BrettMCA

I have canceled and rebooked several reservations with this hotel in the past. They have always been very good about giving my deposit back very fast. I usually see the deposit credit in my credit card activity within 2-3 business days. I have never had to call to report a missing credit.

BL1KITW

I cancelled and rebooked three reservations on December 27, through the hotel's 800 reservations number, and my SPG AMEX statement shows all three credits posted to my card on the same day. Of course, YMMV.

Flying Buccaneer

I know I'm getting off topic, but a stay in May won't qualify for the promo.

Having said that, my experience with deposit refunds from PH has been the same as BrettMCA's.

jswong

Thanks for the reassurance folks. Of course I wrote May when I meant March but great catch

Jeff

welookgood.com

Interesting conspiracy theory. However this is very untrue and shouldn't be spread on a public message board. Vegas hotels as hotels in general rebrand themselves after a new company take them over. If the Aladdin name made $, there would be no issue with keeping the name.

AZ Travels the World

It was widely speculated and covered in the media at the time (I read at least a couple articles about it) that an "Arab-themed hotel and casino" in the US was doomed, given the times and American relations in the region. The poster isn't making it up.

In reality, it sounds like the poor design of the property, with more emphasis on the shopping mall than the casino, and the lack of a player's club tracking their best customers and giving them comps for all their spending, is what doomed the new Aladdin. But owners and operators have a need to rationalize their failure, which is probably what led to the perceived Middle East-connection problem.

MilesTalk

I stopped by the new PH during CES. I was not able to stay there due to a *substantially* lower rate at Luxor, but I did tour the new property and I have to say I was very impressed! I had stayed at the old Aladdin only one time. The layout wasn't very "fun" and the comps seemed stingy. The best thing it had going for it then was the Spice Market buffet and I'm pleased to say that it is as good as ever (and if you've never tried it, you should... it's superior to most strip buffets).

Overall, the casino has a much more fun vibe to it than the old one. The new color scheme is a much happier one and that BlackJack pit described above is every bit as salacious as it sounds. Beware the $25 minimum bet on those, though. I did not have the best luck at that pit! ;-)

I did notice a distinct lack of SPG branding. Though I wasn't in the hotel portion, I didn't see any *wood designations within the more public areas at all. But I will look to stay here on a future visit and do a proper review then. Cheers.

craz

stayed @ PH on 1/13 OK only for 8 hrs. The place looked Great, unfortunately my suite wasnt a reno one, but I like the new look very much.

Cant wait for them to finish with the market place as they are removing the old bumpy walkway and the new one is very smooth and great on the rollerboards for those of us thats self-park

Checked out that BJ pit and its bad enough with the drinks that they fed you who wants the dealers looking and dressing like Hooters Girls, its great if you arent sitting and playing. But who needs the distraction and the dancers dont help either.

bigguyinpasadena

I was here for three nights-offered a strip suite but I told the nice lady at the plat line that I prefered a vista room on a high floor-got a vist on the 14th floor but I was fine with it.
A bit of a problem with the housekeeping=I went down to get coffee after a very late night,I was going to return to the room and do some reading,take a hot bath,and go back to bed.Left the do not disturb sign in the lock.Returned from Coffee Bean to find the maid cleaning the room -I just hung out in the hallway till she finished.
Two other friends staying there had issues with housekeeping not understanding that do not disturb really means that we do not want to be disturbed.

craz

as i said in a previous post, Sun night was my 1st time here in a while. When I went up to the Mezz, I soon realized that Check-in is no longer up there.

Its now located on the floor below the Casino, when i get back there for my 2nd stay I will see if I can get there from the self-parking area w/o having to go thru all of the Market Place. I noticed an escalator once I walked thru the doorway from the SP area into the Mkt place, that said Valet/Taxis hopefully it will be a short cut to the check-in area

escog

Nope - that's the valet/taxi stand for the mall. It doesn't lead to the check-in area. You'll have to walk through the mall (renamed, "Miracle Mile Shops") to the casino and then take the down escalator to the check-in area.

Yankeeflyer

Actually, if you go to this area but walk a short distance south it will take you to the underground access road, which you can follow to the drop-off area and the entrance to check-in. This is not a designated pedestrian route (although there are "sidewalks" of one sort or another the entire way), thus no people in your way and quicker than going through the mall.

Yankeeflyer

I read speculation about the Arab theme as well, but as you say that may have just been an excuse. I'm not sure why the old OR the new Aladdin were not more successful. (BTW, they definitely had a player's club prior to the PH switchover, and I did get comps from it.)

DenverBrian

Probably a combination of the following:

--Weird layout. The "front" facing the Strip was never the "front" entrance.

--Lack of Starwood marketing. Had they called it the Westin Aladdin it might have helped.

--Odd and dark casino.

--Even with a player's club, it wasn't a multi-unit player's club like Harrahs or MGM.

I don't think the Middle East theme was all that much a factor; else why is Sahara at the north end of the Strip continuing to do okay?

AZ Travels the World

Yes, they ultimately did, but what I read about the Aladdin's failure talked about how it was late in coming -- apparently they didn't have one in place when the new casino opened, which proved to be a big problem. They were in bankruptcy within about a year.