Two and a half years had passed since
our last stint in Las Vegas, so we were due. Kaleb and his friends would be traversing the picturesque 8-day
High Sierra Trail to
Mt. Whitney (the highest point in the contiguous United States), renting a car at the end of the hike to get to
Death Valley (lowest point in North America), then staying in Sin City the rest of the holiday weekend. I figured why not meet up with them in Las Vegas?
The guys had quite an adventure - a freak hailstorm that collapsed tents in the night, lightning striking too close for comfort on an exposed mountainside, hiking through snow in the dark - but all survived and made it to the end...what an accomplishment! (stunning photos courtesy of Quan)
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| from the highest point...brrr... |
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| ...to the lowest point...hot hot hot! |
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I flew to Vegas using
Southwest Rapid Rewards points. To get around, I decided to rent a car from Hertz using a corporate rate; the price per day cost the same as two taxi rides. Saturday night's stay would be at the
Palazzo Las Vegas, using an anniversary free night certificate courtesy of the
IHG Select credit card (closed to new applicants). Rates were around $300 plus tax due to the holiday weekend, making the card's $49 annual fee well worth it. Sunday night would be at the
Delano Las Vegas. This hotel was part of the
Fine Hotels and Resorts program (FHR) offered by the
Amex Platinum Card; the room was more than free thanks to the amenities received, including a $60 breakfast credit daily (and lunch - more on that later) and a $100 resort credit. Our flight home was also booked using Southwest points, with Kaleb's ticket being doubly free thanks to the
Companion Pass.
On Saturday afternoon, my flight and car rental were uneventful, though there was a lot of traffic on the Strip due to an accident. I took side streets to reach the hotel without excessive delay. However, the long check-in line at the Palazzo moved at a snail's pace. Since the guys weren't arriving until later that evening, I had made spa reservations at the
Canyon Ranch SpaClub and planned on enjoying the
Aquavana area at leisure, but the chance was lessening as the minutes went by. While in the queue, I noticed an "Invited Guest" check-in area with hardly any line. There was a sign mentioning FHR, so if I had booked through the program, I could have checked in at that desk - good to know in the future. (The FHR benefit for Palazzo was a $100 spa credit)
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| Vegas is great for Pokemon Go |
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| FHR reservations can check in here |
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Eventually I got checked in and headed up to the room to drop off my bag, then headed to the spa, which was located on the third floor of the Palazzo.
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| entryway |
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| large bathroom |
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| separate toilet |
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| unbranded toiletries |
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| more unbranded toiletries |
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| amenity kit included q-tips, cotton balls, etc. |
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| bedroom plus sunken living room |
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| robes and safe in closet |
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| mini-bar on sensors - move it and get charged |
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| mini-bar menu |
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With only thirty minutes to spare before my treatment, I quickly changed into the provided robe and slippers, roamed around the Aquavana section, then relaxed on one of many privately curtained chaises in the waiting area. My name was called and I was led to a dedicated room for my service, the Ultra Nourishing Cocoon with Full Body Massage. The description of being oiled and wrapped, then floating in a cocoon bed sounded like a very indulgent sensory experience. In reality, I felt like a burrito laying on a partially-filled waterbed - still relaxing, but not what my imagination had previously concocted. After about half an hour, the therapist prepared towels on the ground towards the en-suite shower and turned it on to the proper temperature. She then reset the cocoon bed, unwrapped me, led me to the shower, then left the room while I washed off, reentering after I made my way to the massage table. I then had a full body massage with coconut-scented lotion...heavenly! After the treatment, I was led back to the waiting room and served a cup of hot tea. When I made it back to my locker, Kaleb had left a text saying that they would be arriving in Las Vegas around 6:30pm...it was already 5:50pm, so had to get dressed, pay, hop in the car and pick him up from Excalibur, where the other guys were staying. Kaleb definitely was looking forward to a shower and beard trim after all those days of backpacking!
I had a small hiccup while paying. I received a bunch of
SpaFinder gift cards from friends as well as purchased some discounted ones from Costco. I checked the SpaFinder website a couple of months before and saw that Canyon Ranch was a participant. It turned out that they stopped accepting SpaFinder on August 31...what!? The desk agent said that he would check with the manager to see if they would retroactively take them, since he saw I had a bunch - great customer service! Thankfully, the manager agreed to accept them just this once. I was so relieved; even if they refused to take the cards, I would have found other uses for them eventually.
The whole group planned to meet at the Aria buffet at 8:30pm for dinner. With our hotels at varying distance from the Aria paired with a crowded Strip, we didn't all make it there until closer to 9pm. The wait wasn't long as we were able to hop into the empty VIP line thanks to having
Mlife Gold status. (matched from
Celebrity Cruises Select or
Royal Caribbean Emerald/Diamond and can be done via email to comments@mlife.com) The cashier asked if we were military, as there was an additional discount. Cal was a veteran, but he didn't have his ID on him.
