Hotel Review: Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas

During the early days of the Covid-19 outbreak, I embarked on a trip to Las Vegas. This trip was on a quest to put together a documentary on what it feels like traveling during the global pandemic. You can read more about the project here

The city of Las Vegas is no doubt the Entertainment Capital of The World (as popularly called), and it’s always exciting whenever we’re heading out there. On this trip I decided to stay at a Hilton Hotel brand this time. And what better Hilton hotel could I have stayed at other than the famous and elegant Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas.

The sophisticated Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas is a non-gaming, non-smoking hotel located in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip. This luxury, high-end, 5-star hotel was formerly The Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

BOOKING:

When it comes to Vegas hotels bookings, AmEx Fine Hotels and Resorts always saves the day. For this stay, I booked a 1 King Bed City View Room. The rate of this room was $209, taxes and fees $27.97, plus the $45 Rip-Off (Resort) Fees. Altogether, the total rate was $281.97.

As a member of Hilton Honors, this hotel is also bookable on points. It would require a minimum of 46,000 Hilton Honors points to book a City View room. 

Booking with American Express Fine Hotels and Resorts means we get to enjoy all the perks of AmEx FHR. I’ll discuss more about those perks momentarily.

CHECKING IN:

I arrived at McCarran International Airport (LAS) at 9:00am and felt it might be a bit too early to go check in at the hotel. Instead, I decided to spend some time reviewing The Club at LAS lounge, a member of Priority Pass program. You can get priority pass for free by applying for The Platinum Card from American Express using our link.

I arrived at the hotel at around 12:30 in the afternoon and was able to utilize the early check-in benefit. Since it was during the COVID-19 and there were already travel restrictions in some part of the country at that time, the hotel was dry and empty. The hotel was barely at 20% capacity. I was greeted by two bell men on the lower lobby (ground floor) which directed me to the elevator to the Sky Lobby on the 23^rd floor where the front desk is located

In the elevator, I found this ottoman which I think was a great touch from the hotel. While many may see it unnecessary, it can be useful for the elderly, or maybe you’re just tired and needed to sit, or even maybe you just need to sit for a minute to tie your shoelace. By the way, the ottoman is present in all of the hotel’s elevator cars.

The dimly lit lobby was dry and quiet, but there were 2 front desk attendants present.

I was checked in by Cecilia whom I found to be friendly and professional. I love the fact that she asked if I have any status with Hilton Honors (I forgot to add my HH number during the booking). She also told me I was upgraded to a Strip View Room, and also explained all the benefits of AmEx FHR to me.

As seen in the pictures below, benefits of booking with AmEx FHR includes room check-in when available, room upgrade when available, daily breakfast for 2 people, guaranteed 4pm late checkout, $125 hotel credit which is one of the reasons we usually book using FHR, free WiFi, etc.

As seen in the picture above, the hotel offered Room to Room and Suite to Suite upgrades only. I was given a Strip View Room as an (!)upgrade from the City Room I booked. I pushed for a Suite Upgrade, but the front desk attendant didn’t honor it. Instead she offered me a suite upgrade for a fee which I declined. I found this disappointing since the hotel was barely at 20% capacity, and at least half of the amenities were out of service. I think the least the hotel could have done is to compensate me with a suite upgrade at least. Especially with my loyalty to the Hilton brand.

Well, maybe I’m actually not loyal enough to Hilton since I recently had a soft-landing downgrade from Diamond to Gold since I really didn’t stay much at Hilton Hotels in 2019. 

But the good thing is, as a Hilton Gold member, you get additional $50 breakfast credit, or 1000 Hilton Honors points, and a complementary single category room upgrade (upgrade based on availability), 80% bonus points, 2 free bottles of water per day, etc. See picture below:

THE ROOM:

I was assigned a room on the 19^th floor, Room 1925 to be specific. The hallway was well decorated, and the room numbers are visible with proper signs present.

The Strip View room is contemporarily designed and featured a comfortable bed, a chaise lounge, an ottoman, a built-in work desk, nightstand on each side of the bed, and more.

Upon entering the room, on the right was the built-in closet with multiple drawers. In the closet was a robe (which seem to have seen better days), laundry amenities, a valet closet for complimentary shoeshine (which I think is a nice touch from the hotel). You’ll find the lights and the curtain controllers on the wall, in the bathroom, and also by the bedside. 

The view from the room wasn’t the best view of Las Vegas Strip, but it was still a great view.

THE BATHROOM:

My favorite part of the room was the gorgeous bathroom. The bathroom featured an egg-shaped bathtub, a separate glass enclosed toilet, double vanity sinks, lighted makeup mirror, and a separate walk-in shower. You’ll find Tuscan Soul bath products by Ferragamo in the bathroom. The bathroom also has hairdryer tucked in one of the drawers. There’s also a TV volume controller in the bathroom which I found to be fancy. I also found the night light in the bathroom to be another nice touch from the hotel.

Around 5:00pm, housekeeping came knocking asking if I want turndown service to be performed. I thought it was a bit early at that time and since I was still getting some work done, I requested the turndown service be done at 8pm. I then told the housekeeper I would need more bathroom amenities when she comes back since Salvatore Ferragamo is one of my favorite products.

3 hours later, as I was heading back from the SkyBar on 23rd floor, the housekeeper was in the room doing turndown service. I was blown away seeing the amount of those Ferragamo products she had kept in my bathroom.

DINING:

For dinner, I decided to do In-Room Dining. I ordered:
Starter: Cooked shrimp sushi (Ebi)
Main course: Green Curry (prawns and chicken combo, simmered in spicy coconut curry, Siamese eggplant, sweet basil, served with jasmine rice). 
Dessert: Oreo New York cheesecake (light mascarpone cheesecake, crushed Oreo crust, and Vanilla Chantilly) plus Green Tea with lemon.

