We found ourselves at Marriott’s Grand Château Las Vegas as a consequence of avoiding Las Vegas Strip hotels with Friday and Saturday night pricing on a long weekend. Instead of the other Marriott properties around Las Vegas, We would end up at Marriott’s Grand Château Las Vegas close by to the Las Vegas Strip. We would end up finding a property that was full of inclusions and absent of any resort fees. Read on to see how our value experience fared.

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This post is one chapter on our trip during the end of the pandemic to Las Vegas, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards and Alaska Mileage Plan. For more information on how this trip was booked, please see our trip introduction here. For other parts of the trip, please see this index.

If you enjoyed this post, please follow us here or on social media through Facebook, Twitter or Instagram for more travel tips and hacks on how to “Upgrade Your Travels”.

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Review: Marriott’s Grand Chateau – Marriott Vacation Club, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States

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“Your Parents Marriott Property in Las Vegas, Marriott’s Grand Château Las Vegas Offered Value in the Form of Decent Rates, No Resort Fees, Kitchenettes and Free Valet Parking… Just Steps From the Las Vegas Strip”

Our travels took us to Marriott’s Grand Château Las Vegas, a Marriott Vacation Club property. While no one typically ends up coming to Las Vegas expecting to find themselves in a Marriott Vacation Club property, we ended up here as a result of avoiding high pricing on the Las Vegas Strip on Friday and Saturday nights.

About Marriott Vacation Club:

The Marriott Vacation Club is the Timeshare version offered by Marriott through it’s Marriott, Sheraton and Westin brands. It offers “unforgettable vacation experiences” through the sale of points, which are the currency to be spent at various hotels throughout the brand. The Marriott Vacation Club’s are often located in recreational locations around the world, including in Las Vegas, USA.

We haven’t typically stayed at the Marriott Vacation Club properties as they offer almost no benefits to guests who happen to stay as a Marriott Bonvoy Elite. Late checkouts or a complimentary breakfast are not typically offered, and there isn’t often the opportunity to access a complimentary upgrade “up to and including select suites” as a Marriott Bonvoy Platinum or higher elite member. There are also typically regular Marriott Bonvoy properties alongside or near Marriott Vacation Club properties, so we’ve typically booked elsewhere.

Booking The Marriott Grand Chateau Las Vegas:

We ended up staying at this property as a result of our stay being over a Friday and Saturday night during one of the first long weekends (Labour Day) after the pandemic. Our rate for the executive one bedroom at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas by Autograph Collection had reached a nightly rate of 790 USD. As a result, we opted for a walk up the street (and for the sake of a review) we stayed at the Marriott Grand Chateau Las Vegas by Marriott Vacation Club.

There are a variety of rooms configurations available at the Marriott’s Grand Château Las Vegas. The base level studio villa was available on a Friday and Saturday night of a long weekend for $259 USD. Strangely, a larger one bedroom villa was also offered for the same price at $259 USD. As a result, we ended up booking the larger one bedroom villa for the same price.

Unlike many properties around Las Vegas, the Marriott Grand Château Las Vegas offers complimentary valet parking. Some hotels attempt to hide this charge in a resort fee, but the Marriott Grand Château doesn’t charge any resort fee. This is another value point of this property.

Getting to Marriott’s Grand Château Las Vegas:

We were staying up the road at The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas by Autograph Collection earlier in the holiday.

We walked over to the property from the Cosmopolitan by Autograph Collection. It was 43 degrees heat outside but it was likely more convenient than ordering a taxi to take us the short 1.5 blocks. We walked along East Harmon Ave on the warm sidewalk.

It’s worth noting that the hotel is easily accessible from the air conditioned Miracle Mile shops with a mall entry located almost immediately kitty korner across the street from the hotel. Although the hotel is located a full block off the Las Vegas Strip to the East, you can get back to the strip in Air Conditioned comfort by walking through the mall which seems to be easily accessible, even after hours.

The hotel won’t be mixed up for any self respecting chateau of France. However, the look of the property does fit the general surrounding Las Vegas strip hotel styles.

After the short walk over with baggage in tow, we arrived to the hotel.

Checking into Marriott’s Grand Château Las Vegas:

There is no mistaking that this property is a Marriott Vacation Club property versus a generic Marriott Hotel or Marriott Resort property. The signage from the street highlighting that it is a Marriott Vacation Club is marked by the usual Marriott Rising Sun logo, along prominent Vacation Club markings.

We headed inside to the front check in area. The lobby and front loading zone area didn’t have a whole lot of street appeal to it. The lobby was a very high volume location with all the charm of a busy bus station.

We found our check in reception host who promptly checked us in. We were welcomed and offered a Marriott Bonvoy Elite welcome amenity of 1000 points for being Titanium Elite. Marriott Bonvoy does not offer breakfast as a welcome amenity club, and offers welcome points (or a local gift) as a Marriott Bonvoy Elite benefit.

