Eujeanie

I called to ask before posting because sometimes newer properties have some confusion about rules, and I asked "If you stay on all points, is the resort fee waived?"...the reply was, and I quote..."Are you Diamond?" I said, yes, and asked IF THAT MATTERED and she said "yes it does", which does not jive with the Hilton T&C's that state all points stays have the fee waived.

That is why I asked what the experience of the poster above was who stayed their recently. cjd, have you actually stayed there recently on points? Or were you just quoting what "should" be the answer?

cjd

I was just referring to the Honors rule which states " At hotels with resort fees, members on reward stays booked using all Points, or using a Promotional free night reward (e.g., issued by credit card partners, etc.) will not pay resort fees." As you state, this rule should apply to Silver, Gold and Diamond members. Have not stayed there since it changed to a Waldorf Astoria property. It was the Mandarin Oriental when we stayed a couple of years ago. Hope to possibly try it again next year, probably on points to avoid the horrendous resort fee of $45!

Eujeanie

Yes, that's the way it's supposed to be and maybe I should have pushed back on what she told me, but we are Diamond and will be on points so I didn't really care, just thought it was odd for her to say that. One thing I'm never sure of is if the resort fee is waived, does that mean you cannot partake on what the resort fee would cover? We usually think most of it is junk, but the house car and the coffee and tea lounge sound nice.

I'm also hoping we can use the breakfast credit at Zen for dinner since we're leaving the next day on a very early flight.

And one more thing, my one night points stay...was only 55,000 pts! I thought that was really good. This is for a weeknight in early November, not sure about other dates and times, but we needed to add on one night to our trip (we're staying at Caesars the other nights, and that last night would not be a comp) and this was a great deal to be able to try the WA out. We've been in the building before when we had dinner once at Twist, but I'm happy to be able to try a sleep there.

hyperzulu

While the coffee and tea lounge might be a unique offering, the house car service seems to be a part of the WA brand. I recently stayed at the WA Beverly HIlls and was able to use their car service. WA-BH is not a resort, so no resort fee for standard guests, yet the house car service is free. Pretty nice too, they have a fleet of white RR Phantoms.

Points rates for the WA-LV vary quite a bit. For NYE the going rate for a standard room was over $800, but the hotel tops out at 80k points, so not a bad deal if you value HH points at half a cent each.

Friendly Traveling Deathmerchant

Answering my own inquiry for the good of the board... I got this email from the WA LV. So... eh... pretty much nothing, Diamond-wise, as far as benefits go.

"Hilton Honors Diamond Members receive the following benefits:
-100% Elite Tier bonus on base points.
-Wi-Fi in guest room and lobby.
-Late check-out upon request.
-No additional charge for 2nd guest.
-2 complimentary bottles of water.
-Room upgrade if available at the time of check in.
-My way benefits.
-48-hours room guarantee.
- Kindly note that our Tea Lounge is one of our hotel outlets and it has a separate charge. You can also use “My way benefits” breakfast credit for any food and beverage service in our hotel.
- Please note that our house car is first come first serve and depends on availability."

Eujeanie

Hmmm... somehow I thought I read somewhere that the tea & coffee service wherever it was (I thought it was the Tea Lounge) was a complimentary perk. Will just skip it.

Although we're staying on points (55K, still think that's a great deal) I'll still also hit the spend $350, get $75 back Amex deal (dinner, parking and a spa treatment, no problem).

And I almost forgot the triple points for luxury property stays currently running!

Eujeanie

Now I remember where I read that the tea & coffee service was complimentary - it's part of the resort fee. So not sure why they say there is a charge on your list? (I also do now see mention of the breakfast benefit).

Daily Resort Charge will be added to the room rate and includes: Guest Internet Access; Fitness Club Access; Fitness and Yoga classes; Gourmet Tea and Coffee on 3rd Floor; Luxury House Car Service (within 1 mile radius); Notary Service (up to 2 documents daily); Local and Toll Free Calls

Friendly Traveling Deathmerchant

Eujeanie

I'm thrilled with free coffee. No matter what floor it's on.

I'm still trying to figure out breakfast. The menu on-line does not say how much the buffet is, although it does give prices for everything else. And does the buffet include beverages? (coffee, juice). I will NOT pay $8 for coffee (per person!) as is listed in their a la carte.

seacow

777 global mile hound

I have a stay next week for the first time with Waldorf Las Vegas
Hope I can move away from MGM branded properties permanently as M life Platinum & Gold members have been taken advantage of in recent years
It was really good years ago but MGM has gotten abusive to its elite guests in customer service and recognition virtually next to none now offered
My concern with this property is that though the management has been retained and team members from the former Mandarin Oriental that's both a good and a bad thing
Their culture historically has always been pay for what you wish.
They are not coming from the Starwood Hyatt Hilton program culture of taking care of the frequent stay guest and recognizing their loyalty as do other Waldorf properties within the Hilton family of hotels
Perhaps I'm mistaken but in just days I will know if I'm on point in my perception.
There are also isolated complaints online about smelly musty rooms and stained carpets
The good news is that I hear they are working on fully renovating the hotel.Ive dined for breakfast at the former Mandarin many times clearly one of the best in Vegas (sure hope they don't mess it up)
If I fail its back to MGM properties Elara Marriott/Cosmo etc Palazzo and so on
Fingers crossed for a successful long time relationship
Off Topic As others have stated previously confirmed with hotel front desk Point stays = no dreaded resort fees ^

Eujeanie

Just got back from our one night stay last night (first 2 were at Caesars, where we usually stay). I wanted to try the W-A because I just wanted to, I got a fabulous points price of 55,000, and Amex was having a spend $350, get $70 back offer. So I knew going in what it was going to cost.

