sorry, posted this in the Travel forum, but realized this might be a better place for this post.

I'm going to Vegas in November and staying at Aria hotel. Staying mid-week (Tues through Fri). I couldn't find any decent reviews about Aria on 2p2 so I thought I'd ask.

Heard the poker room is sick, and the hotel has a convenient location.
I've also heard that it's a crappy hotel, and it takes forever to leave the place.

But I'm thinking it's so new, and it's Aria! What should I expect? And more importantly, what should my non-gambling wife who comes to Vegas for shopping and shows expect?

Oyster.com review:

http://www.oyster.com/las-vegas/hote...out=2010-10-26

tripadvisor.com traveller reviews:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...as_Nevada.html

Aria is a nice hotel. The rooms are quite excellent. The poker room is very nice, but not nearly as populated as the V and maybe even the B. The service is medium slow, not a great line up system. Location is ok. It's pretty extended away from the strip, and the tram is the best way to move around.

The Oyster review is pretty spot-on.

I've stayed there and I thought the room was really nice.

I also think the rooms are really nice. Really nicely appointed, one remote control for everything: TV, drapes, lights etc.

Your wife can shop her heart out at Crystals, the mall attached to the CC complex.

It is kind of a long walk from the Aria front door to the strip but you can always take the tram between Monte Carlo, Aria, Crystals and Bellagio or a take a cab.

The buffet is pretty good, I'd put it at #3 on my list with Wynn #1 and Bellagio #2.

If your wife doesn't feel like spending 2k on a Louis Vouitton purse every day she can go to the Miracle Mile shops across the street at PH.

Aria has the Elvis Cirque show, heard it's ok, but I haven't seen it so can't give you a review.

Bellagio next door has "O" , you can't go wrong there.

Have a good time!

I wrote this TR about the Aria after the wife and I stayed there during their opening weekend.

We also stayed there over this past 4th of July but I'll not link that TR since I didn't have much to add about the property per se.

Nice property and location, rooms are great and very modern, but also more spacious than say West Wing rooms at MGM.

They are apples and oranges with the rooms at V, though. V's rooms are huge, Aria's rooms are more a standard hotel room size (with larger bathroom) but a technological marvel. Bathrooms are comparable.

Both are worth staying at.

Thanks for the info so far! Very encouraging, since my facebook friends were so negative about Aria.

Anyone have experience with a car at Aria? Someone said it takes forever to leave Aria, not sure if this means by car. Also, what about the valet and parking? Do they charge guests for overnight parking?

thanks!

There's a free self-park lot that I used (left my car there for about 4 weeks when I went out of town). It's easy and relatively close to everything, but it's across the casino floor from the elevators, so PITA if you've got luggage. Best to drop someone + luggage off at check-in and then self-park and meet them.

The roads and everything thru CC are a god damn maze though.

Your fellow 2p2er, BubbleMint, is well-qualified to answer this. Failing him doing so, I'll refer you here.

I'm actually at Aria right now while posting this - the room is really quite impressive technologically. Also, the casino does have a nice modern feel to it, definitely a sharp contrast to the Bellagio (poker room is also much more spacious at Aria). Service has been pretty quick and reliable so far, don't have any complaints. Also helped that my gf and I got a complimentary upgraded to a 50th floor strip view room.

Honestly its not "that" far to the strip, we're talking about a 5 minute walk - I will say that last night it was quite annoying to carry one of those full ceramic Paris balloon drink mugs while making the walk. So heavy!

I was there during the WSOP and hung out there at night... biggest volume of dimes imo. I think the avg age I saw on Sat night was like 27 and the girls looked fantastic. I will definitely be staying there again for that reason alone.

Maybe it's a stupid question, but how did you get your upgrade ? with the 20 dollar trick ? I'm gonna stay at the Aria from friday to October 30...

Aria are very accommodating to the automobile user. Sadly they lack a mechanic to remedy an ills your vehicular transport may roll up their driveway with.

We are going in November and would also like to know.

The Aria Valet is quick, easy and free (don't forget the tip though). The check in desk is on the right when you walk in the door.

The self parking is free. Follow the path from there, down the escalator and the poker room is steps away on the right.

If you're checking in just valet the car.

They were out of duct tape, eh?

I've never stayed there, but I dislike the casino. It is noisy even by Vegas standards. You have to shout at someone standing next to you. I can't imagine being there for several days. I predict someone will go berserk in that place after spending a week there.

The poker room was okay, but the tables reminded me of the Bellagio in that they have no drinkholders anywhere. Not the built-in kind, not the plastic kind that slips under the rail. The "don't bother me, you're lucky I acknowledge your existence" attitude of the poker room staff reminds me of the Bellagio too.

I'm staying there next week and would be interested in knowing about this as well...

i stayed in the corner suite in august, the hotel is really nice, there is a relatively inexpensive place in the casino which is good for lunch/breakfast... their buffet is OUT OF THIS WORLD with unlimited crab legs and for like 13 bucks extra per person you can get unlimited bloody mary's or simosas on saturday or sunday

the rooms are nice, casino is nice, poker room is beautiful but was dead while i was there.

the service at the aria is horrible, if you've stayed at an mgm hotel, you'll know what i mean

Maybe they've changed, but when I stayed there in January, there was no taking any sort of tip. We had $50 (yes, ruining the point of the $20, but we figured it was a nicer hotel...) between two cards and the check-in dude completely ignored it. Oh well, the standard rooms are already really nice. ONLY thing is that they are kinda small, but the bathroom makes up for that!

This is not my experience, although my sample size might be small. I stayed at Aria for a week in May, and I've been back on three different occasions to eat or play, and valet parked my car all of those times. I think the quickest car retrieval was maybe 10 minutes, but 15+ was the norm.

As for the hotel, Pez is right on I think. Nice room, very well appointed, comfy bed, etc. The line at check out was so long that I didn't bother checking out, I just left. Problem solved.

While I didn't spend time playing in the pit there, I'd have to say my experience was almost exactly opposite of yours.

The service I received in the poker room was among the best I've ever had in any poker room. Friendly, prompt, and willing to go the extra mile.

Ditto. If they aren't running the friendliest poker room in town, then I don't know who is.

The complaints I've heard about the level of service at Aria I truly find mystifying. I've stayed there a few times now and have never had a single negative experience with the staff in any part of the hotel.

also i did the 20 dollar trick and the guy wouldn't take it either

Hi - sorry for the late reply, just got home to NY and didn't have time to check the thread after I posted earlier regarding getting a complimentary upgrade.

I didn't do the $20 trick because my gf had stayed at the MGM Grand earlier in the year and tried the $20 trick there -- they flat out told her that they don't do that. Since Aria is an MGM property I didn't bother trying.

Anyway, the check in area at Aria is kind of strange -- there isn't one consolidated queue, its just a bunch of lines behind each check-in person working there. It was around 10PM when we arrived, and I just flat out asked the guy who was checking me in if there were any complimentary upgrades when I handed him my ID and credit card (we were staying Sunday-Wed). The guy checked the computer and said there were none, but offered me a suite upgrade for $50 more per night, which I declined.

When finding the normal room, my gf asked if we could have a high floor, the guy then mentioned that if we were fine with a room w/ 2 queen beds, he could upgrade us to the 50th floor room with a strip view (the view from the room was really, really impressive).

So all in all I don't know if it was a true "upgrade" in the sense that I would have had to pay more for that type of room if I had booked that in advance. In summary, I didn't try to tip the guy or anything, and merely asked if they had any complimentary upgrades.

Oh and yes, the poker room is really nice -- definitely enjoyed playing there more than the Bellagio.

Hope this helps.