I stayed earlier this month and agree that the letter was pretty much identical to the one in post #816. I used the $65 breakfast credit for room service and the $100 resort credit for takeout at hong kong cafe and black tap craft burgers. Also received the bottle of sparkling wine and 4pm checkout.

Side question but how do I jump to post #816? I don't see any "jump to" button.

Do you think that if I book the Bellagio for the (for some reason lower rate) resort king room, with FHR when I get an upgrade I will be able to secure not only a nicer room but a two queen room? We will need two queens (or a suite with a pull out couch). Booking Mon-Wed of Thanksgiving week, not usually a super busy time there.

If you have a specific requirement (ie two beds) I would always just book what you need and any upgrade is a bonus. I'm not sure turning up and saying you need two queens instead of a king will work.

1 night in Bellagio end of March
1 night in Bellagio/Palazzo early April

1st night in Bellagio
Early check-in 1pm, not available. Once I walked to another restaurant, ready to eat, received a message that room was ready. I would have waited had they told me the room would be ready in 30 minutes.
room upgrades NA, late checkout at 1pm.
used both breakfast+100 on the Buffett for a family of 4.

1 night in Palazzo
Early mobile check in (for everyone?) and picked up the key at 4.
No upgrades.
Surprised about the sparking wine offer and very disappointed that it never came. Called one in the evening and one in the afternoon 2nd day. Wish they did not offer it.
late checkout at 4pm.
Went to Hongkong cafe couple of times and used way more than 100 credit.
Breakfast less than 65.

2nd night in Bellagio
it is a charm. not sure whether it was a upgrade but I love the fountain view, almost right in the middle.
left early am at 3, did not use breakfast credit.

TL;DR We enjoyed the Palazzo over the Wynn / Encore

Hotel: The Palazzo At The Venetian
Room: Luxury King
Check in: Able to use IHG check-in desk on the side, which was clearly marked for FHR too. We arrived around 11am and couldn't check in immediately, but only had to wait an hour before getting notice the room was ready. They did give the option to switch to the Venetian side for an earlier check in. Check-in came with a welcome letter detailing all the perks that comes with the FHR booking.
Upgrade: Assigned a room with a better view. I don't consider this a true "upgrade" but the rooms are all big to begin with
Late Checkout: 4:00pm check out without asking further
Breakfast Credit: $65. Easy to use with a variety of options. Sat down at the Grand Lux Cafe which was delicious, however there was a big breakfast crowd and service was lacking as a result. There are two Grand Lux Cafe locations where the credit can be used - one at the Palazzo, one at the Venetian.
Credits:Welcome amenity was a bottle of champagne, which can be delivered to the room when you're ready. $100 dining credit was easy to use with a ton of great options. We used it at Buddy V's which was
delicious.
Comment: The room was luxurious and spacious. The hotel service was excellent, and the credits felt easy to get value out of. No issues on the bill. We'd consider burning a FHR credit here again.
Rate Paid: $253

Walked between Palazzo and Wynn which involved cutting through the indoor mall and crossing over the bridge.

Hotel: Wynn / Encore Resort
Room: Encore Resort King
Check in: Checked-in on the Wynn side. There is no special check-in line since all guest are considered "invited". If you hit a busy times, the wait can be annoyingly long. Early check-in granted around 12pm without a problem. Check-in came with a welcome letter detailing all the perks that come with the FHR booking.
Upgrade: Assigned a room with a better view. I don't consider this a true "upgrade" but the view in this particular room was very nice onlooking the golf course and mountains.
Late Checkout: 4:00pm check out without having to ask, however the room key stopped working earlier around 3pm. Luckily we noticed before getting locked out.
Breakfast Credit: $60/day. Used at The Buffet.The environment is nice and bright. The service was lacking; we found ourselves waiting with empty cups for refills. The variety of food is novel. The quality is a step above most but like most buffets only a few dishes were worth going back for.
Credits: $25 welcome credit usable for the minibar or beverages at property-owned outlets. The $100 credit is only for spa services. There are a limited number of day passes available which the credit can be used on. The day pass provides access to the shared areas - Jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, and shower areas with check in/out privileges. The shared spa areas are clothing-optional and gender-separated. Service was great. There were plenty of robes and towels. All of the other scheduled services at the spa are priced higher making the credit just a discount on those, but they get you access to the shared areas too.
Comment: The creditsfelt difficult to extract value out of organically and very coupon book like, which is unfortunately is on brand for the Amex Platinum card. When the bill came, we found some credits were not automatically applied due to new restrictions that weren't disclosed. We originally hadhigh expectations for the Wynn / Encore room but had problems with ours in particular. The room door had an issue at check-in which burned an hour waiting for service. The room itself was not cleaned well with visible dust, hair, and curious...residues. The in-room robes had not been replaced with make-up left all over them. However, the check-out desk service was impeccable when we mentioned those issues and they offered to waive the resort fee.
Rate Paid: $294 (before credit due to room issues)

