DELANO LAS VEGAS: AN ALL-SUITE SOPHISTICATED COMFORT

Delano Las Vegas (formerly known as THE Hotel at Mandalay Bay) is a chic, and trendy all-suite hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada. Inspired by the Delano South Beach Miami, the hotel is located on the southern end of the Las Vegas Strip.

After my 5-days vacation in Toronto, and Niagara Falls Canada, I had a one-night stay at the Delano. This booking was made using the American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts program. The FHR is accessible to the Platinum Card from American Express and The Business Platinum Card from American Express cardholders. 

Knowing when to book via Fine Hotels & Resorts is very important. The Delano Las Vegas can be reasonably priced during the week. And even on weekends, the price is still reasonable compare to other 5-star hotels on the Las Vegas strip. 

The room rate was $99 per night, plus $13.24 taxes and fees. The hotel also charges a mandatory Resort Fee of $41.95 (taxes included). The total for the room altogether is $154.19. 

Fine Hotels & Resort booking on AmexTravel

As an AmEx Platinum cardholder, booking the Delano Hotel from American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts comes with all these benefits:

Noon Check-in (when available)
Room upgrade upon arrival (when available)
Daily breakfast for two people
Guaranteed 4pm late check-out
Complimentary Wi-Fi
$100 Spa Credit

The Check-in counters at the Delano Las Vegas

Checking in:
There were 5 people in line when I arrived at the lobby around 3:30pm. Checking in was prompt, and the associate at the check-in counter explained all the benefits of booking with FHR, and she also handed me the welcome letter stating all the benefits again. For those wondering whether they can use another card to pay at the hotel, that might not be possible because the associate specifically asked me to swipe my American Express card. But again, it all depends on the person that is checking you in.

For breakfast, you get $30 daily breakfast credit for 2 people. Meaning that you get $60 in breakfast credit per day even if you travel solo. Now, the breakfast credit is only redeemable at Della’s Kitchen, and 3940 Coffee & Tea shop. Please note that the breakfast credit CAN NO LONGER be redeemed for In-Suite dining. You also get a $5 credit for WiFi.

Since Delano Las Vegas is not a casino hotel, you can find the lobby not too busy, smoke-free, and with plenty of seating area. 

In paying homage to the 32^nd U. S. President (Franklin Delano Roosevelt), the Delano Las Vegas features Franklin Lounge. A seductive lobby-bar where you can enjoy craft cocktails or appetizers in a swanky, yet comfortable setup.

Franklin Lounge

The Suite:
The Delano Las Vegas hotel offers the largest standard room in Las Vegas. The standard room is 725sqft in size. At check in, I was told I got an upgrade. I was assigned a room on the 8^th floor. At first, I was like why 8^thfloor, when the hotel has a floor count of 43 floors. But again, I was not interested in asking for any upgrade of any kind. My plan was to just write about whatever room I receive at check-in.

On getting to the 8^th floor, my room was on the far end of the left side of the 8^th floor. It was a 1 Bedroom 1.5 Bathrooms Delano Corner Suite. A generously spacious room of 750sqft, with floor-to-ceiling windows on every corner of the room, wet & mini bar, and TV in every room. Yes, every room, including the bathroom. You really can’t beat that. 
All these for $154.19, that was a steal indeed.

See it all from the floor-to-ceiling window



Get some work done on the table, or catch up with emails

The Bed:
While the Heavenly Bed from Westin has been my favorite hotel bedding, after staying at Delano, I am already having a second thought on this. The King Bed at Delano Hotel is unbelievably comfortable. You can feel the plushness just by merely looking at it. 

The elegant King size bed at the Delano



Contemporary Gold on White Leather Furniture

The very spacious bathroom at Delano Las Vegas features a massive marble and granite bathtub. The bathtub is so oversized that I had to hold on to the tap handle to make sure I don’t get drowned. The bathroom also has a granite and marble walk-in shower, a double sink, and a door-partitioned toilet.

With bathtubs as elegant as this, the next thing that comes to mind is epsom salt



Granite & Marble Walk-in shower



You can relax in the bathtub as you catch-up with your favorite show from the Bathroom’s TV

Gone are the days when the hotel lets you store your personal items in the refrigerator. Delano Las Vegas now charges a fee of $50 per stay if you store anything or rearrange any item in the fridge. As a result of this, I didn’t bother opening the mini bar to see the contents. 

Nothing is free at Delano Las Vegas. Not even a bottle of water as complimentary. Not even tea / coffee. There’s a charge for everything in the mini / wet bar.

Wet bar

Breakfast:
As aforementioned, the $60 daily breakfast credit is only redeemable at Della’s Kitchen and the coffee shop. Della’s Kitchen closes at 2pm daily, so I was not able to use the credit on the day of arrival. The next morning, I majestically walked into Della’s Kitchen for breakfast.

The breakfast menu has a-la-carte items. And I must say that the price of breakfast here is quite reasonably priced compare to other hotels on the strip. For breakfast, I ordered the Delano Breakfast (2 farm eggs, choice of maple-pepper bacon, pork sausage, housemade chicken sausage, or Portuguese sausage, choice of onion hash, roasted red bliss potatoes, cup of fruit or sliced tomatoes served with Granello bakery country toast). The Delano Breakfast cost $24.

