THEhotel at Mandalay Bay

THE Hotel is one of my favorite hotels in the city. Check-in takes longer than expected but that is a minor issue. The rooms are very large and well decorated. I appreciate the two large screen tv's in the suite. The property has a bar, cafe, coffee bar, and Mix, which is a gourmet restaurant. During my stays here, I've preferred to use the restaurants at Mandalay Bay. Service is good, but not equal to Wynn/Encore or Bellagio. I find rates reasonable given the excellent room quality.

PROS: Great rooms, very well decorated common areas
CONS: Service not up to the standard of the best hotels, slow check-in

I guess my expectations were too high after all The Buzz, but we were pretty underwhelmed by The Hotel. The rooms were large and generally well-appointed, although they had absolutely no closet/drawer space and the bathroom was just OK. Bellmen were great, and price was pretty good. But we had some pretty bad service issues. Case in point: when we returned to our room (one of the nicer suites) after dinner, we kept hearing what sounded like a car dragging tin cans up our wall -- which I assumed was an elevator problem. The desk clerk was busily assuring me there was no elevator in my area when a glass elevator went by my window. They finally admitted that yes, they'd had lots of complaints about it when it was windy, and offered to move us -- to a smaller room. They claimed they had nothing else, and were too busy to send a bellman up immediately, so I ended up moving our stuff myself to a smaller room at midnight. Not cool (and who believes they don't have nice rooms reserved for high rollers?) I ultimately got a small price reduction, but not enough to make up for the hassle.

The crowd was also a bit younger/louder than I expected -- lots of tatooed guys yelling obscenities in the hallway at 3AM. I know it's Vegas, but this wasn't supposed to be the Hard Rock. (James Bond would not have been amused). We ultimately moved over to the Bellagio, where the room definitely wasn't as nice but the ambiance was much classier. I guess we'll try the Four Seasons next time ...

After staying at a few discount locations, my lady friend's father paid for 2 expensive hotel rooms for us... Bellagio and here... and this place is hands down perfect. It's the equivalent of renting a 1 BR apartment... complete with couch, bar, desk, 3 TVs (one in master bath), entry toilet, huge bedroom, bath and shower. Easilly the nicest hotel on the strip. Room service is 4 star. (I had a phenomenal prime rib and lobster bisque for about $40) Lobby area is stylish, not overcrowded. Overall Mandalay complex is extremely large (casino area almost too much so but also easiest to circumvent), and has most variety of high end restaurants on the strip. If you like burgers... The Burger Bar has Kobe beef and jalapeño bacon (!)... a must for meat eaters. Mandalay made our vacation. Book it, you won't regret it.