starpoints used in Chicago since I earned 70,000 free Starpoints through this “My Midas Touch” promotion. There was also an option to buy SPG points at the rate of $145 per 10,000 points through DiscoverAmerica.com in May 2010. The cash equivalent value for 4,000 points would have been $58.

Room view from Sheraton Chicago

W Hotel Lakeshore

• SPG Cash & Points $60 + 4,000 points
• SPG Platinum benefits = Lakeview room, high floor, two free drinks at the Wave Bar, free internet, SPG Platinum Welcome Amenity 500 points and 4 pm checkout
• Published Room Rate = $309 or $355 after tax.
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $69 + $5 maid tip = $74
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $281

View of Navy Pier from W Hotel Whiskey Sky Bar (similar to my room view)

Crowne Plaza Hotel Avenue

• Priority Club 25,000 points award ( I purchased 25,000 points last May for $150 through DiscoverAmerica.com Priority Club discount offer).
• Priority Club elite benefits = 15% off breakfast buffetat 40^th floor lounge; free beer at Elephant & Castle pub; complimentary upgrade to Tech floor with Mac computer and free internet.
• Published Room Rate = $329 or $379.67 after tax
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $15 (Elephant & Castle pub meal) + $5 maid tip = $20
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $229.67

Chicago at sunset from 40th floor rooftop pool deck at Hotel Avenue Crowne Plaza

Park Hyatt Chicago

• Hyatt Gold Passport Category 6  award for 22,000 points ( I purchased 22,000 points last June for $206.25 through DiscoverAmerica.com Hyatt Gold Passport discount offer) (oops … I posted this a few minutes ago incorrectly stating I paid $123.75, so now my average is a little over $100 per night.)
• Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond elite benefits = complimentary breakfast at NoMI ($33 value for crab omelette); free internet; Diamond member welcome amenity of 1,000 points; preferred view room on top floor (18) of hotel facing historic Chicago Water Tower.
• Published Room Rate = $422.50 (AAA) or $487.56 after tax
• Loyalty Traveler Checkout total = $5 maid tip
• Loyalty Traveler Savings = $281.31

Breakfast at 7th floor NoMI Restaurant Park Hyatt Chicago

5 hotel nights in Chicago = $564.25 for Loyalty Traveler

Actual lowest published rates for these hotel rooms = $1,649.06

That is why I am a loyalty traveler.

Shanghai Terrace provided me with one of the best dinner dining experiences I ever had for just $30.  The waiter asked my name when I entered the restaurant and I was addressed by other staff as Mr. Garrido when being waited upon. I was asked about any potential allergies after ordering my Bean Curd and Vegetables.

A selection of newspapers was offered to me for reading which I appreciated since I was dining alone. The food was superb. And I received two chocolate balls on a bed of coconut flakes in a decorated wooden box with my check.

The main lobby dining area, upstairs from Shanghai Terrace, has thick carpets which make your feet feel like you bounce along the floor. The premier restaurant at the hotel is Avenues with a set 8-course vegetarian ($105) or 8-course fish and meat dinner ($125).

The Bar is dark and cozy and stocked with items that would erase a month’s worth of my blog advertising revenue in a few sips. A beer fit my budget.

The view from the bed in my room at The Avenue Crowne Plaza looks right across to The Peninsula.

I can see the top floor pool is bathed in seductive blue lighting with large windows for looking out across the Magnificent Mile. The Peninsula top-floor workout room allows guests to look out over the historic Water Tower buildings which are survivors of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 that devastated virtually the entire city.

The Chicago Water Tower is the second oldest water tower in the U.S. behind the water tower in Louisville.

And The Peninsula was ranked the #2 hotel in the U.S. behind the 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville. How is that for a tangential coincidence!

The Peninsula Chicago provided Loyalty Traveler a magnificent evening on the Magnificent Mile in Chicago.

Trump International Hotel and Tower Chicago as seen from Sheraton Chicago Hotel and Towers

Chicago’s Willis Tower, formerly named the Sears Tower is #1. Trump International Hotel Chicago was the 6^th tallest skyscraper in the world when it was completed according to the October 21, 2009 plaque outside the hotel.

World's Tallest Building with All-Concrete Structure

Trump International Hotel and Tower is second tallest building in North America

Loyalty Traveler took a room tour. That’s one of the perks of having a business card and hotel-oriented website. In my experience, luxury hotels are willing to let me drop in and photograph their offers since I primarily write for frequent guests who may be seeking rooms in Trump’s luxury market competitive set of Ritz-Carlton, Park Hyatt, Conrad, InterContinental and W Hotels – all hotel brands within the vicinity and price range of the Trump Hotel Chicago.

