I stayed at the WALV on Oct 27th, 2019, and figured I'd pass on some observations on the stay.



After researching many Tripadvisor reviews from other Diamond guests, there were a high percentage of negative reviews. So I was hesitant, and wanted to wait to stay until some renovations were done, but I hadn't seen any reports of progress there, so I rolled the dice and popped in for a night to see what will hopefully be the "before" example.


Summary up front: Some good, some bad -- I didn't have a horrible stay, but have some comments on what flyertalky type guests might expect from an aspirational property vs. what they currently get from the Waldorf LV.




Some observation points/events from my stay:


1.) I like to unwind from a flight with a hot jacuzzi, so contacted the hotel via email asking about pool hours. I never received an emailed reply.


2.) I booked anyway, and after booking, I contacted the hotel through the Hilton app's messaging function. I also called the morning I arrived. Responses were quick, but also inaccurate. (I was given three different times (4pm, 6pm, and 8pm) for the pool hours during my one-day stay via messaging, phone, and front desk staff. One person even thought the pool was closed for the season, but when I pressed, they called the pool staff who set them straight. I did not like being uncertain of that throughout my stay, and it affected my plans.)


3.) When I was told the hot tub would be closed by the time I would arrive (via phone or message I was told 4pm, which was in error), I asked if I might, as a Diamond guest, be allowed to use the steam room at the spa, hopefully as an included alternative. I was told it was $60 for a day pass. It would have been nice to have been offered to have that comped, as I have had done at a similar property (Grand Wailea Waldorf in Maui) because of the short pool hours.
-- But it would have been even nicer yet to have been told the correct pool hours in the first place, as I was told on my third ask upon check-in!


4.) Check in process was good - I would have done OLCI via the app, but no upgrade was yet offered, so I waited to see what we might come up with in person instead. At the front desk, after a short wait, I was advised of my Diamond benefits, and all was reasonably prompt. A better view room was provided (better room, lower floor, but I was pleased), and it was an appropriate Diamond upgrade. Service there was professional and helpful. Good check in experience. Lobby is small, elevators are as people say - a little weird, as are some of the architectural / design features of this hotel. Oh well, blame the Mandarin on that.


5.) After dinner, I went and checked out the workout room/fitness center. Oh look! There's a steam room in the locker room, free to use. Which would have been a nice thing to have been informed of the first three times I asked about a steam room in lieu of the hot tub. Oh well, it was too late to use it now. Fail on the information-conveyance there.


6.) The bedroom conditions were mostly fine. I'd go so far as to say my apprehension over an "old" property not yet refurbished were dismissed. Everything is all in good enough shape. Enjoyed the bed, linens, and quality of accessories. The layout was weird as heck, with the shower in the middle of the bathtub room which made tub use slippery, no curtain buttons bedside, and no USB ports on either the business desk or bedside. I found that an afterthought alarm clock that was added to the nightstand had some USB ports, but the clock had a very bright light feature I couldn't figure out how to turn off, so I wrapped it in my gym shorts so it wasn't shining bright at me all night. (Which struck me as something of a ghetto solution for a expensive hotel. )

I opened the drawers below, and was a bit nonplussed to find that there was what looked like a wadded up dirty napkin in one of the drawers from the last guest and what looked like a clean set of cutlery and a plate. Was this "new", left for guests that feel a need to use a plate and forks with something obtained from the minibar? If so, why isn't the napkin folded/why does it look like it was wadded up and tossed in loose? The minibar had no instructions or a price list, so I was apprehensive to open the door of the mini-fridge to cool my own drinks, not knowing if it auto-billed if opened, which is always a hassle. TV was nice enough, with a large subwoofer placed on the floor next to it (unusual, but not terribly in the way). Ferregamo soaps and whatnot, nice.


7.) The next morning I asked for a later checkout, which was thankfully granted without fuss. Good there! My wife and I went downstairs to enjoy the breakfast at Zen Kitchen. Everything was of good quality -- the poached eggs I ordered from the buffet were fantastic. Pistachio creme french toast, great. They never did bring me the juice I ordered from when we were seated. I kind of used it as a test -- nope, never came, wasn't mentioned during any of the following interactions with servers bringing food or from the hostess. While taking care of my bill, I mentioned it to the hostess who was thoughtful enough to quickly bring me a to-go cup of the forgotten juice. Now, I'm not an anal-retentive picky Diamond guest -- little piddly stuff like that happens, and I roll with it without complaining. But I figure that if a property is gonna charge $75+ for what amounts to a high-class Egg McMuffin, it's going to attract the type of customers are going to expect over the top service and quality, which includes basic service levels like not forgetting the guest's juice order. I mean, it was a buffet. It was the one thing I actually ordered, other than the eggs.


In sum, a theme I kept coming back to is that a year+ after the reflagging, many simple bugs still need to be worked out. And that's odd for such an expensive property that bills itself as five star.


I've stayed at pretty much every other Hilton property in Vegas and the WA *should* be an above-and-beyond flagship. At this point, I'd say it has puzzling omissions and details needing addressed. As a subtle, telling, for-instance: the phones on the guestroom desks all still are programmed to read out "MANDARIN" on them. After a year, no one has noticed that, or thought to reprogram that? It doesn't make a difference to me at all, but is a clue that there aren't five-star-concern-levels throughout the property if little things like this have been overlooked for so long. Similarly, there's a funny error on the website's breakfast menu: I am able to add "Supplemental Lump Crap +$5" to my eggs.

(I might not be an anal-retentive Diamond guest looking for a helipad for my giraffe, but I *am* a former ad agency proofreader that can't let that stuff go. I actually emailed the property when I saw that, giving them a totally friendly heads-up on the simple typo. Never heard a boo back / thank you. Which is poor, when a customer goes out of their way to help your customer facing service, and they don't bother to respond, much less thank you with a cocktail or something.)


And again -- little things like that would make zero difference to me at the Doubletree Airport, or the new Hilton Garden Inn across the highway (I stayed there this year, and it was nice!) or the run-down Tropicana, but that's a $65 a night property. I don't get upset at some drippy tub or peeling wallpaper there, because... it's the Trop, and I hate it, but I stay there anyway when I'm feeling cheap! But when I blow 80k points, am looking at $30 for parking, and ring up a $75 breakfast, one's expectation levels go up accordingly. And it attracts the sort of guest that gets cranky if anything is out of its five-star-place.


In the end, I'd say I had a nice stay, but it certainly wasn't to the level the money/points value a guest would expect. I'm going to Thailand next month, and plan on trying the new WA Bangkok there. It will be interesting to compare how that WA addresses some of the same requests and issues. I've been to the New Orleans Roosevelt WA, NYC, the Orlando one, WA Park City (amazing), Grand Wailea, probably a few others... I just felt that this place was taking its sweet time getting up to the level that WA clients would expect. That said, a fine hotel with some tasty food. Would have been a great stay at half the price.



I wrote the GM a little email with most of this info a week ago, making sure to mention it was not a complaint, but rather just as a courtesy feedback. Never heard back from him.