Wynncore Pros:
Best breakfast amenity for FHR properties in LAS ($80 credit daily, includes room service. Hello?)
Standard rooms are larger than others. Encore even more so.
Encore Spa > Wynn Spa
Encore Pool is quieter than Wynn Pool
Service is very good

THEHotel Pros:
Room price point
Close to LAS, easier to walk to other properties
Pretty good breakfast amenity

I'm actually pondering this very decision for an April anniversary trip. I've been to Vegas several times, but it's my wife's first, and I want to spoil her a little bit, but in the "reasonable" price range. We have a two night comp stay at Aria from myVegas rewards, and my choices are to just book two more nights there, through a Virtuoso booking, and hope they'll combine the two and upgrade everything, or to have the other two nights at Wynn or theHOTEL with FHR. Spa is important to her because she wants a massage, but I know I'll end up paying a fortune even after the credit. The most important feature for the room is the bathroom; she wants as big a tub as possible to soak in. The price point is especially appealing at TheHotel, but the amount of walking isn't, and we'll already have the South strip covered from Aria... FHR is pricing about 126 for TheSuite and 179 for a Wynn Resort King (170 at Encore, actually).

An unrelated question still suited to this thread: Can I book with my Platinum card and then, ultimately, charge the room to my Barclay Arrival instead? I'd like to use some of those points to make the room "free" if I can. Using Arrival points, I have a higher comfortable maximum price point.

Officially no, but there is no harm in trying at check-out. Please discuss in this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-platinum.html

The Aria is still quite a hike from theHotel. i would say that Aria is in the middle and a great location.

If I were you, I'd go for the Wynn. It is a much nicer hotel than theHotel (even if you don't get upgraded).

One is now able to book Aria Skysuites on the FHR website.

I just nabbed a reservation that was considerably cheaper than what's available on the hotel website.

Longtime lurker, first time poster.

We stayed twice at THEhotel using FHR and were pleased for the most part. For spa options, you can get Spa Mandalay or The Bathhouse included. I never used the spa credit but my wife used it, and so did my mom, and they both liked Spa Mandalay.
Unless you've got a rental car, the location might be an issue. There's a tram that you can take that takes you to the Excalibur, but even then, it's still a walk to the rest of the strip. That being said, Mandalay Bay is a great resort and should be fun in April when the pools are back open. Another benefit of staying at THEhotel is that the resort fee, which is usually $28, is reduced to $20 for FHR stays. Annoying to pay it, but it's Vegas, so that kind of stuff is the norm.

In fact, we're booked to stay there again in November and were told that The Delano, which is set to replace THEhotel, will honor the existing reservations... I have a feeling that they're going to open up in 2015 though, but we will see.

Good luck!

I had a recent weekend trip and tried two hotels:

Thursday -- Skylofts at MGM

Stayed in a one bedroom loft suite. Great room.
Was not upgraded and did not use the spa credit.
Breakfast was a $100 credit and could be in the room or in The Mansion. Went with the latter. Amazing. Food was great, service impeccable, atmosphere serene.
With the lofts, transportation is provided. Standard limo from McCarron. From MGM to Aria, I was taken in a Rolls Royce Ghost stretch. What an awesome ride. Too short.
Used the late checkout without issue and left at 3:30


Friday/Saturday -- Aria Sky Suites

Was upgraded to a strip view suite. This was a nice bump. Rooms were right at the center. Expansive view.
Breakfast one day at the buffet. It was quite good. Second day, breakfast was at the cafe. Train wreck. Pretty much everything I ordered was wrong. Sent two things back and never got others. Avoid this place.
Used spa credit for a haircut.
Used 4:00 checkout. Standard limo to airport included.

So, I would give the nod to Skylofts on all fronts with one major issue (see below); it was about 50% more expensive and would have been 3-4x higher at weekend rates.

The issue was some sort of noisy fan/ventilation system that kept me awake off and on all night. Like a bathroom fan on steroids.

Yahtzee, curious on how you booked the Aria room - I have never been successful getting the FHR website to work for this property.

Have been able to get web bookings to work fine on Virtuoso.

Not sure. The Amex site just happened to work one day. Was never the case before that and rarely after.

Anyone know if the $100 Spa credit at the Mandarin Oriental can be used at the Beauty Salon?


Edited to add: What's the story with breakfast at this property? What's the credit and where can you use it?


Thanks.

The credit is something like $29/person. You can use it for room service or in the restaurant. I really like the breakfast in the restaurant; credit usually doesn't quite cover all of it though.

Don't know about the salon.

This has been my experience as well. Sometimes it works, but usually it doesn't.

Does anyone know if I can use the $100 spa credit to enter the spa and enjoy the facilities without having a treatment? If not, then I guess I could get my hair cut, would that give me access to the spa facilities?

4 years ago it was possible.
IIRC an hair cut was very pricy. Not worth it except if you're not a SPA person.

FHR Las Vegas looks like crap to me. A $100 spa credit is nothing more than an up-sell opportunity not a real benefit to me and probably many others. Not sure why offering a $100 dining credit is all that difficult when it's likely going to drive revenue to their restaurant anyways.

In most US FHR cities USD 100 will not cover a SPA treatment