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Hot off a Vegas stay in Conrad Resorts World and The Venetian (an IC, sort of). Good hard products in both, but Conrad so poor on the soft product. As both properties are part of Hilton Honors and IHG One Rewards, happy to answer any follow up queries re elite treatment not covered below.
Conrad – Booked on a beverage credit rate ($25 of drinks per day) for around £100 before resort fee. That was the cheapest rate available. Conrad participates in Amex THC but not FHR (Crockfords LXR does). Checked in on the app and chose a room. No further upgrade was forthcoming despite what appeared to be low occupancy. Went to the room with luggage using the in-app key to avoid the front desk lines. Made worse by non-suites guests of Crockfords LXR now being directed to the Conrad lobby to do their check in. The Crockfords lobby is now restricted to servicing suites guests only. Priority line at the Conrad front desk for Hilton Gold and above. However it runs right alongside the main queue so is not clearly understood and just aggravates with claims of queue jumping.
The infamous Hilton F&B credit ($25 per day per person, max 2 persons per room get a credit) is limited to the hoe down (…at heel) style saloon sports bar. Where a food truck does breakfast sandwiches in to-go trays. $15 for a bacon and egg hot brioche with tater tots and an expectation of a tip. I had bought cereal, milk and juice in Walgreens and already had in my room. And of course my travel kettle for making tea. I did not return later to the sports bar to use any remaining credit – once the breakfast truck closes at 11.00, all service is at-table and a minimum spend of £25 (per head or per table, not sure) applies.
Room was understated and functional; more akin to a clean and fresh Hilton than a Conrad. Excellent connectivity by the bed on both sides.No kettle. Iron and ironing board present.
Check out 11.00 and eStandby Upgrade paid-for late check out did not clear. Front desk agent utterly uninterested; suggested calling anytime from 06.00 onwards on my check out day to check for late check out. Did so and was refused immediately on the basis that the hotel was full for that coming night. Even if I pay? Yes, even if I pay it’s still a no. Hung up, opened the Hilton app and could freely book the maximum 9 rooms for that night. Did not pursue further as Conrad didn’t deserve more of my money.
Zero luggage assistance offered at the Conrad and the rideshare pickup is in effect a walk through the casino to a pick up area by the staff car park. No staff present in the area, which is rather off the beaten track at night.
I enquired about free bottled water and was told n/a but just for me, here’s 2 (mini) bottles. I mustered a thanks.
Housekeeping was absent throughout the stay. No attempts made to call to my room later or such like. I suspected that might be the case when I saw the alarming abundance of towels left in the room upon my arrival.
Pre-authorisation hold: Not yet refunded, and the check out total was based off a room rate that bore little resemblance to the booked rate. Front desk agent had to be talked through my printed reservation to try to retrofit the correct rate.
Venetian – 25K points via the IHG app. Venetian is in Amex THC but not FHR (the Palazzo is), however AMB status suffices to secure 16.00 check out.
Soft product difference was night and day compared to Conrad. Arrived 11.20 having left the Conrad at 11.00. Segregated check in area for Amex FHR and IHG elites so no confusion re who is next. My reservation was on IHG points. Room was ready for early check in so could go straight up. Directions offered and luggage assistance offered; declined by me.
As per IHG T&Cs, many exclusions at the 2 Vegas IC Alliance properties. This includes the Diamond welcome amenity; thus no free breakfast. Nonetheless, front desk proactively offered 16.00 check out and set the keys to properly work till that time (unlike many properties). Then talked through the rest of the applicable Diamond Ambassador benefits using a printed table, of which they gave me a copy to keep. $20 beverage credit at a number of lobby bars. Bottled water then proactively pushed towards me.
Room was chintzy; it had vibes of Hyacinth Bucket if she’d been hired to design 1992’s most luxurious static caravan. Elaborate lampshades, frilled cushions, mahogany galore. The Palazzo’s understated, more modern version of the same room concept would be more to my tastes. 3 tv sets in each standard suite; one by the lounge and dining area, one in front of the bed, one in the bathroom. Iron and ironing board provided, indeed it was a Proctor Silex. No kettle. Connectivity at the bedside limited to one USB A and one USB C port on a clock radio on one side of the bed. Nothing on the other side unless willing to pull the bedside locker forward to use a socket behind it.
Housekeeping when seeing me on my penultimate day in the corridor noted I would have late check out the next day and as such, did I want any extras left in my room. I declined, mostly because my bathroom shelves already resemble the travel minis section of Boots.
Rideshare at the Venetian is equally unhelpfully located; on the 3rd floor of a parking garage accessed by footbridge. However that is moot as the Venetian and Palazzo lobby levels are joined by walking through the casinos; the Palazzo’s rideshare zone is very helpfully found down one escalator from their front desk in a busy, well designed area with many staff to help with doors and bags.
