HotelChatter

The guestrooms here are stunning; thanks for putting up the video. I found a 360 of one of the guest rooms here, http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/nevada/las-vegas/aria-rooms, and the decor and light are really complementary. very elegant.

There is another great 360 degree video of the Aria rooms at http://www.reviewlasvegas.net/index.php/las-vegas-hotel-news/13 on the bottom of the article.

I looked at your link but there's no virtual tours just some still images. The link at Destination360's has a comma so it doesn't work but there are some great virtual tours of rooms and common areas. The correct link should be: http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/nevada/las-vegas/aria-rooms

http://www.destination360.com/north-america/us/nevada/las-vegas/aria-rooms

Just went out to Las Vegas for some much needed r&r. (or as much of that as you can get in Vegas on a weekend) Arrived at Aria, after booking online 2 months before, at approx. 11am on a Friday. I expected that I would not be able to check in this early on a Friday but I made my way to the front desk just to make sure.

I was greeted by a friendly woman that told us we should try and come back shortly as there may be no rooms ready with so many people checking out. She pointed us to the luggage check and off we went.

Upon checking our luggage, the steward told us to try one of the hotels restaurants for a great lunch while we waited for our room to be ready. We did just that and his choice was great. By the time we were done lunch and took a walk around the City Center complex, it was around 2pm. We made our way back to the front desk.

The young woman that greeted us earlier was nowhere to be found and there were now lines almost 4-5 people deep trying to check-in. A little frustrating but tolerable. We were finally approached by a young gentleman by the name of Chris that pointed us to an empty space at the desk as he hopped around to check us in. After asking some canned questions, (Where are you from? First time in Las Vegas? Are you big gamblers??) he made a reference to "Las Vegas being the tipping capital of the World." My buddy and I thought that was a little odd but being frequent visitors to the City we knew where he was coming from.

I gave him my license and CC with a $20. bill between them. I said, "Thanks for opening up this line for us. We might still be waiting if you hadn't. Do you think there are any upgrades we may be able to enjoy for our first time here?" After tapping away on his computer for a minute or two, he said he would check to see what he could do.

I told him I would like something on an upper floor, above the 25th if possible. Tap, tap, tapping away he went, probably looking for the perfect room for us. It was what happened next that really floored me...

He took the $20. and slid it in his breast pocket, then he proceeded to tell us that although we booked a room with 2 queen beds more than 2 months ago, there would be none available for us for our stay. I told him to keep looking as one king was not going to cut it. He insisted that he had nothing and maybe we could check in to a King room and try to switch rooms later during the day or weekend. I refused and told him I wanted something that I paid for, a room w/ two queen beds. He magically found one, on the 4th floor. He did say that it was on the Strip side. My friend and I were tired so we took the room so we could unwind and get started on our weekend. Chris smiled as he gave us our room keys and patted his breast pocket while saying thanks. very smug I thought.

I asked him to ring the luggage desk to bring up our bags and he told us he could not do that and that we had to from our room. During that time of day, average wait time for luggage would be 1/2hr to 45 min. UUGHH!

We finally get to our room. Looked fairly nice for a new hotel but had a faint odor that we couldn't place. Opened up the blinds and our view was the heating and air ducts along with some elevator generators and various other mechanical devices. We may have been facing the Strip but all we could see was an expansive array of mechanized equipment.

We called the luggage desk and a nice guy named Mike said he would try and be right up. 15min later he was there w/ our bags. He noticed a few things out of place in the room and also the afor-mentioned odor. I told him about our front desk ordeal and he gave me the name of the Frnt Desk Mgr and said to call and complain. I tipped him well and thanked him.

I called the Mgr. right away and told him my plight. He apologized immensely and instantly credited us $100. for food/beverage. He also said he would look up a new room for us. Isn't it strange how the Mgr. found us a room on the 26th floor facing the Strip almost immediately. He told us he would ring the bell desk to bring up a key. 10 min later, Mike shows up again to bring us upstairs.

Upon entering our new room, still no Strip view. Odor was gone, though. Mike said we should complain again and ask for a comp night for the trouble. I just thanked him again and said forget it. I'm tired and want a shower.

I could truly go on and on about the negatives in and around this hotel. From the lack of overall ambiance to the almost non-existent shower water pressure to the ridiculous $30. charge to utilize the gym facilities. I would rather just never stay there again.

it really is too bad because the hotel has potential to be special. With the exception of Mike and the cute lil' girl cooking the crepes in the AM, the Aria Hotel-Las Vegas was a "HUGE FAIL!!"