Our host confirmed us as checked in and assigned to a one bedroom. Although when we got up to the room, it appeared we had been downgraded to a studio villa. I’d probably chalk this up to the hotel being oversold during our visit. It’s also worth noting that there are limited upgrade opportunities at the Marriott Vacation Club Brands, and you typically get the room category that you book. In our case, it involved a small downgrade.

We received a stack of property maps, a list of available restaurants, a welcome list of property features, a list of resort activities in addition to a very resort like resort schedule full of activities that were occurring on the property

The front desk reluctantly agreed to a 1 PM late check out as a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level after some begging. The usual check out time is 11 AM; with a 12 PM late check out as the usual time point offered. The hotel also advised that housekeeping “was suspended” as a result of the health pandemic; an excuse that is getting pretty old considering no mask or social distancing mandates currently exist in Las Vegas. I’d chalk this up to cost savings or a lack of staff.

At the front desk, we also received a welcome gift to be collected at the concierge desk. The welcome gift was actually a property card offering many discounts, and a clever way to sneak in a Marriott Vacation Club points presentation pitch in exchange for 40,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points or a 200$ USD Visa Card. 

We received an additional 2,000 Marriott Bonvoy Points just for collecting the Marriott Vacation Club Vacation Privileges Card. We didn’t have to present any identification, but the concierge desk did confirm our room number. This was pretty good return on investment for 5 minutes worth of work.

Given the volume of travellers through this hotel, there was no offer of assistance with our luggage, nor did we seek any help.

The Room: Guest Room

1 King – Sofa Bed

We self guided ourselves up to our assigned room of #1928. On our way up, we passed by a permanently manned security checkpoint at the lobby elevator entrances, which required a flash of the room key.  

The elevator banks were in separated elevator groupings so we made sure we found elevators that took us to the nineteenth floor. As we got off on the floor, it was evident that the hallways spaces of the hotel had been recently refurbished and upgraded.

Despite getting what appeared to be a downgrade, our time was worth more than the effort it took to return to the front desk to negotiate our originally booked room category. We also paid the same rate as the base level guest room. As a result, we didn’t bother following up for our short stay as we didn’t plan on being in the room much anyway.

Our initial impressions of the room were that the property was a little dated. It’s tougher to get into the vibe of an older looking hotel room in Las Vegas, when all the hotel rooms are generally in modern and up to date standards given that the casino’s are looking for that “wow” factor.

The Marriott’s Grand Château’s Las Vegas guest rooms are attired in the very traditional Marriott red. The traditional Marriott reds colour schemes are looking quite dated these days compared to the more hip hotels up the strip.

The room offered a traditional Marriott king sized bed. The sleeping space offered a reasonable amount of room around the beds. Unfortunately, the room did not offer USB charging next to the beds… something that’s almost unheard of in todays digital era. We balanced phones plugged into walls with cords draped over to bedside tables in order to power our devices.

The living space of the room offered a sofa bed, along with a small table and chairs which doubled as the bistro styled dining area. The couch was well used. Although it was showing a little wear, it was exceptionally comfortable for a hotel couch which usually features a firm surface.

Perhaps most interestingly in the room, there was small kitchen area containing a mini refrigerator / freezer, a toaster, a microwave and crockery and glassware for two persons. While it won’t be enough for an entire meal replacement, it’s always handy to have the extra hardware.

The room offered ground drip coffee, in addition to tea, a toaster and even coasters available for glasses.

Without an ice machine on each floor, the hotel conveniently marked the ice container with a location of the ice machines. I have never seen this before during my travels but it was exceptionally convenient. It was easy for MrsWT73 to direct me to the 18th or 20th floor in order to collect ice for the room.

The room also featured crockery and glassware for two persons. While it won’t be enough for an entire meal replacement, it’s always handy to have the extra hardware. This became especially handy for a pizza run that occurred on our second night.

The room didn’t feature any closets, but instead featured an upright armoire for clothing storage. While it’s nice to have an armoire, I find that it does offer a little less storage space by the time that you stuff a luggage rack, in room safe, iron, ironing board and other hangers inside the space.

Unlike our wonderful view at The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas, the view from the room at Marriott Grand Château was decidedly pedestrian. We had a view behind The Polo Towers looking towards the MGM Grand Towers and the MGM Le Maison VIP Hotel.

After the initial impressions, the room developed in to the more comfortable category and we got used to the somewhat dated Marriott look. The room was remarkably quiet and we had two terrific sleeps here on a comfortable bed. The hallway noise was minimal, and the sound proofing outside of the hotel windows was functional.