Breakfast tip: Every morning the lobby level Grand Lux Cafe (The Cheesecake Factory with less focus on cheesecake) is chocka with table service guests, while the lobby level bakery and juice bar both have long standing lines. To avoid a wait, order ahead and pay using the Starbucks app or website. The Venetian branch is located midway between the Venetian and the Palazzo guest room towers so convenient for both. (The Palazzo’s own Starbucks branch is a mere walk-up bar, no seating, at the busy point where Palazzo guests slow down to have their keycards validated before proceeding to guest room elevator banks.) Paying ahead allows you to grab and go with no in-store interaction. No interaction = no opportunity to present you with a screen of tip options.
Pre-authorisation hold: Refunded back to my card with a ping on my watch (minus the resort fee) as I was standing at the front desk.
Random question – how do you do the starbucks mobile ordering? I was in the US recently and it showed not available . Do I need a US app?
Random question – how do you do the starbucks mobile ordering? I was in the US recently and it showed not available . Do I need a US app?
Yes or just the US website with a US login. Payment cards from the UK may struggle to be accepted. I got around that by buying a Starbucks gift card and I top that up every now and then. A useful way of ridding oneself of spare change.
Not all stores offer mobile ordering at all times of day too.
“Room was chintzy; it had vibes of Hyacinth Bucket if she’d been hired to design 1992’s most luxurious static caravan.“
Haha. This is a great line and accurate too. In a funny way I like it – I mean the whole point of this property is to be big and different and over the top. You’d have REALLY hated the gloriously ridiculous Paris rooms up the street prior to their refresh a few years ago – they were like what your Grandma would think a hotel room in France would look like if she had never been and her only experience of France was once having seen some impressionist paintings.
I stayed at the Venetian in June. IHG and Ambassador. Checkin was swift but completely disinterested. Status was mentioned and went off to check with manager in regard a not requested upgrade. When I asked whether there was an upgrade the question was ignored, it was late and I’d been travelling all day, had problems finding the parking and really didn’t care.
I checked the reservation the next day and I really couldn’t see the room was in anyway different to what I’d paid for, but some upgrades are laughably insignificant so not really sure. The room itself did seem rather dated, but was clean, and as said above awash with TVs, in both the lounge part, bed part and bathroom.
Housekeeping were proactive, left them a tip which resulted in more mini Rituals and towels than 20 people would have needed.
I’d stay again, I like free parking, because with the room rates, resort fees and cost of everything in the hotels they’ve extracted enough that parking tips me over the edge, albeit that’s slightly illogical.Bad news, @dougzz99…
https://www.casino.org/vitalvegas/venetian-and-palazzo-confirm-end-of-free-parking/
The predictably inevitable result is that Wynn/Encore are reintroducing parking charges too.
Random question – how do you do the starbucks mobile ordering? I was in the US recently and it showed not available . Do I need a US app?
Yes or just the US website with a US login. Payment cards from the UK may struggle to be accepted. I got around that by buying a Starbucks gift card and I top that up every now and then. A useful way of ridding oneself of spare change.
Not all stores offer mobile ordering at all times of day too.
Maybe I’ll try the website then next week
I find Amex often works best if you’re struggling in the US and one can suck up the FX charges on small amounts!
Excellent review! Agree with everything said above. I’ve also chosen to stay at Conrad and Venetian on points in 2022 and 2023 – so approve of the choices too 😀
It’s a shame there as so many things being downgraded
Loss of Crockfords lobby (for non-suite) removes one of the few benefits of paying for Crockfords over Conrad. It was already hard to justify the extra $ or points cost!
The F&B credit reduced to one useless location is a real negative for the Hilton option. When they first opened the credit could be used at a variety of genuinely good breakfast spots.
The introduction of $18/day self parking at venetian/palazzo probably means this year was my last visit 🙁 I always have a car … Resorts world is free with the players club, Cosmopolitan is free for hotel guests, and MGM is free with Pearl rewards membership – which will hopefully be easy to reach with the Marriott partnership and status matching (… not that I’ll be staying at any MGM options – but useful when visiting them!)
However, despite the penny pinching, there is always a way round it – and the resorts overall remain incredible places to stay. I’ve already booked Conrad for 2024, and looking to stay at the Wynn next time … hoping the wynn/encore hold out on free parking *for hotel guests* at least… TBD.
@dougzz99 the standard ‘upgrade’ given to Diamond at venetian/palazzo is … a ‘view’ upgrade(!) So… the exact same room you would have got with no status – just less chance of a low floor. The IHG benefits are pretty minimal when staying there.
