Las Vegas, Nevada is a city that has almost one hundred and fifty thousand available hotel rooms. The choice and breath of these rooms make selection broad and expansive. The MGM Resorts own several of the properties on the Las Vegas Strip, including the Aria Resort which commands a Central South Strip location near many of the cities’ highlights. The upscale edition of the Aria property, the Aria Sky Suites, would be our home for three nights for this trip.

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Hotel Review: The Aria Sky Suites One Bedroom Penthouse, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States of America.

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This post is about a review in a One Bedroom Penthouse at the Aria Sky Suites, Las Vegas. Please see here for a review of the associated Aria Sky Suite Resort Amenities.

Booking and Getting there:

I’ve been staying at MGM Hotels and Resorts on and off for over twenty years. Despite that, I’m actually not a big gambler. However, I really like the restaurant scene in Las Vegas. Every celebrity chef has a representation of his or her restaurants in this postal code of the United States. It’s become a bit of a foodie destination with a different choice available each night.

The Aria Sky Suites are advertised from within a microsite linked to the main Aria webpage and is marketed as a boutique hotel of sorts. Many hotels in Las Vegas have attempted to capture the higher spend clientele by offering a hotel within a hotel. The Aria Sky Suites website advertised the following features:

CELEBRATE LAS VEGAS WITH DISCRETION: Arrive by luxury vehicle at a VIP entrance that few ever see, one of only 83 hotels in the world with a Forbes Five Star Award. Be whisked up to luxury via private elevator. Discover all this AAA Five Diamond Award-winning destination has to offer – restaurants from the world-renown chefs, mesmerizing nightlife, an indulgent spa and salon, and an acclaimed Fine Art Collection. Slip seamlessly, at any time, back into the privacy of your lavish Sky Suites retreat overlooking the city.

THE ARIA SKY SUITES EXPERIENCE
Your exclusive experience at the Forbes Five Star and AAA Five Diamond Award-winning Sky Suites includes:
• Exclusive porte-cochère entry with personal curbside welcome
• Private check-in available
• Secluded lounge with complimentary food and beverage amenities including a daily wine and cheese pairing
• Private key elevator access
• Complimentary newspaper delivered daily
• Access to over 2,000 Electronic Newspapers
• No-wait line pass to The Buffet and ARIA Café
• Complimentary iPad/Laptop use during stay
• Personalized concierge and special services upon request
In-Room and Resort wide Wi-Fi Access

INSIDE YOUR PRIVATE ARIA SKY SUITES RETREAT
The 1– and 2–bedroom suites and penthouses at Sky Suites feature the highest floor plans in Las Vegas with breathtaking views of the Strip and surrounding mountains, and an array of other exclusive amenities:
• Twice daily housekeeping service
• Custom ARIA mattress with triple sheeted 100% Egyptian cotton linens
• Stunning bathrooms with stone shower/bench, separate whirlpool bath, dual granite vanity sinks, private water closet with TOTO electronic fixtures
• Deluxe ARIA spa products, ultra plush robes and slippers
• Exquisite horticulture in all suites, including orchids
• 52″ HD television in living area / 42″ HD television in bedroom / 20″ in bathroom
• Plug and Play laptop, video devices, cameras and MP3 players
• Integrated one-touch control of guestroom features, including lighting, temperature, television/video, music, wake-up calls, draperies, and requests for services

The Aria Sky Suites portion of the Property is also part of the American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts Hotel Program for eligible American Express Platinum and Centurion Card Members. Booking through their portal entitles travelers to a further US $100 Spa services credit to be used during your stay, room upgrade upon arrival, (when available), noon check-in, (when available) daily breakfast for two, In-Room Wi-Fi, (exclusions apply) and a guaranteed 4:00 pm late check-out.

The Aria Sky Suites are located within the Aria Resort and Casino that consists of the Aria Hotel, the Vdara Hotel and the Aria Sky Suites. It commands a central south strip location that’s walkable to many attractions in the area.

After arriving off our Alaska Airlines First Class Bellingham – Seattle flight, we were met by our driver at the bottom of the escalator stairs at Las Vegas McCarran holding an iPad with our surname on it. The arrival service and complimentary limo transfer are made available for all of the Aria Sky Suites guests. Our driver assisted with the bags and escorted us out to the VIP car rank outside the arrivals hall. Fortunately, there was no long walk through to the parkade since the car was parked immediately outside the exit.

We were led to one of the 28 limos in Aria’s fleet. The limo had unique Aria branding throughout different areas of the car; something I’ve never seen a hotel or resort take the time to go for any of their hotel cars.

Don, our driver, offered us Evian branded water for the brief trip over to the Aria Sky Suites. 

