I just wrapped up another great stay, 4 nights comp in a Terrace 1 bedroom (Identity comp offer). Had family visiting for the last 2 of the nights (paying cash via Marriott.com) and the folks in the autograph lounge were able to block a room for them just down the hall on the same floor, which is huge.
Prior to check-in I did the same text message routine to attach my Bonvoy number to the comp stay, so I got the 2pm checkout (allowing family to use our room until 2pm after their 11am checkout -- also huge), the $10 F&B credit, and the 15% off spa (which saved over $100). The comp offer again came with waived resort fees, free valet parking, and a $50 F&B credit. I wasn't offered the option of foregoing housekeeping but something definitely happened Sunday or yesterday because housekeeping was awesome on Saturday and Sunday but almost impossible to get yesterday (despite three calls, the agent on the phone just apologized for the delay and said they had a shortage so it would be a while, and eventually someone came after 8pm while we were at dinner... we got another $50 F&B credit for the inconvenience). Other than that minor hiccup with housekeeping, no problems at all.
Room was great on the 45th floor. Room service was to-the-minute prompt 4 out of 4 times. Room service are the friendliest folks here. The "american breakfast" is $35 ($53ish after fees/tip) but easily feeds three people so it's a great room service / wake-up call option. Room service remains "normal" plated meals, no to-go packaging. They were out of king crab legs when a craving struck (a lot of places are these days), so we had to go to Joe's one evening, but between room service & the great restaurants in the Cosmo we spent a lot of our time on property.
Highlights:
-Dinner at Momofuku, we did the "large format" five spice roast duck meal and it was really excellent. The table was primo -- very back corner of the restaurant, essentially on top of the northeast exit of the casino floor/the Henry, with views of the fountains & Paris. Iconic.
-Haircut at the Barbershop (I did the full service and popped in to the speakeasy beforehand for a cocktail -- one basic one is included -- probably spent 30 min at the bar and 90 min getting the hair, beard, facial, etc.)
-Cabana at the Chelsea pool... we had family this time, so the Chelsea pool was definitely the way to go, way more relaxed than the Boulevard pool, lots of kids and whatnot. Great service at the cabana.
-Spa, all 4 of us went at least once, really excellent services and facility even without the hammam
-Dinner at Scarpetta (fun and reasonably laid back for a "nice" place)
-handrolls at Tekka Bar in the food court, right as they opened (the place gets packed quick)... the spicy tuna is a winner, it's actually diced chunks of tuna with a great sauce rather the usual sort of paste-like spicy tuna roll filling
-valet was way better than a lot of Vegas places, it was never more than 10 minutes and usually 5. We went to Red Rocks one day and Valley of Fire another day (caught an elusive double rainbow in the desert after some rains came through), so it was great to be able to pop in and out with valet.
Didn't have too much time for gambling but I managed to sneak in an hour-ish of blackjack at $200-400/hand (and came close to breaking even, not that that matters) so hopefully that play plus the ancillary spend will keep me in their good graces for future comp offers... if not, will likely just pay for a wraparound next time, play a bit more, and then presumably get a comp offer for the following trip.
As for points, I'm going to send in the folio to Bonvoy and see what if anything gets credited (last time I got the majority of spa and F&B even though not all of that is "supposed" to count)... then for whatever is not credited to Bonvoy I've saved the receipts for the bigger items (cabana, spa, Momofuku, Scarpetta, and barbershop) and I'll email those over to Identity. Will update with the outcome of that.
As for masks, minimal enforcement anywhere. If you want to wear one, you'll blend in just fine. If you don't, you can stick one under your chin and carry one of those little free waters with you and no one will say anything. The only people I saw getting approached with masks were those who had no mask visible at all and no beverage in hand, and that's really only at the entrances/lobby area as bjdj94 said. At the tables, some dealers/floors were enforcing between-sip masking and others didn't care, so just watch for a few minutes and pick your poison.
Last edited by platbrownguy; Aug 3, 2021 at 3:31 pm