Years ago, when we first went to the GL in the Venetian, the waiter proudly announced to us that the restaurant was run by the same people as who ran the Cheesecake Factory.

Like we supposed to be impressed.

I avoid the place as much as possible. And I have a permanent line pass.

So explain the existence of a GL at Beverly Center (Los Angeles, La Cienega at 3d St)(same high prices and bad service). The nearest CF is all the way over in Brentwood.

The problem I have with GL is the service is notoriously s l o w

It's OK, the Chinese have learned how to make French Milled Soap.

Not to mention the horrendous wait times for a table at anywhere close to a typical meal period.

By the way, there are (at least) two closer Cheesecake Factories to Beverly Center than Brentwood: The Grove and Beverly Hills (Beverly Drive).

As much as I like Venetian, for 600 dollars... go to wynn. Palazzo is still ironing out a lot of kinks, plus it isn't finished yet. Many shops and restaurants are not opened yet.

If you were at the Palazzo doesn't the sound carry a lot more then it seemed to do in Venetian?? I mean I heard a lot of doors opening and a lot of conversations not in my room it seems like. I don't remember this at Venetian but it seems the walls are paper thin.

As far as the employees go... yes, many are Venetian staff, many are new obviously. The Lounge staff had no clue on package delivery, hotel doctor, shows, restaurants, etc... Most of the folks I talked to had no clue on operations and were often calling over to Venetian to get advice. My host was spending half his time running back and forth between Venetian and Palazzo. I did like the change in some items in gambling in Palazzo, like using dice at Pai Gow instead of the automatic button, some tables were OK, but it was hard to get a good feel. The slots not like I play them a lot but I saw a ton of high dollar slots spread all over and then a lot of penny slots and such. Not many one dollar slots that I saw. Not sure about table minimums all over but seems same as Venetian.

The biggest difference I saw was the LG flat screen TV's in the room with the screen in the bathroom. Big deal, I'm not there to watch TV and the screens were not programmed yet to accept channel up and down you had to punch in each channel number as no one took the time to program the TV's yet. Bathroom, it did have a scale which Venetian did not which I did like, that was nice to have. The drop off and pick up were a little confused and not worked out yet as Ventian Limo's drop off and pick up up stairs where other limo's, drivers, and taxis pick up down stairs so often the luggage of folks seemed to end up in the wrong place and you ended up getting into a disagreement with the hotel staff at the main upstairs drop off and pick up.

Basically, I'm disappointed with Sands overall. I am not impressed with Palazzo after my opening stay. The concert's so what. Most of it is not ready to open. I think they really have gone totally to a convention based hotel and have gone almost completely away from a visitors hotel. Now the largest suite based hotel in America or maybe the world with over 7,000 suites I guess. But all is dependent on the Sands Convention Hall.

And the town keeps building, city center and others.... it sure has changed in the last 20 years. I think I am going back to the Venetian and avoid the Palazzo.

With the increase in rooms maybe atleast the regular room rates will drop and maybe some comps might come out of this for others. I heard the room rates at Palazzo were like 300 a night or something like that is what they were asking for.

Finished a stay at Plazzo last weekend. I was booked at venitian, but all the rooms were gone to some convention, so they said I'd be in Plazzo. i'd continue to avoid it for a few more weeks. construction is still ongoing and many of the rooms are missing the final finish.

first night I arrived, it took over 30 minutes to check-in. this was at 11pm and with only 5 people in line in front of me. part of the reason was that people in a seperate questions line were taken over people waiting in line to check in. once it was my turn, all the Plazzo rooms showed up on the cleks systems as unavilialbe for check in. eventually, they found a way to override the system and put me in a low hospitatlity suite level floor. I don't know what the difference is between the hospitality level suites vs the others, but the room seems like the typical suite.

the decor inside is nice, but all the materials are still outgassing, so there was a strange odor at times. rooms are nice - plasmas as people have said, but the system seems very slow to respond to channel changes. in my room, and from others I spoke with while there, there are fit and finish items missing in many rooms. For example, my room did not have a hair dryer - I didn't need one, but strange. There were pieces of blue tape to indicate areas that need to be touched up, some light fixtures without bulbs, non-working air conditioning, etc.

