NV Las Vegas THEHotel at Mandalay Bay

[BeritOlam]

We just got back from a quick 2-day trek to Vegas to celebrate our anniversary.

Here's my quick take....

POSITIVES --

(1) Extremely quick check-in (at 11:30pm).

(2) Easy to get in and out of (if you have a car) because the entrance is not directly on the Strip.

(3) Connected to Mandalay Bay (so you get to use of all their goodies....like the famous pool area!)

(4) Has a more luxury hotel feel to it than the usual 'Casino Hotel' vibe that you get at most of the other hotels on the strip. You definitely sense this when you walk into the lobby!

(5) GREAT rooms. Huge! We had a standard suite on the 37th floor overlooking the Luxor with a great view towards the Strip. I think the reception lady may have given us that room as a sort of 'upgrade', when I told her we were there for our anniversary.

(6) Double bath rooms and great soaker tub!

(7) If you use a taxi, it's a very short walk to the cab line from the elevators....unlike most hotels on the Strip.

(8) I saw a lady puke at the entrance way at 1am. :) The bell-boy guys were quick to help the lady as well as attend to the clean up.

(9) Can bypass the Casino area of Mandalay, if gambling is not your thing.

(10) A very calm vibe throughout the hotel. Most of the guests here are not your usual 'party' crowd that I encountered last year at the Mirage.

(11) For $100/night, wow....very nice deal!

(12) Easy check out.

(13) For you foodies, the Mandalay Bay restaurants are top class. Lots of really nice choices. We ate at RM Seafood and Aureole this trip (and Lupo during our last trip)...and they are all marvelous.

NEGATIVES --

(1) $15 resort fee....but one can hardly complain too much, given that it gets you entrance into the pool area

(2) A bit of a walk if you plan on doing much around Mandalay. But that's the price you pay for staying here vs. the main hotel.

(3) Decent buffet...but for just a few bucks more, the Bellagio's is SO MUCH more worth it, IMHO.

(4) I asked for an upgrade. All they would offer was a corner unit for $40/night more. Not really worth it, so we declined. If you read about these corner rooms, they are not much different at all in size....just with a little better views of the Strip. But our view was pretty good...so I think we chose wisely to not upgrade.

(5) Annoying video in the elevators that we had to listen to each way up and down. Volume was way too loud! Got old after the first couple of trips up and down.

ALL AND ALL, we'd do it again.