With a spike in weekend hotel room rates, I ended up looking towards the Las Vegas Marriott in order to save a few hundred dollars on a room rate for a recent Friday night in Law Vegas. Having never stayed at this property before, I’d discover a terrific old school Marriott property that offered all the inclusions that you’d expect from a full service Marriott property, including a great Marriott Bonvoy Elite breakfast and a wonderful 4 PM late check out. What a great surprise find just steps from the north Las Vegas strip.

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This post is one chapter on a weekend trip from Canada to Las Vegas Nevada, United States of America. This trip was enhanced through Marriott Bonvoy Elite Status, and Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan. For parts of the trip, please see this index.

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Review: Las Vegas Marriott, Nevada, United States of America

“Perfectly oriented to business Marriott travellers and Marriott Bonvoy Elites that are looking for a better stay experience that what you’d find on the Las Vegas strip with the MGM Collection – Marriott Bonvoy partnership “

Booking the Las Vegas Marriott:

Our visit to Las Vegas had us staying over in Las Vegas on a friday night. Given that room rates in Las Vegas are tremendously variable dependent on demand, I found that the room rates at most of the casino properties had spiked quite considerably during a Friday or Saturday night stay.

During our visit, most of the rooms were averaging over $450 USD a night at the Aria, and upwards of $630 USD a night at our favorite The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas.

Instead, I ended up taking a break from the casino properties and heading uptown to the Las Vegas Marriott. The property was located in the Las Vegas convention centre district and somewhat accessible by monorail.

By making this decision, we’d end up saving at least $250 USD for a little travelling inconvenience. It’s fair to say that this detour ended up paying off. We ended up being really happy with our stay by switching to the Las Vegas Marriott.

I ended up locating a base level “King Suite – 1 King Bed, Guest Room” at the Las Vegas Marriott. All rooms at this property are suites, and we’d enjoy a 380 sq foot / 34 sq m room.

As with other hotel stays on this trip, our booking strategy was to book the cheapest room possible and hope for a Marriott Bonvoy Platinum / Titanium level upgrade to a better room.

As always, I booked through the Marriott Bonvoy website, which as a Marriott Titanium Member, entitled me to a complimentary upgrade to the best available room, including select suites, and a complimentary late check out up to 4 PM.

Marriott Bonvoy Opportunities:

The Las Vegas Marriott has variable pricing, dependent if you are travelling during a period of high demand. Rooms can be found for as little as 37,000 Marriott Bonvoy points with variable pricing up to 59,000 Marriott Bonvoy points. It is worth checking out to see whether there are any Marriott Bonvoy point redemptions available in order to maximize value.

It was interesting to see that the property did not seem to follow the outrageous points grab of the other MGM Collection – Marriott Bonvoy partnership properties. For example, I was able to find nights at the Las Vegas Marriott during Las Vegas Grand Prix from as low as 59,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, compared to the Bellagio at 150,000 points for the same night. While there obvioously a difference in location with The Beallgio being in a prime location, the Las Vegas Marriott seems to offer some value if you’re willing to travel for your room.

As a refresher, If you value Marriott Bonvoy points at 0.8 cents per point, it only makes sense to redeem points under the right circumstances. For example, it would only make sense to redeem 37,000 Marriott Bonvoy points for a room valued at over $296 USD. If you are redeeming against a room that is 59,000 Marriott Bonvoy points, then you’d have to have a room rate over when those same points are worth approximately $472 USD. While it’s unlikely you’ll get this much value out of your Marriott Bonvoy points, it is possible that room rates could get this high during a peak travel season.

Marriott Bonvoy members get the fifth night free when redeeming five or more day stay. Keep in mind that by redeeming five nights, and getting the fifth night free, will increase the value proposition by lowering the average number of points per night.

Getting to the Las Vegas Marriott:

We were staying the night before at the The Signature at MGM Grand.

We ended up taking the slightly shabby Las Vegas Monorail from the MGM Grand station to the Convention Centre station. It was pretty convenient to get there from The Signature at MGM Grand, and we’d end up using the monorail later in the day to re-position to entertainment venues during the day.

