bhrubin

Thanks. My takeaway is not to be surprised if we don't get upgraded…but it sounds like the room we have is spacious enough for our 2 nights. Though I'll still check to see if Strip View Suites are available right before checking in to be sure…

ABG

That would be a 3 level upgrade.... unlikely. Book the Jr Suite as NYBanker suggests. The views of the strip are tiresome if you ask me.

bhrubin

My bad. Apologies. I now realize the Premier Room wasn't the category below Strip View Suite--duh I should have realized that was too good to be true. Our agent dumbly listed it that way, and I should know better to check.

So we'll be fine in the Premier Room. It's just 2 nights. Maybe we'll get upgraded to the Junior Suite, though as of now that isn't even available online. :-(

wjm457

Since opening the hotel has increased the levels of room categories so that upgrades are fairly meaningless. I actually like the Premier room better than the junior suite. Premier has nicer bathroom and bigger closet. I love staying there.

Lefly

Hello. I'm planning to stay at this hotel for my first Las Vegas long weekend trip next July (but I'm still considering Four Season too), and I have some little doubts about smoking policies...
I was unable to find any precise statement or description on website, just some comments in reviews, were I found mentioned a smoking area/corner on the pool deck.
Anyone know if it's true?

Also, anyone know if there is enough shade at the pool, or could be an issue to have an umbrella in a busy summer weekend? I would like to spend the hot time of the day at the pool, but I can't without shade. And the idea to rent a whole cabana for just myself, well, seems excessive...

Thank you in advance

scented

MO is a 100% non-smoking hotel - as I do not smoke, someone else might comment where the smoking areas outside are.

Shade isn't much of an issue, you'll find umbrellas. Actually, as the pool is between several buildings, it might get a little chilly in the afternoon/evening as the pool won't get much sun.

Musken

Absolutely no smoking inside when we were there last August. Smoking area (small shaded area with sofa and a table next to - but not close to - pool restaurant.

0x9F37

Hello,

I e-mailed the MO Las Vegas with a few questions about a group booking to include the MO LAS/NYC/SFO. 24 hours has now passed and not even an acknowledgement.

Is this normal?

scented

I had a reply from MO LAS within ~36 hours.
Is it normal? Yes. Is it good or acceptable? No.

0x9F37

I had a number of questions about the LAS property and wanted to see if they would organise the same number of rooms at the NYC and SFO property. 6 rooms in total and 9 guests.

scented

Try not to contact the general mail address - it will go back and forth countless times within the hotel before you ever hear back. Email the sales manager or your personal contact at the hotel, should you have one already. Try to push the issue through your travel agent, so he/she can get them to answer your mails.

offerendum

Will be hard to get help on SFO, it´s no longer a MO.

bhrubin

We arrived yesterday afternoon at the MO LV around 3:45 pm. So far, it's been a mixed stay.

Despite official check in being 3:00 pm, our Mandarin Premier Room was not ready at 3:45 pm. As the hotel was stated as full, they asked us to have a comp'd drink at the bar or tea lounge. The tea lounge was fully committed, so the front desk attendant asked for us to be seated in the bar. The bar wasn't ready at 4:00 pm, so they asked us to wait a few minutes. After 15 min further, we finally were seated in the bar. Waiting 30 min to even be seated in the lobby or bar without our room being ready seemed inappropriate and poorly handled.

The attendant then found is the bar to finally give us our room key...at 4:30 pm. He indicated there was a door handle repair that needed to be made, which meant the room wasn't really ready. We were still finishing our drinks so he said he would text us when the room was truly ready. That text didn't come until 5:15 pm as we were already entering the room. Again, not the service or promptness one expects from MO.

Once in our room, we found the Mandarin Premier Room to be lovely...but we weren't thrilled to be on floor 4, the lowest floor possible. I also found the nearby large electronic billboard for the Aria hotel outside our windows to be particularly distracting when laying in bed. So we had to close the blinds entirely to avoid that. Higher floors or ones facing a different direction may avoid that, but our room 421 did not.

