They're eliminating the casino as part of the renovation--or so I heard somewhere. Best thing about the Westin is its fantastic location in the midst of the Strip just below Caesars.

sorry for you bad experience there.

mine was perfect with no issues, though not in the same league of Asia's MOs.

Still my pick anyway, price is quite reasonable for my dates and MUCH BETTER location than any other SPG options.

...and the worst thing about this Westin is the silly $30.00 resort fee! I actually really like this Westin but think I might stay elsewhere going forward due to my last poor customer service experience. We will see?

Well there is the Mansion. I don't know how it is nowadays, but a number of years ago when I was there it was truly amazing.

Another upgrade datapoint... Checked in yesterday as a plat for a mid-week stay, property nearly empty, every room category for sale including all suites. Upgraded from Wonderful (cheapest) to Spectacular (second lowest room category). Didn't push it, but simply won't be staying here again. SLS platinum treatment far superior.

As a data point, my stay still hasn't posted nor is it showing up in My Stays. If I search for it by confirmation, my name and SPG number on the reservation. I will submit it as a missing stay tomorrow.

The Mandarin Oriental in Vegas is excellent (by Vegas standards). It's the best property in the city by far, and I've stayed at pretty much all of them.

These days I alternate between Caesars' properties (for the comp'd rooms) and crappier SPG properties (I need the night credits). I wish I could stay at the Cosmopolitan (maybe someday when Marriott stays qualify for SPG credit) or the MO.

It is worth noting that the standard upgrade for the SLS was to the Lux Tower. Since this is now the W, it should be expected that Platinum treatment - at least in terms of upgrades - will likely take a nosedive. The more striking benefits of the SLS over the W are the room prices for the same shared hotel amenities.

As an update, for some reason, my rate was not showing as an eligible rate even though it was a standard rate available online. This was corrected by CS and the stay posted to my account.

Also, I added this to the resort fee alternate/replacement amenity for elite members thread, but I'll add it in here as well. Like the SLS, the W offers two drink tickets to elite guests as an alternate/replacement amenity for the $32 resort fee, which includes benefits already received by elite guests. If this bonus amenity is not offered to you, politely ask for it. If you have already left the property, open a case via Platinum CS or directly with the property and you will likely receive some form of compensation (full refund of the resort fee, points, etc.).

Excusing the opening day flaws, this is a nice property. It is a bit away from the Strip and offers similar rates to much larger properties on the Strip. As this was once three towers now split to two separate sister brands that operate independent of one another, Platinum upgrades to suites will likely be rare, especially considering it is also a casino property. There are positives to the hotel and the casino, so it should not be completely dismissed when comparing to the big casino properties on the Strip.

My 12/1 - 12/2 stay still doesn't show up; I just reported it as missing. (I'm at ~98 and spending the next 2 weeks in Europe in starwoods, so it's not a huge problem, but I'd at least like my points).

I got email after reporting the no-drink-tickets thing from the director of operations; he offered a 2k point goodwill credit or a better stay next time. I took the 2k points and they got credited immediately.

If you want to call the SPG PLT CS line, they should be able to fix the missing stay issue immediately (see my post two above). Yours is likely showing as an ineligible rate (same as mine). My missing stay report went to normal CS and they were "unable to find my stay" and asked for more information. A tad puzzling considering I could find it with my last name and confirmation number, both of which were provided to them in the report.

Also to note, the property considers their current status to be a "soft opening" with the firm opening date in February.

That's code for the ability to provide a poor experience without having to apologize, right? ;)

Regards

Until we start to get some better reports of stays, I'm going to stick with the Westin. I'm staying over on a Sunday in March, where the W is 2x the cost...doesn't seem worth it.

Does anyone have a more recent experience in this hotel? I'm currently considering staying there end of April.

Besides, their website indicates that the pool will be opening 'in spring'. I wasn't able to find pictures of it. Does anyone know when the pool will be available?