Just confirmed that you cannot use the spa credit towards nutridrip (also, prices start at $200!!)

Hotel: Palazzo
Room: Luxury King Suite City View
Check in: Sunday @ 1:30pm

Upgrade: Strip View
Late Checkout: 4:00 pm was offered and we accepted
Breakfast Credit: $65 at Gran Lux Cafe. We loved the breakfast here last time, had a brisket benedict, this time it was a short rib Benedict. Didn't think it was quite as good, but still nice. Sit down service starts at 8am or you can hit the buffet starting at 6 or 7 I believe.

Credits: $100 f&b we used at a couple places. 1st was the happy hour at brera which was great. We had 2 whole pizzas and two wines for under $50. Enough for leftovers too. Then later that night we went to Buddy V's and had some sort of seafood stew that was more like an appetizer for about $50. It was pretty good, but not enough for a meal really. Glad we had leftovers.

Comment: We absolutely love the rooms at the Palazzo and truly not sure how a room can get any better. As others had mentioned...the bottle of bubbly was listed on the welcome letter. We simply called to the front desk and they transferred us to the floral department who then brought it up a short while later. This wouldn't work quite a smooth on our 2nd stay. The pools are great as well, although a few things to note. Chairs fill up FAST! By 9am most things are full and there is really no sun all morning. We ventured to the Venetian pool and you'll get sun around 1030 or 11, but same situation with chairs. And lots of splashing, screaming, kids... unfortunately. No trouble bringing our own stuff into the pool, they did check out bags...but not really.

When you can find a rate like we did this hotel is a FANTASTIC deal. Our folio came to about $85, which was correct, for a night in the Palazzo with all our food covered.
Rate Paid: $169


View from our room





Gran Lux Cafe Short Rib Benedict

Buddy V's

Brera happy hour

Brera happy hour

Brera pizzas

Can we start making it a soft rule to put the day of check in? Not the date, but just the day so that we can see if upgrades are more prevalent on Monday/Tues/Wed.

You can edit the wiki.

Hotel: Palazzo

Room Name/Type: Grand One Bedroom Suite
Check-in Day: Monday
Check-in Time: 3:30, room was not ready
Upgrade: No upgrade available. Our room wasn't even ready at 3:30. We pushed back a little on this as it was so close to check-in. Agent offered a room DOWNGRADE to a Luxury King Suite Stip View and offered to waive the resort fee along with an additional $100 property credit to use anywhere. We accepted.

Late Checkout: 4pm was offered and accepted

Breakfast Credit: $65 at Gran Lux Cafe. This place really is quite nice. We went for the buffet today at around 7am. No line. The buffet was very nice with great fresh fruit, pastries, cooked eggs or omelets and non alcoholic drinks. Good value in Vegas for about $50 something. Don't get the OJ it is awful and most likely tang.

Misc Credits: We used both our $100 credits at Black Tap craft burgers and beer. They've got great burgers! And we even got the cake shake which is totally ridiculous and very good. Also had a number of drinks, the mule was quite good.

Comment: Unfortunately as expected there were issues with the wine again. We were told it would be delivered to our room. Several hours later it never showed up so I called down again and asked about the wine. I was told unfortunately the floral department was closed and it would have to wait until the next day. That was not acceptable as it was only a one night stay. They mentioned I could walk all the way to the concierge to pick it up if I wanted. So I did. Got there and after a bit of back and forth, they asked for my id, I said I didn't have it. They wanted me to go BACK up to my room to get it. I said that isn't happening and they'll need to figure something else out, they ended up verifying my address and phone number and eventually gave me the bottle. Strangely enough, after going out then for the night and gambling, when we returned around 11pm there was another bottle in the room. They just absolutely can't figure out how to execute this benefit.