Upon arriving to the Convention Centre station, it was a short 7 minute walk rolling suitcases across two long blocks to get to the Las Vegas Marriott. While it was a little longer than expected walking through empty parking lots in “no mans land”, we didn’t have any problems locating the property.

The Las Vegas Marriott offered a traditional vehicle entryway, which was a marked difference than all the casino hotels that typically have an entrance way that’s miles away from the front desk.

The Las Vegas Marriott hotel is located acorss the street from the Las Vegas Convention Centre. It’s in a “no mans land” of sorts, surrounded by vacant lots, empty parking spaces and in a neighbourhood with a definite lack of personality.

The only bright spot is that the property is within short walking distance to El Gordo Taco’s, which in my humble opinion, is a must visit for taco’s if you find yourself staying over at the Las Vegas Marriott.

Checking into the Las Vegas Marriott:

The Las Vegas Marriott is due for a renovation. We had received a cheeky pre-arrival email informing us “we are having a little work done”, which has started in the lobby. In Marriott tradition, the lobby and rooms are representing the usual beige and red Marriott themed colours; which will be a familiar feel for those that are on the Marriott business travel circuit.

Our pre-arrival email also indicated that an upgrade charge for a City View or a Sphere View would be available for an additional charge. We were also encouraged to provide our arrival time, along with directions or a request for special occasions.

The reception for the Las Vegas Marriott was immediately located across from the front door of the property. There was no door man working when we arrived. We rolled up to the front counter and checked in without any line.

We were warmly welcomed with an efficient check in that represented the best that Marriott had to offer. We were thanked for our Marriott Titanium level loyalty. We were explained that breakfast was made available in the 325 Lounge on the 17th floor between 6:30 AM and 11 AM (weekend hours).

We didn’t negotiate or argue for a sphere view room. We weren’t expecting to spend much time on the property and just accepted the room assignment offered. In this case, it was an eighth floor convention centre view room. We were given 4 X 250ml bottles of water as the usual thank you for being a Marriott Bonvoy Elite.

Unlike the desperate haggling we had at other MGM Collection – Marriott Bonvoy resorts on this trip, we were also given a complimentary Marriott Titanium late check out guaranteed at 4 PM without any dispute.

While we didn’t get to spin the roulette wheel, I was pretty impressed of what the hotel had to offer. Our reception at the Las Vegas Marriott was much warmer and more personalized than our past stays in Las Vegas to date.f

The Las Vegas Marriott hotel is not a casino hotel. As a result, there aren’t any slot machines or other gambling devices on the hotel’s property.

The Room: 1 King Suite – 1 King Bed –

We found our way up to the 8th floor. With all rooms at this property being compact suites, we didn’t receive any further upgrade as a Marriott Bonvoy Titanium. We located our assigned room #819, which was located at the far corner of the floor well away from any hallway noise.

The King Suite at the Las Vegas Marriott is a compact suite that is 380 sq feet or 34 sq meters. The room features a small living space that offered a sofa bed, two small occasional tables disguised as stools, and a red occasional chair that could only belong to a Marriott hotel.

The living area featured a 32 inch flat screen television. While the space was quite small, I did manage to set up a luggage rack in the corner for our shopping suitcase.

The living area offered a small working desk that was a little on the compact side. Despite this, the decor fit the room perfectly with an occasional lamp on the desk.

The living space of the King Suite offered a wet bar. The room also featured a complimentary drip coffee maker, along with an ice but and paid water.

Moving to the bedroom, the King Suite offered a King Bed in a smallish compact room. There wasn’t a lot of extra space around the bed, making this room a space for sleeping.

The bedroom featured a direct view of the Las Vegas Convention Centre West Hall. With nothing happening at the convention centre during our stay, the architecturally inspiring building looked pretty quiet.

The Las Vegas Marriott offered an older bathroom that featured a bath and shower combination. The shower itself was a little on the compact side, consistent with many Marriott’s I’ve stayed in over the years.

The bathroom sink featured a single vanity. The space was a little compact for two. As a result, we found ourselves alternating bathroom sink time during our stay.