The floor layout of the hotel is in an “X” formation. Our wing was displayed below. The hotel appears to have a combination of guest rooms, one bedroom and two bedroom villas on each floor.

Around the Hotel Property:

I normally title this section “Around the Resort Property” but that would be a bit of a stretch for this particular hotel. Despite this, the hotel does offer a number of resort like features, but it’s not any stretch of a resort that you might find in Mexico, Hawaii or South East Asia.

Pool: 38^th floor

The Marriott Grand Château Las Vegas featured a unique roof top outdoor pool. The rooftop area is accessed from the 37th floor, followed by another short elevator up to the 38th floor.

The swimming pool itself was thimble full sized and I wouldn’t expect to get a lot of swimming in here. There was a fair amount of deck space available, which is perfect for taking in unobstructed sun in the summer Las Vegas desert heat.

There was a small hot tub located on the 38th floor pool area as well. It was bubbling away but I didn’t see anyone use it during our stay.

Skybar 38: Roof Top Bar

The 38th floor pool space was also occupied by the neat Skybar 38 Roof Top Bar. The Roof Top Bar was open between 11 AM and 11 PM. Admittedly, it was pretty hot on the top floor with the sun beating down at over 110 degrees Fahrenheit with little shade to be found.

The roof top deck offered a terrific view of the Aria, Cosmopolitan and Planet Hollywood Las Vegas Strip properties.

5^th floor Pool Bar and Grill.

The main pool operations area are occupied a small space on the 5^th floor within one of the building’s “X” fingers. This is the main event as far as pools go, with space on the sunny south side of the building. The pool was split into a swimming area, along with a lounging area, and the requisite hot tubs.

Most interesting about this space was the giant flat screen television that was situated over the bar area. It made the pool area perfect for those that want to spend their time lounging in the pool, but didn’t want to miss the sports events of the day.

There were DJ’s spinning at the pool deck during our visit along with “free jello shots” available at 1 PM from the bar. The pools visitors, along with most of the guests at the hotel were a large older component of those just looking to spend a little time in the pool.

There wasn’t a lot of lounge chairs available at this particular spot due to a lack of real estate. If you plan on spending any time here, make sure you plan to get here early if a lounge chair is important to you.

Food and Beverage:

La Diva:

The Marriott’s Grand Château Las Vegas offers an in hotel restaurant called La Diva. Being frank, we were never through here at meal time and with so many good restaurants nearby on the Las Vegas Strip, it’s hard to imagine choosing a hotel restaurant over another exciting restaurant location nearby.

Despite this, the restaurant had been updated and featured a great looking space. I never really saw anyone dining here during our pass through the lobby as our travels didn’t co-incide with meal times.

Lastly, it’s also worth mentioning that this property does not have any casino gaming on site. As a result, the property does it’s best at having a more family oriented atmosphere. This isn’t saying too much by Las Vegas standards, but it is noteworthy that you’ll have to travel a little way in order to play in a casino.

Checking Out of the Marriott Grand Château Las Vegas:

We had a friendly check out the next day with our 1 PM check out. At check out, the bill was presented and was all in order. We were further offered a departure amenity as a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level member. We were provided a card to transfer over to the separate concierge desk across the lobby. On arrival, the concierge desk took the card Took Card and we were told we were given 1,000 Marriott Bonvoy points.

Thanks to a targeted promotion offering double points on stays on a Friday and Saturday night, we earned 15,300 Marriott Bonvoy points for the two night stay. That’s a pretty impressive earn rate that I don’t even come close to with a week’s in hotels on the regular business work circuit.

Overall, I was pretty impressed with the inclusions from the property. From the lack of a resort fee, to complimentary valet parking, to a bucket of free Marriott Bonvoy points, we were pretty well taken care of. While it wasn’t the newest property, it certainly met all the requirements for a comfortable value stay that was really close to the Las Vegas strip.

As it came time to depart, we would load up our Hertz Ultimate Choice Las Vegas Rental before setting off for the Las Vegas International Airport

The Bottom Line: The Marriott Grand Château Las Vegas

This stay marked my first stay at a Marriott Vacation Club property. We were staying here as a result of avoiding expensive rates on the Las Vegas strip.

We would end up finding a property that was full of hidden inclusions. From no resort fees, complimentary parking and a hidden surprise of Marriott Bonvoy points hidden around every corner, we were well looked after with lots of inclusions.

While we didn’t get the most modern looking room, we could certainly live with the older property, given the several hundred dollars worth of savings by moving one block off the Las Vegas Strip on Friday and Saturday night. Clearly, dozens of travellers agreed with us, thanks to high occupancy rates that this property experiences on the weekend.

For those looking for a cheaper alternative on Friday and Saturday night, I can certainly endorse this option when cash savings are paramount.

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Have you moved around in Las Vegas Hotels to take advantage of different rates and benefits ?

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