Also, when we went to go check out a huge line was in the lobby from a checking in group. They had the FHR line closed, at 330.?? So, we went to the lounge check-in, and while they were accommodating to help out, unfortunately the folio wasn't reflecting the additional credits and we had to wait in line to get it sorted. A bit of a pain and do t understand why they wouldn't have the FHR line open right around check-in. Oh well.

All in all we still love the Palazzo and again at our rate paid, it just can't be beat. 219 rate, $265 in credits. They paid us to stay there, ha!

Rate Paid: $219

Hotel: Bellagio

Room Name/Type: Strip View King Room (spa tower)

Check-in Day: Tuesday

Check-in Time: 4:15 pm, room was ready

Upgrade: They had "upgraded" is to a Fountain View in the main tower, but I asked to be put back in our original room. We have stayed in the main tower fountain view rooms before and just didn't really like the layout. The spa tower rooms have a fantastic bathtub, a shower WITH a door and a bench, the room felt just about the same size as well. Lots of people complain about the distance to walk to the spa tower, I don't understand this at all??? It litteraly took like less than 5 minutes to get from the room to the casino, no big deal. Plus, while they don't call it a fountain view, the view of the fountain was fantastic! We had room 32606 if I remember right, so pretty high and near the end of the hall. That will be your best bet for a GREAT view.

Late Checkout: Offer 4pm, we check out around 2:30

Breakfast Credit: $60. We used the breakfast credit along with some of the f&b credit to go to the brunch buffett. We showed up around 930 and there was no line. We also brought down our own glasses of champagne for mimosas and nobody batted an eye. Last time we were here was Oct of 2021 and I feel the buffet has gotten better. Id say on par for what you can expect for a $45 breakfast and a good selection at that.Misc Credits: $100. We used the remaining credits at Noodles for take out on our check in day. Can't say we liked it very much. Had the pad Thai, not good, crab fried rice, just ok, and steamed veggies...can't mess that up. We would not return.

Comment:. So glad we stayed in the Spa Tower and would totally recommend doing so to everyone. Just felt secluded, nicer and a better bathroom by FAR.

Rate Paid: $239. They also were proactive about telling me the resort fee would NOT be waived even though I was MGM gold since I booked through FHR


View from the room

I am thinking about heading to Vegas for the first time and will read through this thread to figure out which FHR might be the best choice for me...

While I do that I am curious if there is a tl;dr shortlist for FHR Vegas hotels? Is there a top 5 that are worth focusing my attention on in terms of property, value, and experience?

Thanks.

You may find this thread in the Las Vegas destination forum helpful as a starting point: Best Hotel for a nice experience

Personal top five

1. Palazzo: Standard rooms are suites. The food credit has more options than in the past and the breakfast restaurant is surprisingly good. Fancy but not too fancy like you may feel at Wynn/Encore. The biggest con is its North Strip location.
2. Encore: Sister tower to the Wynn (click on Wynn at AmEx Travel to see Encore rooms). Luxurious hotel and extremely expensive restaurants. Clientele is the Beverly Hills crowd. Spa credit instead of food credit and $100 won't get you very far in the spa. However, fantastic restaurants for the breakfast credit.
3. Wynn: Older tower that recently had its rooms renovated. Still prefer the Encore's bigger rooms but might book over Encore if Encore was more expensive. Wynn is between Encore and Palazzo so location could be better.
4. Bellagio: Fountains! Great location. Older hotel compared to others on the list. Recently renovated rooms are good but nothing special. Lots of choices for the $100 food credit as can use at other MGM properties.
5. Cosmopolitan: Great location. Try to get a fountain view room. Still Marriott affiliated despite MGM acquisition. Would rank higher than Bellagio if FHR credit was for food instead of spa.

Crockfords FHR food credits no longer stack with Hilton Gold/Diamond food credits. The new resort is good but wouldn't stay there unless significantly cheaper than the above options. Top of North Strip near Encore.

Can't comment on Waldorf Astoria or Four Seasons as I've never stayed except that Waldorf has a better strip location and I love the Mandalay Bay beach at the Four Seasons.

MGM Skylofts over Aria SkySuites if you're looking for a $800+ per night suite property. Not including on the above list as these hotels are so different that it's an unfair comparison.