@dougzz99 the standard ‘upgrade’ given to Diamond at venetian/palazzo is … a ‘view’ upgrade(!) So… the exact same room you would have got with no status – just less chance of a low floor. The IHG benefits are pretty minimal when staying there.Right, was high enough to out over the far view, but there’s not a lot to really see, albeit better than the view across the aircon units on the lower sections.
Bad news, @dougzz99…
https://www.casino.org/vitalvegas/venetian-and-palazzo-confirm-end-of-free-parking/
The predictably inevitable result is that Wynn/Encore are reintroducing parking charges too.
Not surprising I guess 😥
It’s trivial when compared to overall spend, but it’s just to feeling of a slight win against the endless cash grab in all other regards. I think TI remains free. TI also offer the chance to not pay resort fees, with special rates. When I check these are identical to the regular rate plus resort fee. So not a win, but if you really hate the concept of a resort fee you may like that rate. Annoying by having both they continue to appear in the 3rd party price offers at the lower unrealistic rate.
Thanks @Blair Waldorf Salad for your very informative reviews.
“Housekeeping when seeing me on my penultimate day in the corridor noted I would have late check out the next day and as such, did I want any extras left in my room”
So Housekeeping, having provided no service at all during your stay, miraculously made sure they encountered you and took special care of you just before your last night? Undoubtedly a tip-earning tactic.
When I worked in Switzerland we did the same in the dining room for guests who were staying for 1 week or 2 weeks. So they had their breakfast and any half-board meals in the hotel’s residents-only dining room.
My senior colleague instructed me to provide extra pleasant conversation and some element of extra service at breakfast on their second to last morning (we had a list provided daily by Reception of who would be checking out on which date ahead, behind our service console). This seriously increased our tip on their last morning apparently (not that I saw much of those tips due to the tronc system). Las Vegas Housekeeping’s approach seems to be the same tactic.
I am at this very moment in the act of packing up to leave Treasure Island, where I confirm parking remains free.
Slight, but at the time quite stressful, wrinkle that Apple Maps thinks TI is in a completely different place to where it actually is – my first ever really bad Apple Maps fail. Google Maps gets it right.
Paid a deeply-discounted online rate and have no status so can’t comment on anything like that.
Yes or just the US website with a US login. Payment cards from the UK may struggle to be accepted.
The only place I’ve had any trouble, over several weeks in the USA, with a UK payment card is the usual nightmare – a gas station. EMV terminals everywhere else have worked consistently, although the request for a PIN after a contactless tap is a (perfectly legit + permitted mode of EMV) surprise the first time it happens. Some shopkeepers in more backwards/backwoods places have never encountered a punter with a card requiring a PIN before, but their terminals prompt them correctly.
Any thoughts on TI? Good bad or other.
I stayed there I guess in the early 2000’s, ‘01 maybe. My only real memory was it seemed disproportionally loud compared to other strip casinos I’d visited.
Just on the topic of tips. I stayed at Vdara around 7 years ago, and I didn’t rate it quite as high as the majority of people appeared to. One of the sore points of the stay was that it said we had a kitchen area with plates, cups etc. when we arrived we had to request that house keeping brought the plates up. It was extremely uncomfortable when house keeping practically stood there with there hands out after I took the plates off them. So be it we thought, we won’t have to go through that again.
The day after, we came back to the room, and in the kitchen area the plates, cups and cutlery had disappeared. In true Yorkshire style and abit miffed at these practices, I called up and asked housekeeping to leave the plates outside the door, as I won’t be tipping again and could they please leave them and I will wash them up for the rest of my stay.
I see from other posts regarding Vegas, that taking every bit of money of the customer is hitting new levels.
Any thoughts on TI? Good bad or other.
I stayed there I guess in the early 2000’s, ‘01 maybe. My only real memory was it seemed disproportionally loud compared to other strip casinos I’d visited.
My use case: It is ideal for someone who doesn’t care too much about a fancy room but likes a lot of good food choices, as it is ideally located for Wynncore and Venetian/Palazzo visits. Basically I’d happily stay there by myself but go a bit fancier if staying with someone else. It has been largely dethemed (the “sirens” that replaced the pirate battle went way back in 2013 and the place has got a bit more sedate since)
For a long time I gave it particular credit as the last bastion of full-pay 9/6 JoB at $1 or under on the strip (for those that shorthand means something to) but sadly that’s been gone a while.
The buffet is long gone and the coffee shop has reduced hours (was 24 hrs once!) and closes at 2PM or something silly. Both of these changes are a shame as they both fall/fell into the simple and cheapish but actually quite good at what they do category.
Thanks @Blair Waldorf Salad for your very informative reviews.