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The obligatory leg room shot. Indeed, a stretch Lincoln Town Car offers quite a bit of room. 

The ride over to the Aria Sky Suites property from Las Vegas McCarran International was a quick 15 minutes. The Aria Sky Suites has a private rear entrance off the east Interstate 15 access road. Once we were waved in past an unmarked security gate, we were led into a discrete entrance that was never busy during our entire stay. It was quite a quiet contrast from the arrival areas of most Las Vegas Strip casinos which are usually a gong show of some sort with crowds lining up at the taxi rank along with party revellers of all sorts.  It was defiantly the right away to arrive to a Las Vegas hotel; a tranquil experience with out the need to battle various crowds and lines.

On arrival, Don led us through an army of staff ready to assist with the bags. Don lead us down the arrival hallway, and handed us over to the front desk whom had already identified us, courtesy of our driver. Some photos of the check in hall way and area.

After the check in, we were discreetly handed off to Rebecca who arranged to escort us to our room. We were escorted to the elevator, past the “Fine Art Collection” – in this case a beautiful Andy Warhol series. 

Similar to the riding the elevator down to the limo transfer cars at the Lufthansa First Class Terminal our personal assistant, Rebecca left us to ride the guest elevator up to the room on our own. We found our own way to the room, with Rebecca bringing up the bags shortly after our arrival. It’s a bit strange being left on your own like that. For me it seems that an escort would be nicer and more hospitable and a better way to introduce the hotel and the area to the guest.

Today’s One Bedroom Penthouse Suite was actually on the 38th floor?? (laughing)

The Room: One Bedroom Penthouse Suite

The Aria One Bedroom Penthouse Suites feature 1,400 square feet of space with the following features

• Separate Living Room area
• Separate Dining Room area with wet bar, mini bar and separate fridge.
• Separate One Bedroom area
• One and a half bathrooms.

Essentially, it’s an excellent hotel room with three times the size giving it great suite like qualities 

Here’s a floor plan from the website:

First impressions? Overall, it’s an impressive room that pleased Mrs WT73 to no end. “OMG this is nicer than our house. Hello y-es. I live here”. Well, you do for the next three days. Only. 

The room had modern contemporary décor. It worked quite well for the hip surroundings of Las Vegas.

Immediately off the front entrance, was a small ensuite bathroom.

A Living Area:

The room entered into a living area, immediately after entering the suite. It had a great spacious sectional couch with terrific floor to ceiling window views.

The living area had a small alcove containing a desk area; not that anyone come to Las Vegas to work. It’s still important to feature a space in the rare event you have a work project that needs completing on the road.

A Dining Area with a Wet Bar:

The central room in the Aria Sky Suite one bedroom penthouse was a dining area with a wet bar. I really appreciate having a dining table in a hotel room, because it’s a comfortable way to enjoy in the indulgence of private dining. It’s a feature that you rarely get on the road, and sitting at a hotel room desk just isn’t as pleasant.

A Bedroom with a King:

The bedroom itself was terrific. It was nicely decoded and was a reasonable size. It wasn’t overly large but it wasn’t tiny either. Thanks to the large and spacious room, we didn’t spend a lot of time in the bedroom except for sleeping.

The room featured contemporary decor. I used the hands as a convenient wallet phone holder.

An Expansive Ensuite Bathroom:

The room featured probably the largest ensuite bathroom that I’ve been in. It ranked right up there with our large bathroom in the Park Villa at the Park Hyatt Maldives. MrsWT73 was impressed that she had not only her own sink, but a separate make up station, walk in closet, steam room, and bathtub as well.

The lighting and all electronics, as with all other rooms at the modern Aria, are controlled by a tablet device at the bedside. The tablet was pretty easy to use, without having to read a heap of instructions or guessing.

Overall the Aria Sky Suites offered a very impressive room. There was some light wear and tear but otherwise a very nice suite. After dropping the bag, Rebecca located some ice for us as well which was brought to the room. 

A Room with a View:

The room also featured an eastward Las Vegas Strip view. The Las Vegas strip has grown up to be such a hap hazard collection of buildings and casinos the view is more of the general area and the lights than of any one individual feature or attraction. Despite this, I actually came to enjoy the feature. 

My Thoughts on the Room at the Aria Sky Suites:

The Aria Sky Suites offered a great hard product with a room that had all the fit and furnishings of a terrific world class suite. The room was expansive with great views. The arrival experience of stepping off the plane and into a curtsied limousine to whisk you away to a private entrance is a much more dignified way to arrive to any Las Vegas property.

In our next post, we’ll take a look at the Aria Sky Suites Resort Amenities and features around the property.

Have you stayed at the Aria Resort and Casino, and did you enjoy your experience?

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