Westin LV (formerly Westin Casuarina) is a 4* nongaming property that's almost across the street from Horseshoe (short walk to Horseshoe Food Court entrance.) The physical distance from the hotel to the Paris Champagne Ballroom (the WSOP venue) is about the same, believe it or not, as the distance from the guest rooms at Horseshoe or Paris to the WSOP. On that walk you go by the Stage Door convenience store, the one that has 99 years left on their lease, it doesn't cost any steps to stop there and the merch is cheaper than at Paris/Horseshoe.

Westin is one of several hotel chains that were bought up by Marriott; and is known for the Heavenly Bed. The Las Vegas property is popular with airline crews. Restaurant; bar, Starbucks, pool. Refrigerators. Gift shop. Resort fee, about $30, includes wifi. Room service 6A-11P. No WSOP zoo. Uses the Marriott Bonvoy app.

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You forgot to mention that Tupac Shakur was killed across the street from the Westin , in a drive-by shooting ?

I stayed there once back when it had gaming. How long ago was that? Felt sorry for the casino staff, it was dead in there. They had to see the writing on the wall. Wholly unremarkable, otherwise.

Did someone pee in your Cheerios?

I have been reviewing hotels for a long time. Everything I put in a review is objectively verifiable, factual info about what you can expect from the property. My subjective opinion about a given property is usually irrelevant to a future guest's experience. Hotel employees change. The room amenities don't.

For WSOP weekend in a couple weeks, better choice:

Resorts World
MGM Signature

Cost similar for 4 nights ($800ish incl fees)

Want clean, safe. Likely cash at RW, check out cash at WSOP and other rooms possibly (Wynn, Bellagio, Aria, etc) at 2-5 or 1-3 NL. Planning aria tourney one day.

Would walk a little - that’s why considering MGM Sign as I could walk to wsop and Aria from there. Otherwise cab/Uber.

No it’s not

neither are 'close' but Signature is way closer to wsop than RW

also...how important is having a kitchenette in your room because Sig obvs wins that one too. Not sure if RW has fridges?

Signature is about a 25 min walk to the wsop. Depending on the tower and your walking speed maybe a little bit more or less. Definitely doable but a little bit on the longer side esp in 100F so not for everyone. I'd guess the rooms at RW are nicer and you are closer to a poker room (although you can walk to the mgm poker room indoors but it's not that close). Although sig rooms are perfectly fine just not that new. You can also get sig rooms with no resort fee via airbnb and other providers, just usually doesn't include daily housekeeping

From where to where exactly? Walking from MGM Signature to Bellagio is less than a mile. I could look up exact data somewhere, but Signature North Tower to Bellagio entrance is roughly 0.8 miles and 12 minutes. (It's actually a bit shorter through PH/Miracle Mile Mall but no GPS in there). I have a hard time believing the walk to the WSOP would take longer than that unless you go via Strip instead of Audrie St?

From your room to the action but even if you start, say from the sig lobby, I doubt you'll be able to make that anywhere close to 12 mins, unless you are running. You also have to cross the street and make a slight detour if you come from the back side, at least that's how it was last year...

Thanks - those were helpful re: distance. Logged into MGM account that I saw in other thread (never thought about it since I never table game)….grabbed MGM Grand for $448 all in with fees for 4 nights. Now I’m that much closer to strip, wsop/aria/Bellagio.

good catch

Do they pee in YOUR Cheerios upon request, or was that amenity not part of your original, objective review of various Las Vegas hotels.

(Pretty sure you can get some independent contractor in one of the hotel bars to pee in your Cheerios if you really want them to. Probably costs "extra".)

cf. https://newblog.sherisranch.com/feti...-water-sports/

Would like to review hotels I stayed at recently. Ok so I stayed at trump, Venetian, and park mgm. Venetian was clearly the best- great suite type room with a ton of space and comfortable bed. They had a mini bar which was cool but I avoided it. Would probably pop a bottle of Moët if I won a tourny but that was not the case

Trump was also very nice. Got a very white crowd that seemed conservative. Ok with me. Not too loud and the room was also very nice. I didn’t like that maga hats were sold in the gift shop but should I be surprised? Thought the clientele seemed a little stiff and older which is ok if you want a quieter place to stay with no casino attached. Not a fan of the trump supporter crowd so only stayed there due to location and fact it wasn’t too pricey for a nicer spot.

Park mgm- mediocre at best. Much better than Excalibur which I stayed at 2 weeks back. Park mgms AC was kinda lame as I put the temp down to 65 and my room wasn’t cold. The room was small but nice- felt it was a mediocre place to stay. I would stay again if I got room comps but yea not a huge fan. The restaurants are nice in hotel (Bavettes, primrose, and best friend are all very solid).

I was comped mid week room to Venetian which made the stay great- Venetian can be kinda pricey for a long stay if not comped. Clientele was def richer than most mgm properties which is never bad thing. Think the Venetian has been my favorite stay over my travels to vegas. Would recommend in a heart beat to anyone will to spend the coin.

thanks for the review and I'm glad the V delivered for you. I've always enjoyed it there but also agree that it's got more expensive the past few years

where did you eat in the V?

Does it still have the sex shop next door? It's funny to see it from TI because there's nothing in the immediate vicinity except for the sex/stripper supply shop.

I ate at cut which was just excellent. Maybe the best steakhouse I’ve eaten at in the US. I’ve eaten at some really top notch places in nyc, Boston, etc. Cut to me is the best. Not cheap but worth every single penny + the service is just wonderful.

