Making the travel industry news this week is a warning letter from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to 22 hotel operators

that their online reservation sites may violate the law by providing a deceptively low estimate of what consumers can expect to pay for their hotel rooms.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2012/11/hotelresort.shtm

Resort fees are an additional service charge covering a variety of property specific amenities and benefits for items like pool access, pool towels, wired in-room internet and property wifi, parking, bottled water, newspaper, fitness room access and more.  Read More…

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

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

Discounted suites for The Palazzo and The Venetian in Las Vegas are the offers on Discover America Daily Getaways at 12 noon ET (New York time), Monday May 9. There are four offers with 14 items in each offer. These four offers are actually one Siena suite at the Palazzo and one Piazza Suite at the Venetian. Each hotel offers 14 items for weekday bookings and 14 items for weekend bookings of suites.

These rates are likely a savings of $300 to $600 for the two night suite package.

The Palazzo Siena Suite, 1,280 square feet with semi-formal dining area. Siena Suite description.

• Two consecutive nights, Sunday through Thursday, $450 ($405 with American Express payment).
• Two consecutive nights, Friday or Saturday arrival, $595 ($535.50 with American Express payment).
• Valid for stays through May 31, 2012.
• Sample rate for comparison = $509 on Friday June 10 and Saturday June 11 = $1,140.16 for two night stay in Palazzo Siena Suite.
• Discover America sale saves $605 on this two night stay.
• Oyster.com photos of Palazzo Siena Suite.

The Venetian Piazza View Suite, 1,400 square feet with semi-formal dining area. Piazza Suite description.

• Two consecutive nights, Sunday through Thursday, $415 ($373.50 with American Express payment).
• Two consecutive nights, Friday or Saturday arrival, $540 ($486.00 with American Express payment).
• Valid for stays through May 31, 2012.
• Sample rate for comparison = $678 + Tax for $759.36 for 2-night weekday stay Sunday July 3 and Monday July 4, 2011 in Piazza View Suite.
• Discover America sale saves $385 on this suite stay.
• Oyster.com photos of Venetian Piazza Suite. 

Related Posts: Loyalty traveler reviews –

The Palazzo Las Vegas Part 1 – Bella Room Suite (April 27, 2011)

The Palazzo Las Vegas Part 2 – Pools (April 28, 2011)

The Palazzo Resort Las Vegas

“You’ve got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?” – Clint Eastwood in ‘Dirty Harry’ offers a classic movie line that fits well with the charisma needed to be a gritty movie director creating compelling video. Or to be the diva inside the shower singing  out like a performance at Carnegie Hall. Or the coolness needed to master the Master’s at golf.  Or the ambition to be around the best of the guests in an over-the-top luxury stay in Sin City Las Vegas.

This week I have come across sweepstakes and contests for Hyatt Hotels Greatest Movie Contest, Starwood Preferred Guest’s Travel Like a Rockstar, Hilton Hotels Golf Getaway and IHG’s penthouse suite giveaway at the Venetian to welcome the new InterContinental Allaince Resorts in Las Vegas.

And if you are unlucky in hotel giveaways, the consequences are far less severe than a bullet in the head.

Although, Facebook does require you to rat out all your friends.

Hyatt Hotels Greatest Movie Contest – Entry deadline May 23

• Contest Rules link
• Facebook Entry link
• Grand Prize – Trip to Hyatt Regency Aruba for seven days, seven nights and JetBlue airfare.
• 9 runners-up – 10,000 Hyatt Gold Passport points and one case of POM Wonderful 100% pomegranate juice.

The difference between a contest and a sweepstakes is you have to actually do something to win a contest. The Hyatt film contest asks you to submit a video movie trailer or scene or just a written description of a scene that features a product placement idea. Read the contest rules for more detail on video.

This promotion is tied in with the new Morgan Spurlock film “POM Wonderful Present: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” that is a film on branding, advertising and product placement. The film is by the Oscar-nominated documentary director of “Super Size Me” fame, the 2004 film depicting Mr. Spurlock living entirely on McDonald’s fast-food for 30 days. “The Greatest Movie Ever Sold” about product placement features Hyatt Hotels who reportedly tossed in about $700,000 to “sponsor” the film.

