goalie

Thanks ^ and looking forward to your comments

Thanks for the tip ^ and would it be simply adding "the name of my guest" to my reservation as the one thing I don't want to have happen is lose my saver rate

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

Booked a Club tower king room for 1 night as i had a late flight back to the UK and the hotel had a triple point promotion.

Bell desk : Arrived about 145pm and there was a bellman at the end of the drop off zone so I left my luggage with him and went to check in

Check in: There is a separate line for HHonnors and Invited guests ( Diamond can use the adjacent lounge). I was offered a $13 F&B credit ( to be applied the next day) or 1,000 points ( I chose the points). I was offered the opportunity to upgrade to a suite but I declined as I was only going to be there a few hours. I also got 2 warm cookies.There is also a bell desk to leave your bag receipt with your room number and they will arrange delivery. It took around 10mins after I got to the room for luggage which was pretty good

Room location: The Paradise tower will be closer to the strip and runs NW/SE so the NE facing rooms will face MGM Grand and the SW facing rooms will face Excalibur/Luxor/MB

I had a room in the club tower which involved a walk thorugh the casino up to the bridge level with the steakhouse, access to the spa and views over the pool. There is a coffee/pastry stand by the elevators (closed when i was there on Wednesday)
4 scenic elevators and 2 non scenic ones. I had room 1772 (beside the elevator but did not hear much noise

Room: The room was reasonable ( facing the car park and the airport with views of the c N/S runways) and clean with lots of drawer storage. There is a room safe. 2 small (286ml ) bottles of water were provided in the room.There are no curtains only shutters which may not block all of the light. The a/c was very good ( it was set at 65F when I came in). The bed felt very comfortable.The window opened a few inches. The bathroom had a combined shower/large bath combo with C&B Shampoo conditioner and body lotion as well as soap ( no body wash) but found the mirror fogged up quickly after my shower. The lighting in the bathroom made shaving a little harder than what I was used to as it seemed quite dim ( there was a separate magnifying mirror also on the bathroom sink).

wifi: Connected easily in the room to free wifi ( did not see any premium wifi offer) but it dropped in the food court

Buffet: Closes at 1pm so did not try it.

Food Court: 2 outlets places one of which served, pizza, burgers, pasta etc. Had a burger ( with additional sliced meat- I did not see a plain burger on offer) a plate of fried and a diet pepsi ( no coke products) for $23 as it is all priced separately.

There is also a Starbucks ( medium iced latte and a lemon pound cake for $10.

Gym: Accessible via the spa on the bridge. The essential equipment but is a little small. The treadmills overlooked the pool area with views of the top of the NYNY buildings.

Pool: Accessible via both the Paradise tower and the Club tower. From the Club tower elevators ( choose P) your first impression is that you are in an underground utility corridor that you should not be there but it is sign posted ( as well as to some meeting rooms ). The doors to the pool have fake palm trees and do not look like real doors but they open to the pool area. The pool area is large ( running under the bridge but this area is just plain concrete with a few shuffleboard games, The swimup blackjack is Thr-Sun only. The outdoor pool area is quite nice with views of the bungalows and MGM/NYNY. Several smaller pools were closed and part of the main pool area was closed but most of the pool area was open. It does have more restricted hours than other strip hotels ( 10am to 6pm)
It was about 10mins ( $13) to LAS Terminal 3

Overall: With correct expectations this is not a bad hotel ( access via footbridge (s) to MGM Grand for the monorail ,NYNY and excalibur ( probably a medium Doubletree in my experience) with reasonable rooms ( not a great fan of the $35 resort fee though) and can be reasonably priced and close to the airport and the southern end of the strip

Regards

TBS

goalie

Thank you for all of this ^ and other than I'm staying in the Paradise Tower, everything else is very very helpful ^

Points Scrounger

I understand that technically they may be considered an Affiliated property, but with DoubleTree aren't you supposed to get both the thousand points and the food and beverage credit?

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

Per my way benefits for gold members on my profile, it looks like it either the points or the breakfast/F&B credit and not both ( I do not stay at Doubletrees that often)

Regards

TBS

COSPILOT

Forewarned, checking in as a Diamond has been a non issue with the private check in area, but I've see some pretty long lines for everyone else. For whatever reason, everyone seems to have complicated reservations, except for me.

goalie

I’m a lowly gold albeit with a simple straight forward points reservation for two nights so I’m hoping the check-in lines are not too bad and is there by any chance a separate check-in line for Gold?