Also got food from grand Lux at the poker table + at 2 times for breakfast. Hmm grand lux is very good for not being some fancy spot. Great breakfast. If you play cash/ tourny early in day at Venetian, just order food while playing- they charge a fee to deliver but you have a food cart. Def worth it if you don’t have time to eat breakfast.

Based on these 2 spots- I would assume most of Venetian restaurants are on point. Love the Venetian. I got an additional comp night due to my degenning- just annoying seeing that it’s very limited on what weeks you can stay. I now have 4 comp nights which is sweet. I’m sure the Wynn is better (never stayed there), but Venetian to me is in a great location + offers just s beautiful gaming floor + so many solid restaurants depending on what you want to eat. Huge Venetian fan here (love their poker tournies and cash games also). Feel the clientele is rich which makes cash games a tad better as folks are willing to splash around more.

If some random hotel employee enters your room unannounced and without as much as a knock... How upset should I be?

I was told from security that they worked for the hotel, but they didn't say who they were.

depends on time of day and if you hung a hint to stay away from the door handle

If they were assigned to your room/floor, I'd be somewhat annoyed.

If not ...

Does the time of day really matter? If so, then I'd like to hear why. It was roughly 5pm and we were having drinks at the table. What employee doesn't identify themself?

It was a person not wearing a hotel uniform and he didn't announce himself. The hotel is telling me it was an employee that was doing a tour of the rooms, but he didn't have anyone with him.

The more they talk the more annoyed I'm getting. If I shouldn't be annoyed, then I'd like a non biased opinion.

Happened to me once at a non-LV (but comparably priced) hotel and I had absolutely no idea how to react/respond. Was a cleaning lady who claimed she knocked 3 times which most likely was a lie because I didn't even have the TV on or anything. In hindsight I am upset with myself for not at least complaining to the front desk.

One even weirder event, this time at a LV hotel, was when I left the bathroom naked after taking a shower and a maid was standing in the room. She apologized and left. I didn't do anything about it because there was a good chance she did knock while I was still under the shower and entered while I toweled down and therefore didn't hear me. Still weird she didn't realize there had to be someone in the room. Since that event I usually put my underwear on before leaving a hotel bathroom.

It's always 5PM somewhere.

FWIW, I see zero reason not to be annoyed. Especially if it's a person not wearing a hotel uniform.

yeah, I mean I'm sure they might have the 'right' but surely they should knock. terrible customer service not to and then triple terrible customer service not to apologise

Just back home after 10 days staying at the Vdara. My first time staying there.

Pros...

the rooms are really nice. just tasteful and classy and spacious and modern and clean. I had a studio suite and the layout is great too.

as an aside, I $20 tricked my way to a Fountain View suite which was pretty awesome value for a 10 day stay. I was almost directly parallel to the Bellagio pools but had a good view of the fountains, the Paris, etc all the way down to the Linq Big wheel. The view isn't as breathtaking as from Cosmo but still really good.

bathroom was great - huge tub, great, powerful shower with a bench seat, huge vanity/basin benchtop.

the kitchen was really useful - I used the microwave and the cooktop/pan a few times but having the empty fridge to store perishable items, water and alcohol was really useful.

the room was made up impeccably every day. I've never been one to tip the maids but I did this year - it was so nicely and promptly done every day

all the staff were friendly and professional.

Location is very good - it's a 1 min walk to Aria. The passage to Bellagio was closed which made things a little less convenient but you can get into the Cosmo lobby in about 3/4 mins and it was also a 12 min walk to Paris/Horseshoe which allowed me to come home on dinner breaks and charge my phone, shower and eat something in the room.

The vibe is decent. It doesn't have the same energy as a casino resort but there was still a buzz, particularly on the weekends. And while there weren't too many bachelor/ette parties it was still a younger clientele than a Bellagio, Palazzo type place

The pool is pretty good - it's not a patch on the Wynn/Venetian/Bellagio type set ups but there's a decent pool deck with a load of space, good music etc. And I always found a sun bed to lay on. There was a bar too by the pool

Only things I'm a little 'meh' on are the gym and the food options.

The gym is small and not particularly well stocked. Mainly cardio machines with then a small room with dumbells up to 50lbs with 2 benches and a few all purpose type cable machines. Enough you can get something done but again...not a patch on the other high end properties. And on the days when I trained before 10am mtt starts, it was really busy in there and tough to get much done. I had contrasting advice about being able to use the Aria gym. Literally people who told me they'd been allowed to and others saying they'd been turned away. I never tried purely because if I'd been turned away it would have really pissed me off

Food options are really limited. There's a 24 hour cafe which isn't great quality/value for money - they have things like breakfast sandwiches, burritos etc but it seemed to be they were pre prepared and heated up. I had some chicken strips one night and they were pre cooked and then microwaved. Not what you expect for a premium property (and I think they were like $25 or sth).

There is a small bar that has food you can order but I never tried it, although it did look pretty good.

And there was a Starbucks in there too serving the usual stuff. But the line always had a dozen people minimum in it and so I bought my coffee from the cafe instead.

All in all, I got pretty much exactly what I wanted from Vdara. A really nice room to relax in, sleep comfortably and to be able to work in. The ability to store and prep food and drinks and somewhere close by to both WSOP and good poker options. I absolutely recommend staying there again if you're going for a longer trip like this one where you're not partying all the time...or a work trip....or a trip with your kids. But it probably wouldn't be the choice if you're doing a party weekend 3/4 day trip. Unless the ability to store and refrigerate booze in your room for pre-gaming is really important to you