Trump Chicago Superior King room (most basic room category in hotel)

The white leather case under the TV holds the remote control

The car in the shower stall is actually the mirror-embedded TV over the sink

Luxurious bath and only the second hotel I have seen with bath candles

Trump robes

Water bar

When you just can't wait for room service

Work area

Room view (14th floor is one of the lower locations in the hotel, most floors of building are residences)

Sidewalk view of Trump International Hotel and Tower, Chicago

View of Trump Chicago Tower from across the river

Trump Hotel Tower Chicago in the clouds

Chicago Skyline view from Buckingham Fountain

The Trump Tower reflected a brilliant sunspot as I walked back to my hotel.

Here is the link to the Trump Hotel Chicago photo gallery for professional photos of the property.

The Trump Hotel Chicago rates for October 22-24 are $368 per night for a two-night stay next weekend for the room category shown in my photos. The two W Hotels in Chicago and Park Hyatt Chicago have higher rates than that during most of this week.

This is a luxury hotel loyalty program promotion that has been around since June 1, but unfortunately I did not see this offer until this week. There are just five weeks left to take advantage of this promotion and you need to be in India. And unfortunately the month of November is not available for free nights redemption with this offer.

I am writing about this Oberoi Advantage offer just to bring the Oberoi Hotel chain to readers’ attention in case you find yourself traveling to India (11 hotels)  or one of the other locations with an Oberoi luxury hotel like Egypt (4), Saudi Arabia (1), Mauritius (1), Bali (1) and Lombok (1), Indonesia.

A couple of years ago I received a survey invitation from Oberoi Hotels. Bali is the only location I had ever visited with an Oberoi Hotel. The survey was professional and left me with the impression of Oberoi Hotels as a luxury hotel chain.

The Oberoi Hotels website is nice to browse just for the photos and descriptions of these wonderful hotels and locations.

I am particularly intrigued by The Oberoi Vanyavilas, Ranthambhore, India. This luxury property is a 25-room jungle resort located next to Ranthambhore Tiger Reserve. Travel + Leisure Reader’s Poll 2010 rated this hotel Number 1 in Asia and the World. There appear to be only around 20 tigers living in the National Park according to IndianTiger.org and that data is from 2001. Apparently May and June are the best months for tiger sightings, but the park is closed from July through September. The park opens again next week on October 1.

Sample room rates for Friday, September 24 at the four Oberoi Hotels

Five stays at any one or any combination of these four hotels by October 31, 2010 earn two free nights. Kolkata is the cheapest and five stays can be done for under $900 at the Oberoi Grand.

Oberoi Grand Kolkata = 6,800 INR (7,480 after 10% tax) = USD$164/night (weekday rates about USD$180 after tax).

Oberoi Bangalore = 9,200 INR (10,304 after tax) = USD$226/night

Oberoi New Delhi = 11,000 INR (12,800 after tax) = USD$281/night

Oberoi Mumbai = 14,000 INR (15,400 after tax) = USD$338/night

Oberoi Hotel leisure sample hotel rates for two free nights in December 2010

The Oberoi Vanyavilas, Ranthambhore, India Dec 7-9, 2010 = 32,000 INR = 70,400 after tax for two nights = USD$1,546 for two-night stay.

Oberoi Mauritius,  Dec 7-9, 2010 = 500€/night = USD$1,341 for two-night stay.

This is a high value promotion if you find yourself in a position to take advantage of Oberoi Advantage.

Loyalty traveler 5-key promotion.

There are about 70 Ritz-Carlton hotels participating in the new Ritz-Carlton Rewards hotel loyalty program. New members to Ritz-Carlton Rewards will receive a free night at any Tier 1, Tier 2 or Tier 3 Ritz-Carlton hotel after two stays. You have one year from date of issuance to use your free night.

The primary impediment to this offer is you must never have been a Marriott Rewards member to qualify for the free nights offer (see item#3 in this Marriott Concierge Sep 17 FlyerTalk post). That knocks out about 33 million of us loyalty travelers. So while this is not an offer I can personally use, there are people close to me who have the opportunity for some luxury travel on the cheap.

My parents do not belong to Marriott Rewards. One of my sisters does not belong to Marriott Rewards. And I have a whole lot of readers who do not belong to Marriott Rewards.

Finding cheap Ritz-Carlton Hotel Rates

Not all of us can take advantage of flying to Asia for stays at the Ritz-Carlton Kuala Lumpur where starting room rates are regularly under $150 per night.

Searching the Ritz-Carlton website for cheap dates can waste hours of your time.

Here is a step-by-step shortcut guide for finding low rate dates at Ritz-Carlton Hotels or other hotel brands using Travelocity.com/hotels flexible dates function.

• Open the webpage showing all Ritz-Carlton Hotels. Find the location of a hotel you want to rate check.
• Open a separate window for Travelocity.com/Hotels

Travelocity Hotels Flexible Date Search Tutorial-1

• Search the location of the selected Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Travelocity.com.
• For example, search Atlanta, Georgia, October 15, 2010.