“Housekeeping when seeing me on my penultimate day in the corridor noted I would have late check out the next day and as such, did I want any extras left in my room”
So Housekeeping, having provided no service at all during your stay, miraculously made sure they encountered you and took special care of you just before your last night? Undoubtedly a tip-earning tactic.
When I worked in Switzerland we did the same in the dining room for guests who were staying for 1 week or 2 weeks. So they had their breakfast and any half-board meals in the hotel’s residents-only dining room.
My senior colleague instructed me to provide extra pleasant conversation and some element of extra service at breakfast on their second to last morning (we had a list provided daily by Reception of who would be checking out on which date ahead, behind our service console). This seriously increased our tip on their last morning apparently (not that I saw much of those tips due to the tronc system). Las Vegas Housekeeping’s approach seems to be the same tactic.
Hi LL, no you read that wrong. Housekeeping at the Conrad were missing in action. Never saw a cleaning trolley on the corridor in fact. Housekeeping at the Venetian were the ones who proactively offered more toiletries.
Random question – how do you do the starbucks mobile ordering? I was in the US recently and it showed not available . Do I need a US app?
Yes or just the US website with a US login. Payment cards from the UK may struggle to be accepted. I got around that by buying a Starbucks gift card and I top that up every now and then. A useful way of ridding oneself of spare change.
Not all stores offer mobile ordering at all times of day too.
Maybe I’ll try the website then next week
I find Amex often works best if you’re struggling in the US and one can suck up the FX charges on small amounts!
Interestingly when topping up a Starbucks gift card in store using a card, the card machine shows you your top up amount to confirm then asks what tip you want to leave – 5 options beginning at 15%. It is not at all clear that one needs to instead not touch the screen and instead press the red cancel button to skip this screen.
A tip on a card top-up?!? World has gone mad!
I am impressed with TI.
Free parking as noted above.
I can’t comment on casino aspects as they bore me but it looks and feels just like any other to me. I did go in a few and I don’t think it was loud. I also didn’t eat in any of their outlets.
The room has clearly been refurbished fairly recently as everything is clean/modern/unworn. Only old yellowing-plastic (analogue!) a/c controls and bathroom electrical fixture give away the actual age of the property. Public areas also spotless. The (basic bottom-of-the-range, I assume) room was large enough to be completely comfortable for 2 people with loads of stuff, without being “luxuriously” big. Adequately-sized fridge present. No kettle or in-room coffee apparatus.
The 24-hour CVS in the complex is VERY useful and would make me select it again, especially if I had a full-heat-of-summer and/or no-hire-car trip – very slow and hot to walk any significant distance due to difficulty of crossing roads and not a lot of grocery options near the strip. The CVS is large and well-stocked.
Quick and successful response to noise complaint when the neighbouring room got rowdy one evening.
I hung the “privacy” tag on the door so wasn’t housekeeping’ed but I heard and saw them active and am fairly sure they would be in daily otherwise.
Didn’t use Uber/Lyft so unsure of ridesharing arrangements. Didn’t use pool/gym/spa.
Didn’t tip anyone at any point or feel like a tip was required – but I didn’t have housekeeping or use a food outlet.
Impressed with security – appropriate and reasonable amount of room-key-checking going on before elevator access; floors being walked. The chaos on the strip seems to stay there. Any ladies of negotiable virtue were very well-disguised.
Negatives: smell of smoke and/or weed in some areas; my non-smoking-floor room smelled of weed quite strongly if I turned the ac off (but otherwise fine). There is a little bit of construction going on which means the third floor carpark-to-hotel route is through a dingy corridor and the third floor of the hotel; I wouldn’t want (and didn’t have) a third floor room rn given the extra traffic. I suspect the third floor is a smoking floor. Smoking permitted in the casino and it smells. Nowhere did the smell of smoke reach “I will need to change my clothes and wash my hair if I go in there” levels but it did make me want to pass rapidly through.
Ah, Vegas.
This doesn’t work anymore AFAIK, but you used to be able to match Hilton Gold -> Wyndham Diamond -> Caesars Diamond.
That gave you;
– No resort fees
– Free valet parking
– 2 free show tickets a month to certain shows
– 50% off Linq High Roller tickets (including the open bar one)
– Yearly $200 credit at a number of outlets (had to be used in one go)I prefer staying at Linq because it’s simple, modern and cheap. Caesars Palace was expensive and not that brilliant I found.
3 nights in Vegas each year maximizing the benefits with Player 2 was some good memories.I think most of us see the indoor smoking as a significant downside, now that UK smoking rates are falling towards just 10% of people (and even many smokers prefer outside only). In a brave move the ParkMGM was the first big property to go non-smoking. Worth supporting if we want others to follow…
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