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

There was only 1 line for HHonors members with no separate line for Gold (but when I checked in the HH line was shorter than the main line)


Regards

TBS

goalie

^ and again my thanks

jcresq

I'd be interested to know which rooms (if any!) are better...are the bungalows nice? Is there any difference between the two towers? Are the suites worth the price difference?

I'm going to a conference at Mandalay Bay, this property seems the best HH option, despite its drawbacks (I actually have gambled there before and like the low key atmosphere). Are there other options that people have used when attending Mandalay Bay functions?

Friendly Traveling Deathmerchant

The front tower, usually a few bucks more expensive, is wayyy closer to the front door and exit to the strip. The back tower is a loooong walk from the check in desk, but closer to the Tropicana meeting rooms/convention center/spa.

If you want to exit the Trop, the front tower is the way to go. The elevator is literally right next to the front door. I've stayed in both towers, everything from the two-story supersuites and big parlor suites to a crappy 2 double that had a tub that leaked all night. Rooms just vary.

If I got a unsat room, I suppose I'd go down and see what luck I might have getting it changed. But geographically, I'd push for the front (Paradise) tower.

Bungalows: I haven't stayed in but know where they are. They *are* easy to access from the back of the parking area, just a short hallway that's sort of on its own. One end pops out at the breakfast buffet, the other end pops out to the back of the parking garage on the Strip. Probably the easiest to bring a ton of bags into, etc. if you're luggage heavy. Go check in, then run back to car to drag your bags and gear in the back way.

The parking situation seems to vary - perhaps Diamond guests can park in the front little lot, maybe it's just player's club... no one seems to check, but whatever.
TDM

lcohen999

I think it is a Vegas issue

For a city with so many hotels, I have never understood why Vegas checkins take sooooo long

a million clicks, talk to her manager, another million clicks, a ten minute discussion on how not to get lost.

Aggravating

goalie

I just returned form a two night stay (Oct -8)

• I arrived early (10am)
• Regular (non HH) checkin was a zoo
• 3 check-in agents at the HH section of checkin and all were occupied
• I waited for less than 5 minutes
• I had requested a king smoking room in the Paradise tower but where the smoking rooms in the Paradise Tower are all on floor 2 and the smoking rooms in the Club Tower are on floor 18 and I prefer a high floor, I chose the club tower.
• No upgrades were available-even for diamonds as every hotel was full because of "some big fight" that weekend"
• Cookies were given out at checkin
• It took me about 6 minutes to walk to/from the casino and the front door
• The room was nice, clean and well lit with shower with an oversized tub (and I lucked out with a spectacular view of the airport* )
• The windows had plantation style shutters which completely blocked out the light and could be slid open about 6 inches if you wanted to get some fresh air
• $13.00 per day food credit given effective the day after checkin (and the agent I had said that they base it on double occupancy but where I was traveling solo, he bumped it up to $26.00 for me
• I asked for a late checkout and the best they could do was only one hour from 11am to 12 noon as anything after that would be charged at a half day stay
• Checkout was less than 5 minutes as there was no line tho regular (non HH) checkout was a zoo
• No resort fee charged as I was on a 100% points stay

*sorry about the quality but the photos were taken thru the window glass but if you look carefully, you can a few "Janets"

COSPILOT

I've done the Bungalow rooms a few times now and kind of prefer them. Nothing in this hotel excites me, but the quick access to the parking lot is convenient. Hopefully they have fixed the key card access to the glass doors near the elevators, as one can leave to your car, but the darn keycard coming back in never works. I don't spend enough time in a hotel room to care about views, as I usually leave by 8am and don't return until 9pm. As much as I used to like high floors, I've started to prefer 3rd or 4th floors recently. Tired of waiting on elevators, so much so that I will take the stairs now.

Goalie; I don't think you are supposed to smoke on the balconies of the Bungalow rooms, but I did each and every visit. I recently quit smoking so a non issue moving forward.

jamesteroh

Why are rates so high here lately? I have two vegas trips coming up and was thinking of staying here so I could use my $250 AM EX credit. Unless I go with a prepaid rate (in which case the resort credit won't work), my total charge a three night stay would be higher after the $250 resort fee credit is applied than for a regular suite with a washer and dryer and full kitchen at the HGVC and access to the monorail and parking is a lot more convenient at the HGVC.