Travelocity Hotel Flexible Dates Tutorial-2

• Travelocity.com will return a list of hotels in Atlanta, Georgia for your date.
• Sort the hotels by “Star Rating”. The default mode is “Travelocity Picks”. Use the drop-down menu to select Star Rating. Since Ritz-Carlton hotels are 5-star hotels the list will bring up Ritz-Carlton Hotels in the area.

Travelocity Hotel Flexible Dates tutorial-3

•  Click on the “Select Hotel” button on Travelocity.com under the rate for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Travelocity Hotel Flexible Dates tutorial-4

• Click the tab for “Flexible Dates” on the Travelocity.com hotel page.

Travelocity Hotel Flexible Dates tutorial-5

• Flexible dates shows rates on a 90-day calendar for the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The nice aspect of Hotel Best Rate Guarantees is the rate shown on Travelocity.com will indicate the low rate dates for the next three months. The rate shown on Travelocity.com should be the ceiling. The calendars indicate lowest rate dates and then you can narrow your searches on the Ritz-Carlton website to these dates and look for even lower rates or high value package deals during these low rate dates indicated by Travelocity Flexible Dates search results.

Low Rate Ritz-Carlton Hotels

In the Washington, D.C. area you can try the Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner where published rates are regularly $179 for weekends during this promotion period and drop to $159 in December.

Atlanta area travelers have a great opportunity for relatively cheap weekend rates and two Ritz-Carlton hotels. Ritz-Carlton Atlanta is $179 for Friday and Saturday weekend nights in October and November. Ritz-Carlton Buckhead Atlanta is regularly $219 on Fridays and Saturdays. And these are just the lowest published rates in default searches. AAA, senior, or special offer rates may even be lower.

Ritz-Carlton Reynolds Plantation in Greensboro, Georgia has cheaper rates on weekdays, dropping as low as $199 per night in October and November.

Ritz-Carlton Phoenix has $199 per night rates through Thanksgiving week and Ritz-Carlton Dove Mountain near Tucson drops to $259 per night during that week. Pick up some sunshine and late autumn warmth with a couple of stays and earn a free night certificate during the Thanksgiving holiday week.

Ritz-Carlton Westchester, New York drops to $259 per night during Thanksgiving week. Compare that to Ritz-Carlton New York Central Park where the lowest published rate is $995 per night during the holiday week. Ritz-Carlton New York Battery Park has a rate of $325 for tonight, September 18. Rates are as low as $345 on weekends and $395 per night during Thanksgiving week. The average weekday rate at Ritz-Carlton New York Battery Park is about $575 after tax. This hotel is a Tier 3 Ritz-Carlton reward and your free night certificate will have good redemption value at this particular hotel in 2011. New York Central Park is a Tier 5 hotel and is not eligible for the free night certificate which is restricted to Tier 3 or lower properties. New York hotel rates are the fastest rising in the U.S.

California has six Ritz-Carlton Hotels, but you will have a difficult time finding rates under $300 per night, unless you can frequent Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe in November before ski season begins and $199 nightly rates are common.

I have shown you some places where you can stay at a Ritz-Carlton Hotel for around $200 per night. Two one-night stays for under $500 will earn a free night certificate.

** The difference between a hotel stay and a hotel night.**

A hotel stay is one or more consecutive hotel nights at the same hotel, regardless if guest checks out and back in on different reservations. This promotion requires two stays.

In a place like Atlanta you could stay Friday night at the RC Atlanta and Saturday night at the RC Buckhead and that will earn one free night certificate. This type of hotel hop also works for Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner and Ritz-Carlton Pentagon City in the D.C. area where both these hotels have relatively low weekend rates for a Ritz-Carlton.

In Lake Tahoe you could stay Monday night at the Ritz-Carlton, go to the Hyatt Regency or some other hotel in the area on Tuesday and return to the Ritz-Carlton Lake Tahoe for Wednesday night. That would qualify for a free night certificate with two separate stays.

High-Priced Ritz-Carlton Hotels for free night redemption

I already mentioned Ritz-Carlton New York Battery Park as a place for a $575 free night opportunity.

Here are some other high-priced Ritz-Carlton Tier 3 hotels for your free night. Tier 3 hotels are normally 50,000 points per night so the promotional value of this new member enrollment is between 60,000 points and 100,000 points if you earn and redeem two free nights after four stays in 2010.

Ritz-Carlton Washington, D.C. in April 2011 during cherry blossom season is an example of a high-priced Tier 3 Ritz-Carlton reward redemption. Two free nights at this hotel prices out at $1,555.

Ritz-Carlton Washington DC rates

I have shown how you can stay 4 hotel nights at Ritz-Carlton for around $900 to $1,000 all in. Earn two free nights and you can potentially save over $1,500 on a future Ritz-Carlton stay in some place like Washington, D.C., New York City, Florida or California.

Ritz-Carlton has a 5-key loyalty traveler promotion with this offer.