Hyatt's Greatest Movie Contest

Starwood Preferred Guest – Travel Like a Rockstar Sweepstakes (Entry deadline May 31)

• Grand Prize – Trip for 6 to London’s Hyde Park Festival on June 25, 2011 and two nights at the new W London Leicester Square Hotel. Three standard rooms for check-in June 24 and check-out June 26. Full breakfast included (not room service) and luxury transportation to Festival.
• Registration entry. Earn an additional sweepstakes entry for every night in a Starwood Hotel through May 31, 2011. There is a little game to play to enter and at the end you will be  designated a rockstar “type” and given a rockstar name. Apparently, I am a Diva. I’ll have to tell my wife. But, she probably already knows.
• Contest Terms & Conditions.

Starwood Preferred Guest - 'Travel Like a Rockstar' Sweepstakes for London trip

Hilton Hotels Golf Getaway (Sweepstakes period runs May 2, 2011 to September 5, 2011).

Open to U.S. residents only for a golf vacation at Waldorf Astoria Orlando, The Boulders Waldorf Astoria Resort in Carefree, Arizona or La Quinta Waldorf Astoria Resort near Palm Springs, California.

Register for promotion to earn one entry and additional entries earned for every Hilton Worldwide night stayed through September 5.

Golf Getaway Sweepstakes rules.

Grand Prize: 100,000 HHonors points and 3-night trip for winner and up to 7 guests.

Grand Prize includes:

• 100,000 HHonors points for winner.
• Three rounds of 18-hole golf for 8 guests.
• Teaching professional short-game clinic for all 8 guests.
• Roundtrip airfare for 8 guests from winner’s nearest hometown airport.
• 4 standard rooms for 3 nights at one of three Waldorf Astoria Resorts.
• $5,000 Hilton Worldwide gift card.
• $10,000 check.
• Winner’s seven guests receive 50,000 HHonors points.

This is a pleasant improvement to sweepstakes over the past year with Hilton and SPG prizes for group travel to extend the prize to family members and friends.

Hilton Golf Getaway to a Waldorf Astoria Resort for 8 guests sweepstakes

InterContinental Alliance Resorts – VIP Experiences at the Venetian and Palazzo Las Vegas

(Monthly sweepstakes from May to December, 2011. May 31 is entry deadline for current prize.)

The Venetian and The Palazzo Resorts on the Las Vegas Strip are the new founding members of the InterContinental Alliance Resorts. Every month from May 4 to December 31, 2011 is a VIP Experience sweepstakes. For the month of May the VIP experience is a private cabana for Saturday and Sunday for Azure Luxury Pool at The Palazzo with a $2,500 food and beverage credit. I stayed at the Palazzo over Easter weekend and seated by a pool adjacent but outside Azure, I overheard four young guys walk by sounding disappointed they couldn’t pop down $1,000 for the daily cabana rental. They were sold out.

• VIP Experience Sweepstakes Entry
• VIP Experience Rules

Each monthly prize includes:

• $800 for airfare
• Airport limo pick-up
• Two nights in The Venetian Penthouse Suite
• VIP check-in
• Camcorder

Must redeem stay within one year of winning prize and must book hotel stay at least 21 days in advance.

InterContinental Alliance Resorts The Venetian Penthouse Las Vegas Sweepstakes

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

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

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

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

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

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

The long pool has views of the Venetian Resort.

Pool Cabana

TV, couch and table.

Two chairs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Palazzo Resort Las Vegas, an InterContinental Alliance Resort

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

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

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

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

Hallway from Palazzo Casino to Palazzo Shops

 

The Palazzo Resort Basic Room Type – Luxury or Bella Suite

Check-in at The Palazzo:

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

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

The Palazzo Las Vegas lobby

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

The Palazzo Priority Club elite member desk

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

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

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

The Palazzo Royal Ambassador hotel registration lounge

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

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

P for Palazzo in marble

Check-in Amenities:

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

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

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

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

The Palazzo Las Vegas lobby ceiling

Prestige at The Palazzo

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

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

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

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

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

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

The View

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

The Palazzo Las Vegas - pool view from Floor 32

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

The Palazzo Las Vegas view of Treasure Island

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

The Palazzo Las Vegas view

The Room:

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

The Palazzo Las Vegas Bella Suite

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

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

The Palazzo Las Vegas bed seat.