The food took about 35 minutes to arrive, about 10 minutes longer than estimated but it was one of the best dinners I’ve had in a hotel. The total cost of the entire food was $85.

After dinner, I thought I should soak myself in the bathtub for a while and just meditate for a minute. There was no Epsom salt present in the bathroom so I called front desk if it could be delivered to my room. Unfortunately, the hotel didn’t have the salt available. Anyway, the absent of salt did not ruin the mood as I was able to put the bathtub to a good use regardless.

BREAKFAST:

The next morning, the hotel went into a total lockdown and there was no food available. As mentioned earlier, this visit was during the corona virus (Covid-19) outbreak and as a result of the order from the Governor of Nevada, all hotels and casinos were instructed to shut down.

I called the front desk to see if they have some other options or offerings, or if they’ll offer any sort of compensations but no compensation was offered. The hotel did offered me “if I would like to go get some snacks from the CVS / Walgreens next door…….but at your own expense”.

I was looking forward to some steak for brunch, but it never happened. As a result of the lockdown, I was only able to utilize $90 out of the $235 hotel credit I was entitled to since everything was closed.

But although all the amenities were out of service the next day, I was still able to get some pictures. On the 23^rd floor on your way to Twist, you’ll find these flower decorations along the dimly lit hallway.

Twist by Pierre Gagnaire is the hotel main restaurant and is located on the 23^rd floor. This restaurant is the world-renowned Chef Pierre Gagnaire’s first and only restaurant in the US, and serves classic French, and one-of-a-kind cuisine.

The breakfast credit is redeemable at Zen Kitchen located on the 3^rd floor.

The Tea Lounge is also located on the 23^rd floor right next to the SkyBar. Here, you can hangout as you enjoy afternoon tea while admiring the view of Las Vegas Strip.

The SkyBar is rated as one of Las Vegas rooftop bar where you can enjoy unforgettable views while sipping signature cocktails created by expert mixologists.

OTHER AMENITIES:

As mentioned earlier, during my stay here most of the amenities were out of service. The Spa, Pool / Pool Café, and the Fitness / Wellness Center are all located on the 8^th floor.

The gym at this hotel is of a very-high standard. In fact, it is one of the best hotel fitness centers we have seen. This gym features many high-end fitness equipment, some of which you won’t even find at a standard gym.

The hotel’s business center is located on the third floor. Each workstation at the business center is equipped with its own VoIP desk phones, a multi-function display printer is also available. And we love the fact that there were both Windows and Mac computers available.

High speed WiFi was provided. While many hotels are fond of providing basic internet while charging for WiFi as part of the benefit you get with the resort fee. The Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas offers 2 different options. 

The first option is the free WiFi which is above average at 24.68Mbps download speed and 24.80 upload speed.

The second WiFi option offers enhanced internet speed, as well as better security. While this option is provided at $15 per night, I knew there was no way I’ll pay that $15 knowing the fact that I am entitled to free internet with my Hilton Honors Gold status couple with the fact that I booked via FHR.

Although the $15 appeared in my folio, I was able to get the manager to remove it during checkout. Both internet options passed The Points Engineer WiFi test.

One other thing I’ll like to mention is the Moet vending machine which is located on the Sky lobby (23^rd floor). You can purchase the golden coin at the front desk.

SUMMARY:

As I have mentioned earlier, we usually use AmEx Fine Hotels and Resorts for most of our Vegas hotel bookings. Since it gives us better value than booking with points, or even booking directly with the hotel. Although this may not be true for every booking, but in most cases, it works for us than every other option.

Here’s a quick recap of the benefits of booking with FHR:
Noon check-in (based on availability)
Upgrade on arrival (based on availability)
Daily breakfast for 2
Free High-Speed internet access
$100 – $125 Spa or Hotel Credit. ($125 Property Credit at Waldorf Astoria as at the time of this review)
Guaranteed 4:00pm Late Checkout

And if you have Hilton Honors elite status, you’ll also get additional perks (as mentioned above) based on the level of your status.

Thinking of booking a different hotel in Las Vegas? Check out our review of Delano Las Vegas

FINAL VERDICT:

While there were couple of things we were not happy with about this hotel, we absolutely did have many things that pleased us about this hotel. We love the fact that this hotel offers $125 property credit which can be used for food and beverage or spa, we love the fact that we could double-dip by enjoying both the benefits of booking via FHR and the benefits of being a Hilton Honors elites, the in-room dining service was excellent, as well as the bath amenities. Not forgetting the 4pm checkout.

But we were disappointed with the hotel refusing to upgrade us to a suite knowing fully well that at least half of their amenities were out of service, and there was no way we’ll be able to utilize all our credits. It is obvious that if you cannot upgrade us to a suite as a compensation when you’re at 20% capacity, you definitely won’t do much to compensate us when you’re at 80% capacity. We were even more disappointed to see the hotel offering us a suite upgrade for a fee. This shows the hotel is more after revenue than pleasing their guests. We understand the city was going into lockdown, but we expected the hotel to at least make some sort of food or maybe snacks available for the few guests that were still at the hotel instead of just starving us. By the way, we’re not going to complain about the $45 Resort Fee that we cannot do anything about.

A few other things we were not happy about at the hotel:
The robe in the room seemed to have seen better days, Lack of convenient power outlets/USB ports at bedside, no slippers provided, locked minibar, several people knocking at my door even though I had a guaranteed 4pm checkout and the DO NOT DISTURB light on.

But regardless, i had a great time during my stay here and we’ll return once again in the future. Hopefully that stay will convince us to visit again.