I had requested both in the notes of the reservation and in a separate e-mail that we would like an early check-in since I had a 1 pm spa appt and wanted access to the room. As we were waiting our turn to check-in, we heard them telling people "so sorry, rooms are not ready yet" and I'm thinking oh c*ap, but when it was our turn she said I can't get you the Strip view you requested (which was the cheapest points deal), but if you would take a pool & mountain view one is available now - yes! They did NOT explain any of the benefits of the resort fee, since we were NOT paying it (I had wondered about that, but let it pass). She did ask what newspaper we wanted delivered in the morning, and we chose USA today. She said they get delivered about 5 am.


While the rooms were nice, they were not blow your mind nice. They had lots of dark wood, the bathroom was really large with a translucent glass part (not all, so a slight privacy issue if that matters to you). What I did NOT like (and disclaimer, we are 70 year old leisure travelers, not you young 'uns) - we did not like that you needed an engineering degree to turn the lights on and off (not as bad as Aria, but still bad). Our carpet and furniture were not stained or ripped or musty, but nothing extraordinary, either. And the large square footage (I think 500 maybe?) includes a huge closet area in the front when you first walk in, then the big bathroom, then the bedroom. Huge standalone tub, not jetted. Surprisingly small shower, but easy to operate and good water pressure.

I left for the spa and again, while it was nice, it was nothing special compared to other spas I've been to (comparing only Vegas here) like Qua or Encore or Mandalay Bay and others. I like a lot of bells and whistles and water features, different temp pools, etc. but this only had one indoor pool/jacuzzi, most of it taken up with these weird wood slats I guess you had to hoist yourself up onto. Massage was very good, but MUCH more expensive than other Vegas spas (the usually being around $175, this was $210 (before tip).

We went for cocktails at the Sky Bar, most of the window tables were RESERVED (didn't know you could reserve tables in a bar, but we were one row back and still had a good view). Drinks were very good, but pricey ($20 each for their specialty concoctions, all with cutesy Vegas names).

We then had dinner at Zen kitchen and the food was delicious, although we were only one of 2 table occupied in the whole place. Only complaint was no vegetables came with our entrees, and no vegetable side dishes were offered. Our Diamond Breakfast benefit was $50 for the 2 of us, and it would be taken off of any meal - for us that was dinner.

The next morning was a little strange. We were up early and looked out the door for the newspaper - no paper. We went to breakfast...well we tried...we were there at 6 (along with another guy), who had all been told they opened at 6, but it was really 6:30. However, the employee said "you can have complimentary coffee or tea over there" - over there being just a few feet to the right of the restaurant entrance. This was obviously the coffee and tea amenity that was mentioned upthread as part of the resort fee, wish we knew about it the day before, but it was nice anyway. And lo and behold right then (a little after 6) a girl started setting up for their take-away pastry and coffee place (you could buy your fancier coffees there, we're happy with just plain). But she had some delicious looking pastries and we ended up getting a warm, freshly baked almond croissant for $4! That was half what one cost at Caesars at the new Pronto by Giada place (which took the place of Payard).

My husband then went upstairs to the 23rd floor to check out, and mentioned we had no newspaper. "oh, they put it in your valet closet" - this was part of the huge closet area so we felt like bumpkins as we opened the valet closet door to find...NO NEWSPAPER, now at 7:30 am.

All in all it was a nice stay, and I know one night is not a true test, but it was nice, okay, not great, I wouldn't bother spending the money to pay for a room, nor would I spend the usual 80,000 pts - but for 55, 000 and us wanting to try it, it was fine.

All of the employees we spoke to had been there when it was M-O, so they did keep almost everyone. While I was in the spa my husband walked over to Aria to gamble, and when he got downstairs (this is an hour later and after changing his clothes) the guy addressed him by name. How do they do that? Remember everyone? So some service was good, some was spotty.

That's it...our one night experience.

Just want to add a couple of things...they did thank us for being Diamond on check in, and asked if we wanted bottled wter. We said yes, so they HANDED us 2 bottles, not even in the brown paper bags like Hilton gives you, so we had to juggle them up to the room. Fiji water in the room was $10.

One more thing...I was asking my masseuse about the transition to Hilton and she said it was not big deal, but Hilton wanted them to get rid of any overtly "Asian" influences, so they had to replace all the bamboo they had in the spa with more I guess neutral plants, which I thought was pretty funny. All traces of M-O were removed, except on the room phones it still had M-O embossed on them, I guess they will replace all the phones when they renovate later.

I really don't know the background behind why M-O wanted out and Hilton wanted in...does anyone?

Kagehitokiri

spa still guests-only? ~ 400 room , standalone building no casino
(for mandalay can stay at four seasons, tower at encore, etc)

MGM sold hotel, new owner dropped MO, common these days

GreenPlastic

I had always stayed at the MO when in Vegas. Loved the serene ambiance and location. Looked at booking WA for an upcoming visit...I'm not a huge fan of Asian motif in design but the rooms look "cheaper" now, and the rates are no cheaper than before...if anything a little more relative to their competitors. I wound booking at the 4S...cheaper even with AMEX FHR.

Eujeanie

I'll try the FS someday, but would rather it be in the warmer months since I like the looks of their pool a lot. The W-A pool (which we overlooked from our window) was just blah as far as Vegas pools go - just 2 cement rectangles (I know, I know, the "service") - but I just wasn't impressed by appearances.

I'm curious, though, what the W-A rooms used to be like when it was M-O - while ours wasn't stained or ratty, you could tell it was furniture that had been there a while - was it just more Asian décor on the walls, etc? Bamboo like the spa said they were told to remove?