Las Vegas 2022 (3/5) – Hotels

Hong and I weren’t the biggest fans of the Sin City. We hadn’t been eager to return after our last visit 15 years ago. How we ended up here for spring break came down to three Hilton free night certificates and a process of elimination.

One of this pandemic’s fallout was us having a lot of trouble using our various hotel certificates. These Hilton certs were especially valuable, considering how we had used them to stay at some of the best hotels in the world. As we set out to plan for spring break 2022, we filtered for destinations that had top-tier Hilton properties (which ironically were those brands that didn’t include the word “Hilton”).

Los Angeles was the only city on the West Coast to meet that criteria, but we had already visited it three times during the pandemic. New Orleans fit the bill too and had been on our bucket list, but the flights there were unreasonably expensive. Then there was Las Vegas, a city with both a Conrad and a Waldorf Astoria… so Vegas it was. However backward it may sound, that was the logic that identified this destination for us.

Initially, we contemplated Conrad Las Vegas because of our great experiences with that brand. However, it was rather far north on the Strip at Resorts World, so we opted for Waldorf Astoria instead. We used up all three of our certs and shelled out another 80,000 Hilton points plus some cash for the 4th and 5th nights there. For a top-notch hotel costing $500 a night? That was a rather good use of our rewards program membership.

Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas

Located at CityCenter on the Strip, the Waldorf had a fantastic location. What was more, I really appreciated it being a standalone hotel detached from any smoke-filled casino. Needless to say, it was also a five-star hotel that would generally be out of our league. I felt embarrassed admitting to family that we were staying at such a luxurious place.

My favorite thing though was the view. Our room was on the 14th floor facing north, and had a fantastic view of the Strip. From the classy stuff like the fake Eiffel Tower to the trashy stuff like gigantic billboards advertising fast food deals, it was endlessly mesmerizing. We made a point to keep the curtains fully open at night, so the room would soak in all the colorful neons and LEDs. It was pretty darn hard to sleep, but we loved that vibe.

There was a slight mishap with the room during check in. When housekeeping came to address the issue (and apologize more than truly necessary), they gifted us two stuffy goats and two boxes of sweets. Now our kids could add to their collection of premium hotel stuffed animals.

Being Hilton Diamond members (another credit card perk, alongside the free night certs), we were entitled to a $25 daily dining credit per adult. While it sounded like a lot of money, it really wasn’t. We tried the hotel breakfast one morning and the $50 combined credit worked out to less than 20% of the bill. After that, we took the cheap route and ordered minimal stuff through room service. It was the only way to get a la carte dining, although the service charges were a hilarious addition to already-extraordinary price tags. The $50 credit was just enough to get an espresso on ice for me, a latte for Hong, and a hot chocolate for the kids. Adding a side of bacon would push us way over that limit.

As was promised to the kids, we spent a lot of time at the pool here. It sat above much of the city and below the main hotel tower. It was quiet and exclusive, and the view was gorgeous.

Mandalay Bay

For the other two nights of spring break 2022, we stayed at Mandalay Bay. It was another dream come true.

This hotel-casino blew us away on our last visit to Vegas. It seemed grand and luxurious, it had an aquarium with sharks and arapaimas, and it had an amazing wave pool not seen anywhere else. As 25-year-olds who couldn’t afford much at the time, we drooled over the thought of one day being able to afford staying here and experience that man-made beach in the desert.

It was incredible, then, that we spent our very next night in Vegas at Mandalay Bay, albeit it being 15 years later and us having acquired a far more expensive taste. I remember admiring the casino’s thick glass doors with heavy-duty and ornate metal handles, while thinking to myself what a status symbol it was. In contrast, my reaction this time around was, “Do I need to open this heavy door myself? I bet there is a doorman at the Waldorf…”

Shameless snobbishness aside, well, Mandalay Bay was still a great hotel. We got a comfortable room with a good view, its Southeast Asian-themed decor was still breathtaking, and the pools were every bit as incredible as we had hoped. The wave pool plus the fake beach was an impressive piece of technology that provided a balance between excitement and relaxation. It was arguably better than the ocean because the water was chlorinated and there was an army of lifeguards in the pool. There was a minimum height requirement of 48″, though, and we eventually got called out for sneaking Ting into it. Well at least we managed to squeeze 15 minutes of fun out of it! About time to move on to the lazy river anyway. I remember loving the lazy river as a cowardly kid who wouldn’t try any of the slides at a water park. Well, my love for it hadn’t faded, and Mandalay’s river was real fun. We went around and around hopping in the water stream and had a real blast.

The main problem with Mandalay Bay was its location at the very end of the Strip, making it rather difficult to get anywhere else. The other thing that weighed on my mind was how little anyone seemed to remember or care about the 2017 massacre that happened right here. It wasn’t the hotel’s fault, obviously, and it would be illogical to discount an objectively cool place for such an unfortunate event. However, it felt odd how comfortably everyone was able to look past one of the deadliest “Second Amendment” incidents in recent American history.