The storage space in the King Suite was located across from the sink. It was a little difficult to get access to the closet when the sink was in use. However, a suite is still a suite and with a living space to relax in, we made sure not to cross paths during our time.

In terms of sleep quality, the Las Vegas Marriott was exceptionally quiet with no hallway noise or noise from other Las Vegas revellers. We had a great sleep and didn’t have any neighbourhood noise or other distractions during our sleep.

Around the Hotel Property:

The Las Vegas Marriott is an urban business hotel with amenities that you would expect under this category.

While we didn’t get upgrade to a Sphere view room, we were able to get in a few glances of this attraction while waiting for the elevators when coming to and from the property.

Marriott Concierge Executive Lounge:

The Las Vegas Marriott is unique in that it is a property without a dedicated Marriott Concierge Executive Lounge. While we don’t normally see Executive Lounges at Marriott Resorts, this marks the first Marriott city property that I’ve visited that is without an M Club or an Executive Lounge.

Outdoor Pool:

The Las Vegas Marriott offers a small outdoor pool. The pool was located at ground level and has a nice outdoor orientation on the west sunny side of the property.

The pool isn’t large enough for a whole group of people, but might be a respite on a weekeday when its not overtaken by large families.

Exercise Room:

The exercise room is located on the second floor. At times, we see exercise rooms that are located without any natural light. The Las Vegas Marriott offered a large day light gym area that was much larger than I was expecting for an exercise room.

The fitness centre is open seven days a week on a twenty four hour a day basis.

Food and Beverage:

The food and beverage at the Las Vegas Marriott is probably, if pressed, the hotel’s weakest spot. With world class restaurants a few miles away, the Las Vegas Marriott has a limited food and beverage footprint.

The Garage:

In what is probably among the most unique food and beverage locations that I’ve seen in a Marriott, the Las Vegas Marriott offers a unique outdoor bar space called “The Garage”.

The Las Vegas Marriott has taken space located underneath it’s sloped parking structure and turned it into a bar and lounge space. As a result of Nevadas’ warm desert weather, this space seems to work all year round.

The place is anchored with flat screen televisions which are great for watching sports. The menu items are ordered by phone from the hotel’s Café 25 restaurant.

Café 325:

The sole on property restaurant is Café 325, which was located on the hotel’s seventeenth floor at the very top of the Las Vegas Marriott. During our stay, the Café 325 was not open for lunch.

The Café 325 did offer a happy hour cocktail setting that offered great city views over the Las Vegas Convention Centre West.

I snooped around up here looking for the Marriott M Club Executive Lounge, but didn’t find anywhere to take away any snacks or drinks. Instead, there were a few dinner menu items that were of the traditional hotel fare.

Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Breakfast

Durng our visit, we enjoyed a Marriott Bonvoy Platinum Breakfast. Returning to Café 325 at around 9:30 AM, I discovered that the Cafe 325 was actually set up on roof top convention space of the Las Vegas Marriott.

As Marriott Bonvoy Titanium level members, we were given full access to either the buffet or the a – la – carte menu. While there weren’t many boutique surprises on the menu, there was more than enough items to choose from for breakfast.

For ease of convenience, I ended up going with the buffet. There were ample hot and cold items which included various meats, along with cereals and continental items.

The buffet offered an egg station. As a result, I had freshly made bacon and eggs. I really appreciated this resort like experience, as it elevated the breakfast offering.

We were presented with a cheque at the end, which provided the full value of the breakfast at $62.86 USD on a complimentary basis. The staff we encountered were really positive and welcoming, which was a marked change from some other Las Vegas resort staff at other properties.

Overall, I was really satisfied with the Café 325 breakfast offering. The complimentary breakfast marked a high point of the property.

Bottom Line: Las Vegas Marriott

The Las Vegas Marriott represented terrific value for this Marriott Bonvoy Elite traveler.

In addition to saving about $250 USD from a casino strip hotel on a friday night, we had a great complimentary Marriott Bonvoy elite breakfast. While the rooms are ready for a renovation, they are clean and quiet.

I would happily return again to this property under similar circumstances.

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If you have stayed at the Las Vegas Marriott, did you get value out of your stay ?

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