Las Vegas - Day 1 Review of the Venetian's Deluxe King Suite and Check-in experience (Resort Fee)

Check-in was fast and smooth even though we prepaid the hotel through Vegas.com, the Venetian staff wanted to charge us an extra $25/day for what they called a resort fee. I was confused since I thought I already prepaid everything. The staff said that no third party would charge us the resort fee. I asked her what is meant by the resort fee. Then she explained that it included access to the hotel wifi and fitness centre. I could understand that payment may be required for wifi access but payment for fitness centre when it is a 5-star hotel? Since we had no plans to visit the fitness centre, we opted out. Contrary to belief, resort fee was NOT compulsory. And the best part is we had intermittent free wifi access from our room. Just picked the wifi for "Suite" instead of the one for "Setup".  :)

We booked a Deluxe King Suite with no view (of course, the Venetian asked if we wanted to upgrade to one with view - part of the up sell and cross sell anything you could training all customer service staff seemed to get when you worked in Las Vegas). Even though our suite had no view of the strip, we had a view of the Mirage. Not too bad. The suite was spacious and very well maintained. It even had an ipod docking station. No worries if you forgot to bring your iphone charger.

The King-size Bed

The Living Area

View of Suite from Windows

Bathroom with separate toilet (with door) on the right and shower on the left ( was not able to capture  with my iphone)

The room even had a remote control for the curtains (both the night curtain and the day venetian blinds!). Even though it was not a new hotel, everything was well maintained and clean. The only downside were the size of the TVs. There were three TVs in the room, one in the bathroom, one in front of the bed and one in the living area. The 32" LCD TVs were just too dated in a 5-star hotel these days.

On the whole, a fantastic and comfortable suite for the promotional price of US$149/night from Sunday to Wednesday! (Saturday night was US$229/night but still quite worth it!)

Las Vegas Day 1: Finally got the car and drove to Las Vegas Strip to the Venetian!

Despite landing at McCarran Airport at 12:30 pm, we only managed to drive out with our rental car at 2:30 pm. (Please read my previous blog for the confusion at the Thrifty car rental). The drive from the airport to our the Venetian was pretty smooth at 2:30 pm. It took less than 15 mins.

My last trip to Las Vegas was in 1997. The strip looks so different. I only remembered the Flamingo Hotel. The sun, crowd and energy just make us look forward to our 5-day trip!

M&M Store

Coke Store

Purple Classic Car

Driving to Venetian was easy.Once we got there, we had to decide between valet and self-parking for the hotel check-in. The hotel layout, especially how to get from the self-parking garage to the hotel lobby was pretty confusing to first time visitors. If you have many luggages, young children and/or elderly in the party, I would highly recommend the valet parking. At least for the check-in. It was just the two of us and we only had one bag, so we decided to do the self-park.

The self parking garage was HUGE. Oversized vehicle parking was on the ground floor while all others were from level 5 to 9. It was pretty crowded on a Saturday afternoon when we arrived but we still managed to get a spot on level 6. It took us quite a while to find the lobby from the garage.

First, we had to take the garage elevator to Casino level, walk past the first entrance to the 1st Canal Shoppe Entrance, take the elevator down to the Casino level, walk on the left side of the Casino past an eating area before we reached the lobby. It should take at least 10 minutes but we took 20 minutes since we got lost half way before we asked a hotel staff for directions. Save yourself the time and effort and ask if it is your first time there. 

Las Vegas - Trip Preparation - Which hotel to choose? Bellagio vs Venetian

After deciding on how to get there, the next big decision is where to stay. It all depends on your travel style and what you think it's an ideal holiday for you. I don't mind staying at a clean motel if I am on a road trip and just staying for the night but for Las Vegas, it has to be 5-star hotel and preferably, a suite.

Bellagio

I shortlisted Bellagio and the Venetian. Both were having promotions but we decided on the Venetian because the 5-day suite @ Venetian was US$800 cheaper than that @ Bellagio for the period we were there. Venetian was having a promotion of US$149/night from Sundays to Wednesdays.   Incidentally, we also realized that accommodations in Las Vegas were cheapest from Sundays to Wednesdays and most expensive on Fridays followed by Saturdays and Thursdays.

The Venetian

I did not get to see the Bellagio suite but both my husband and I really liked the Venetian Suite. We got a Deluxe King Suite with no view of the strip. To us, it was a steal @ US$149/night. The room was big and very well maintained. Everything still looks pretty new. We were also happy that we choose the Venetian because of the Grand Canal Shoppes. If luxury shopping is your past time, then Bellagio would be the place for you.