The elevators are painfully slow, so if you plan to be going to your room a lot, you many want a lower floor since everyone seems to cram into any elevator that shows up so you end up stopping a lot. there is also supposed to be a smoke-free coridor to get to your rooms without having to walk through the casino, but nobody seems to know where this is - I assume somewhere through the canal shops.

The biggest annoyance was the on going construction. Nothing was really operating except the casino - most stores were still being built. As a result, there was the constant sound of hammers and power tools. My room overlooked the pool area facing TI and I was awoken to the sound of jackhammers at 6am.

The tables were empty a lot of the time I passed by. Seemed like only the people staying there may have been gambling. The minimums were what you'd expect about 10-25 dollars depending on the time of day. Drink service was also pretty slow - not sure if they're understaffed.

In short, I'd probably go to another location for atleast the next few months. Plazzo still has some work to do to even reach venitian's 4* level.

I interpreted the signs indicating the smoke-free corridor to mean that the actual corridor through the casino was supposed to be smoke-free, like a no-smoking area. It wasn't particularly well-enforced though.

all the walkways are to be no smoking through the casino... and no it was not enforced. I'm now a non smoker and noticed this too. I saw many security guards giving directions to people standing there smoking away and ashing on the carpet.

Bland is the right adjective for Palazzo... INCREDIBLY bland.

I walked the property, as well as stayed in a mid-level suite and, overall, found the hotel to be underbaked and nowhere near the detailed quality of Wynn. IMO, the only saving grace Palazzo has is that Barneys opened a location there, but that's not enough for me to ever stay there again.

This new tower only makes the whole Venetian complex the 'biggest,' but not the 'best' in any way. It's one-upmanship of the most asinine, cigar-club variety: A thought process that embodies if enough common areas are covered in tossed marble, it must mean it's an elegant and swank place to stay.

Wrong.

Palazzo was sunk long before it opened. I'm putting my money on Encore and any future plan that Steve Wynn puts his stamp on. To me, it's a whole other level of quality, service and refinement.




BN

We walked the Palazzo during the grand opening -- one word: underwhelmed. Nice waterfall, but the casino is almost as boring as the dealers there. I'm convinced that the only person smiling about the Palazzo is Steve Wynn!

Currently staying at the Palazzo over Super Bowl weekend.
Some unfinished details in our suite, such as the tv in the living area was not programmed, so it was stuck on the Venetian channel.
The motorized privacy blinds were never installed in our suite, and none of the mounting hardware was even present for them.
The tub was filthy, lots of grime and dirt, seemingly from construction.
Lots of plaster dust in the room everywhere.
We were told that our room, being on one of the highest floors, just under the luxury high roller suite floors (40 and above), was recently turned over for accepting occupants, and it was a rush to get enough rooms ready for a busy Super Bowl weekend.

But, the beds are fantastic and comfy, and the housekeeping staff has been excellent in meeting requests since we arrived.
I think they are trying hard to get things right, but they didn't allow enough time to do final inspections of rooms before turning them over for occupants.
Moreover, nearly every staff member we met had only been working there for a few months, or in some cases a week.

Palazzo has been a very frequent win on Priceline lately, at least as reported in biddingfortravel.com.

Romelle

There is a Cheesecake at the Grove just down 3rd street a mile or so.

anyone stay there recently or currently staying there? My Player Rep got me a pretty sweet deal there from March 4 through 8. I'm wondering if they are any nearer completion on property stuff and how the rooms are.

I suppose even if they are not, I can't complain too much as this deal was too good to pass up. ;)

Looking forward to my trip next week.