The
Aria buffet is a great choice for the price. There is plenty of selection - seafood, tasty prime rib, decadent desserts, and a $19.99 all-you-can-drink add-on for two people. The guys were ravenous after subsisting on freeze-dried food for six days.
It was Eric's 40th birthday; our server was so nice to bring a dessert with a lit candle for him to blow out.
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| I love me some bone marrow |
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| not pretty, but tasty |
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Sunday morning, Kaleb and I checked out of the Palazzo, then headed to the airport car rental facility to fix an error on my reservation. My assigned car (picked up at the
Hertz Gold canopy) happened to have satellite radio, but I did not elect to use it, yet was still charged for it. I was in a hurry to get to the hotel so did not review the documents when the gate attendant printed it out at the exit. There was a Hertz desk at the Palazzo, but they had no authority to change my details. The airport Hertz location straightened it out. We then stopped by Total Wine nearby to pick up some snacks and drinks.
One of the benefits of booking a hotel with FHR is being able to check in at 12 noon. Another benefit was that the room would be upgraded (upon availability). We ended up with a king suite with a view of the Mandalay Bay beach and some mountains. I think we may have been able to get a Strip view room, but it wasn't ready yet and we'd rather check in than wait. Plus, we could take advantage of a quirk in the Delano's FHR benefits. Daily breakfast is a standard inclusion, and is usually redeemed in the morning through the rest of your stay. However, for this hotel, breakfast credit was also available the day of check-in! The front desk staff member even mentioned it to us, so it's not a secret. We got to spend $30 per person (not including gratuity) for lunch at Della's Kitchen. You could also use this for room service.
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| entering the hotel lobby |
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| lobby had games available |
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| list of FHR benefits |
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| room service menu |
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| living room |
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| wet bar |
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| mini-bar |
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| view out the window |
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| separate bedroom |
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| good sized bathroom |
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| separate shower |
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After leaving our things in the room, we headed down to
Della's Kitchen for a yummy brunch (open until 2pm). The $60 wasn't taken directly off the bill, but showed up in the account folio when I checked it on our room TV.
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| food menu |
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| drink menu |
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| smoked pork benedict with a mimosa trio |
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| chicken confit hash |
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We returned to the room to watch college football all afternoon. While getting ready for dinner, we were surprised to get a visit from housekeeping for turndown; turns out it's standard for all Delano rooms.
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| complimentary water and chocolates |
Our meal at
Stripsteak was gut-busting delicious. The complimentary duck fat fries were so good - we could have done without an appetizer since it was just the two of us, though the handmade potato crisps that came with the wagyu tartare were divine. We split an angus rib eye steak topped with foie gras and a couple of side dishes. They gave us both a complimentary pack of caramel popcorn to take home, so dessert didn't need to be ordered either.
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| menu page 1 |
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| menu page 2 |
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| three kinds of duck fat fries with sauces |
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| wagyu tartare |
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| half rib eye topped with foie gras |
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| potato gratin and broccolini |
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| sorbet trio |
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| caramel popcorn |
The next morning, we spent our $60 breakfast credit on room service.
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| food came piping hot |
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| huevos rancheros |
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| granola |
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| croissant sandwich |
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Quan and Eric dropped by to get a ride to the airport. At check out, I requested that the $100 FHR credit be applied to last night's dinner (it wasn't done automatically). I then used my
Amex Business Platinum card in order to take advantage of a $50 off $250 Amex offer at MGM Resorts, which included the Delano. Even though I originally guaranteed the room with my personal
Amex Platinum, you can use any Amex card to pay the final bill. Resort fees, server gratuities, and amounts over the FHR credits added up, so I was glad we were able to save another $50. I have taken advantage of so many
Amex offers, they cover the annual fees on the cards and then some.
At the airport, Kaleb and I had some extra time before our flight home, so we took the tram to Concourse D to enjoy a bit of food and drink at the
Amex Centurion Lounge, another complimentary benefit of the
Amex Platinum Card.
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| beer at 11:55am |
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| not a lot of food, since I was still full |
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Where are we traveling next? Eight nights in Maui...stay tuned!
***
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Another disclaimer: The intention of this blog was to remind Future Me in full detail about where I went and what I did. I could have made it private, but I frequently get questions from family, friends and internet folks about how I planned things, got deals, etc., so instead of repeating the story over and over, I direct them here. If you are offended by anything I say or do, save yourself the discomfort and kindly click away from my blog. Thanks for reading and have a wonderful day!
