Aria Resort and Casino – Las Vegas – America

We arrived for our holiday in Vegas, stayed initially at the Bellagio Hotel and later in the trip, took the tram from Bellagio to the Aria Hotel & Casino. The tram station is right at the back of the hotel & a bit of a hike.

We checked into the Aria at 9. 15am & there was a room ready. We were allocated room 23102 (!) on the 23rd floor & we were upgraded to a City View which is normally $30 a night extra although I don’t think it’s worth paying the extra for myself.

There were a few minor issues that I didn’t expect in a hotel of this calibre that had only been open 3 months. There was no ashtray in the room so I had to call down for one. The furnishings were quite dusty probably because the dark wood furniture & glass tops attract dust. There were cup/glass ring marks on glass top above mini bar which hadn’t been cleaned. There was a blown bulb in the bathroom & the windows were filthy. Nothing that was worth complaining about, but issues we haven’t had in hotels of a much lower standard than Aria is supposed to be.

We also thought the room was badly designed as the desk is directly below the TV so if someone is working at the desk they slightly block the view of the TV. The bed however was extremely comfortable, possibly even more so than the bed at one of our favourite places in Vegas, Encore, which we didn’t think was possible.

The room reminded me of the Bellagio room: high class furnishings, but nothing startling to look at & not that big. The view was of PH Towers, Signature, Polo Towers, Veer Towers, Mandarin Oriental, Tropicana, MGM, New York New York, Monte Carlo hotel & pool & mountains in the background.

Internet access was $15/24 hours, $29/48 hours, $42/72 hours.

The bathroom was quite small by Vegas standards. The bath is behind the shower, ie you walk through the shower to get to the bath which is all enclosed in one cubicle. There were twin sinks which didn’t have plugs, not because they were missing, but it doesn’t look like the sinks can be plugged as the drain holes are flush with the bowl. Not handy for OH shaving. The toilet is in a separate room with a frosted glass door.

There were two big wardrobes & 4 big drawers opposite the bathroom which in turn, had a good set of toiletries supplied. There were additional drawers in the nightstands, the bed had a gold bedspread and there was a 42″ plasma TV & mini bar.

Outside, the pool area is very nice with plenty of palm trees & a couple of hot tubs.

We went down for breakfast at the Aria buffet at 7. 30 and it cost $15 each & there was no line. I asked for a table by the window overlooking the pool. Breakfast was very good: there was hand carved bacon, leg of lamb, pork & ham. I had smoked salmon & sturgeon with blueberry cream cheese, lamb, pancake & strawberries & bananas with cream. Server was attentive with drinks although she didn’t clear the plates.

The Aria casino is very dark & it was very busy when we were there.

I really wanted to like this hotel as it is one of the top hotels in Vegas, but housekeeping let it down. There are too many other better hotel choices for a holiday in Vegas in my opinion.