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

The Sitting Room

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

The Palazzo Las Vegas large couch and desk

The Palazzo Las Vegas Bella Suite TV

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

The Palazzo Las Vegas Bella Suite curtains

The Bathroom

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

The Palazzo Las Vegas bathroom vanity table in Bella Suite

Separate shower and tub.

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

Separate toilet room.

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

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

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

The newly branded InterContinental Alliance Resorts in Las Vegas – The Venetian and The Palazzo – have an introductory “6,000 Bonus Point Package” rate offer for hotel stays of three nights or more. Bonus Priority Club points are in addition to the 2,000 points normally earned for InterContinental Hotel stays for 8,000 points total per stay (about a $50 value). InterContinental Ambassador members receive benefits at these properties.

Book your stay by June 30 and receive these additional rate benefits:

• 20% off Breakfast or Brunch provided by Morels
• $30 off a bill of $60 or more provided by Zine
• $35 off 50-min Massage or Facial provided by Canyon Ranch SpaClub
• Complimentary line pass and admission provided by LAVO Nightclub
• 2-for-1 well drinks provided by Salute Lounge

This offer requires first night deposit at time of booking and is fully refundable for cancellations at least 72 hours in advance.

Rates I checked for the 6,000 Bonus Point Package were $10 per night over the Best Flexible Rate.

Tip for finding the lowest hotel rates:  

Travelocity.com has a nice feature for seeing hotel rate information for the next 90 days by using the Flexible Dates feature. Simply look up any date for Las Vegas and click on the rate for the Venetian or the Palazzo. Travelocity has a Flexible Dates tab at the top of the page that shows the hotel rates for 90 days. This is much quicker than random date checks on IHG websites for finding low rate dates over a 3-day period and avoiding high rate dates when planning your trip.

Travelocity.com Flexible Dates calendar for The Palazzo

Another tip for Las Vegas – Travel packages for airline + hotel often drop the hotel rate down to about $100 or less for the first night or two at many of the fine hotels in Las Vegas like Wynn, Encore, Bellagio, Mandarin Oriental, Venetian and Palazzo.

The hotel rate savings might be worth more than the points.

**Be sure to go back to the IHG website to make your hotel booking since Travelocity bookings do not earn Priority Club points.

Park Hyatt Maldives Hadahaa officially rebranded April 1 from the formerly independent Alila Villas Hadahaa Resort. This is the first Hyatt in the Maldives, a chain of 1,200 coral islands in the Indian Ocean southwest of India. The Hyatt press release states the hotel is located just south of the equator, yet every map I have seen including Hyatt’s own hotel location map shows Huvadhoo Atoll just north of the equator and Hadahaa island at Latitude 0⁰, 30 N.  Atoll is a word derived from the Maldives language according to Webster. Hyatt’s press release reminds me of the 1969 film Krakatoa, East of Java. Krakatoa is actually an island west of Java in the country of Indonesia.

Park Hyatt Maldives rates look to start around $1,000 per night and increase to $1,200+ for a pool villa. 13.5% tax is additional. Dan of Dan’s Deals states Gold Passport Diamond confirmed suite upgrades will not be accepted at the Maldives property.

At 22,000 points for a category 6 reward night this hotel gives great point value. Hyatt points are worth about $50 per 1,000 for this Maldives vacation. Free nights saves money for all the other expenses of a trip to the Maldives which some guests who have actually been there estimate at $400 to $800 per day for meals, drinks and an activity or two.

Las Vegas Resorts The Venetian and The Palazzo officially are now hotel partners of IHG Priority Club in a new type of IHG brand called InterContinental Alliance Resorts. Priority Club members earn 2,000 points per stay and reward nights are 40,000 points per night. InterContinental Ambassador benefits apply to stays.