We asked for my shoes to be shined at 5:15 pm, since we had dinner at Twist at 7:30 pm. They said they'd be returned by 7:00 pm. By 7:15 pm I had to call to find out where they were. They were sent to us at 7:25 pm. Not impressive.

On booking through Virtuoso originally, I also confirmed with the MO directly that the room could be cooled day or night to 65 F--as I require a cold room, especially in such a hot clime. Our room was at 68 F on arrival. We set it to 65 F and went to dinner and clubbing for our bachelor party event. One our return at 1 am, it was 69 F. I awoke in the morning after taking a sleeping pill (which I need if it's not cold enough) to find the room at 70 F.

I spoke with the front desk supervisor who offered an extra $100 spa credit for the service trouble. My husband had already reserved a massage, so that and the Virtuoso $100 spa credit largely paid for that. They sent an engineer to fix the air con problem, and we returned today after a breakfast and bit of shopping to find the room at 67F. It now is at 65 F....but I fear that may not endure for sleeping tonight. I'm crossing my fingers. With the heavy duvets on the bed, the air con again failing to maintain 65F or close will cause me serious angst.

We like the MO but it hasn't been perfect by any stretch. Dinner at Twist was wonderful. Service has been very helpful, but the start and delays with our room were quite disappointing. Being on floor 4, we found it quite annoying to go back up the elevator to the lobby on floor 23 to then take the other elevator to floor 1. Only today did we finally realize we could take the elevator to floor 3 and then switch to the other elevator to get to floor 1. It would have been prudent to share that with us on check in. Nor did the front desk attendant or anyone else take us to the room to explain the features--presumably because of the long delay in getting into the room, but that simply compounded the service miss IMO.

The MO is an absolute oasis without the craze of the other casino hotels, no matter how luxurious the other options may be. For that, I appreciate the MO. YET it's service has been problematic in ways that are not to expected of a MO. YET its air con had issues that are not to expected of any decent hotel in Vegas. If the MO wants to charge more, it really should be delivering these without these many issues.

We have one more night, which will helpfully tell the tale. If the MO air con fails us again, I've told the manager on duty that they will be comp'ing the stay and that we likely never will return. I'd hoped the MO could be the option I could rely upon for a dependable luxury stay in Vegas, but so far I remain unconvinced. For the money, the Westin last summer was fine and easily able to maintain 65 F on its highest floor. If the MO can't accomplish that at its price point, then the MO isn't worth the expense. A beautiful spacious room isn't enough in Vegas; effective air con and decent service are also important. And the MO should be delivering flawless service. So far, that hasn't been the case.

But one definite positive: it's a 5 minute walk over to Zegna.

scented

Oh no... that stay should have gone much better!
The MO has an amazing hard product, but it seems they didn't get the basics right during your stay. Is the hotel sold out this weekend? If not, they should have upgraded you and not make you wait for this pit of a room. Bad assignment on their part and not handled very well. After your initial frustration they should have gone above and beyond to make it right.
The FS is very good at this, unfortunately FS LV has a dated product and even the latest renovation couldn't fix the bathroom situation.
Las Vegas is a difficult market. Usually MO is reliable. Not this time. Do let them know. And enjoy Vegas nevertheless!
Edit: How's breakfast? Last time this was their weak point, as they required reservations and had a line for breakfast. Not what one would hope for. I made them accept room service as my FHR breakfast, as this was an endless drama.

JohnRain

Your review is very helpful (I'm not quoting it in full due to its length) as I'm currently hesitating between the MO and the Encore for my upcoming stay in August. I'm generally an MO fan and was considering to give it a try but I've heard a few mixed comments about it recently, so I'll probably stick with the Encore (which I love). The upgrade probability is always an important factor when choosing a property and the fact that they seem to be quite stingy at the MO doesn't help.