Della’s Kitchen







Delano’s Breakfast

Another part of the hotel that I fell in love with was the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign. Many of us are used to the classic way of hanging the DND sign on the door handle. At Delano Las Vegas, the DND sign is illuminated by a push of a button by the door on the inside. When the sign is off, the light on the outside is green, and red when illuminated.

Privacy / Housekeeping buttons



The light is white (with a green circle) when the privacy sign is off



The light turns red when the Do Not Disturb sign is activated

Let me quickly say that the bathroom here is stocked with BATHHOUSE Spa amenities. Although I did not get a picture of them, but a few of them actually made their ways into my backpack.

The Spa:
At this point, I was all ready for my massage. I had called for a 2pm appointment earlier in the day. Since I have a $100 Spa credit, I booked a 25 minutes massage which cost $90 plus 20% service charge (gratuity included), making a total of $108. It feels reasonable to me anyway, since I needed the massage. I only added $8 extra to the spa credit.
By the way, on this trip I actually prefer the spa credit to food and beverage credit. I travel solo and there was no way I would have finished all the $160 in food and beverage during that one-night stay. Though the 25 minutes went by really quick, but I must say that the back-neck-and shoulder massage was really good. I felt calmed and retuned thereafter.

During breakfast, I had asked Victoria (my server) if I could order to-go using my breakfast credit. She replied YES, but that I would have to place the order in person, not over the phone. I said fair enough. Since Della’s Kitchen closes at 2pm, I returned around 1pm and ordered Salmon for lunch as to-go. Altogether, I spent $56 out of the $60 breakfast credit.

Bathhouse Spa



The stairs to the 12 treatment rooms at Bathhouse



The Spa at Delano. Guests also have access to Sauna and the Steam Room

The Pool at Delano / Mandalay Bay:
The Delano Hotel is connected to Mandalay Bay. In just a short walk, you can get to the casino ground at Mandalay Bay Hotel.
In addition to the Delano Beach Club, the guest at the Delano Las Vegas also has full access to the entire 11 acres pools and man-made beach at Mandalay Bay. The Mandalay Bay beach / pool is one of the most famous pools in Las Vegas. 

The Fabulous Mandalay Bay Beach



Palmtrees and Sunbeds: always a great idea

Along the hallway between Delano and Mandalay Bay is located the Michael Jackson ONE Theatre. You really cannot walk past without taking a moment to admire this elegant ‘Authentic Michael Jackson Red Beaded Military Jacket’. According to the note on the display, this jacket was worn by the late ‘King of Pop’ to the American Music Awards in 1984.

Worn by Michael Jackson to the AMA awards in 1984

Delano’s Fitness Center:
While I was not in the mood for a workout, I was able to check out the fitness center for some pictures and videos. Located on the second floor (next to the spa), the gym is a full gym that features almost everything you could need for your workout. From free weights, to cardio machines, etc. if you’re wondering if there are Peloton bikes, the answer is no.

The Delano Las Vegas Gym

Delano Las Vegas is a dog-friendly hotel. Only a maximum of 2 dogs in a suite is allowed, and the maximum weight of the two dogs cannot exceed 100 pounds. Like other hotels, there is a fee if you are staying with dog(s).

While the WiFi at this hotel is not that slow, I found it not fast enough either. As an engineer, I’m always curious to know the WiFi speed of every hotel I check in to. The download and upload speed are approximately 9.5Mbps. This is a thumbs down especially with the fact that it is not a free internet. Every guest at the hotel pays for WiFi which is included in the resort fee.

Less than 10Mbps? That’s consider to be a poor basic WiFi

Final Thoughts:

I really had a great time at the Delano Las Vegas. I like the fact that the hotel doesn’t have a casino of its own, hence it’s smokes free. 
I like the fact that it is part of American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts program, which is packed with great perks and benefits.
For this stay, I literally could say that I stayed at the Delano Las Vegas for free, and that the hotel also paid me $5. 81 on top of that. Since I received $160 in credits, and I only paid $154.19 to book the room.

I also like the fact that it is an all-suite hotel, and the sitting room, bedroom, and even the bathroom is generously spacious. And not forgetting the gigantic bathtub and walk in shower with marble and granite on both the wall and the floor.

Compare to other boutique hotels on the strip, the Delano is usually reasonably priced. 
It gets even better if you have an mLife / MGM membership, as you’ll be able to earn some more points / status.
While the sitting room didn’t impress me that much, the bedroom and the bathroom made me feel very much at home. The elegant looking gold-on-white headboard of that King-size bed is one definition of luxury.

But on the negative side, the hotel did not do very well with their WiFi. The speed of the internet is relatively low. 
Another thumbs down is not being able to use the spa credit for anything other than manicure / pedicure, EXCEPT if you’re willing to cough out some extra $$$ out of pocket.

But in conclusion, staying at the Delano in 2019 was great, and I won’t hesitate to stay here again, and again.

Have you stayed at the Delano recently? Share your experience below.