ARIA Resort & Casino

The Aria used to be one of the classier places to stay. Not anymore. Apathetic employees, call girl looking women walking around, people dropping f-bombs as you walk past the sports bar and sports book, people smoking outside the casino area and blowing their smoke out with no regard for other people, etc…. And in the room, there was hair in the sink, the floors were all scuffed up, the controls for the window blinds stopped working. Used to have a more dignified clientele. Now it’s just like all of the other Vegas casino hotels. Looks all glitzy and "glamoury" on the outside, but inside it’s just your typical Vegas sleazy hotel casino. Never going back.

Aria has been one of my favorite Vegas properties for over 10 years. The location, vibe, food and floor are dynamite. But there were some flags this most recent stay. The first, and most significant, was being double charged at checkout. While the matter was quickly handled (mostly, one night still came up as being charged twice until I called later), it was unnerving that it could even happen in the first place. Secondly, the rooms are ready for a refurb. Our shower stall poured water from under the door onto the main bathroom tile. Slipped more than once and ended up laying towels on the whole of the floor to absorb. Lastly, and this issue is indicative of a larger problem in Vegas overall, the “resort fee” is just absurd. $55 per night for things like “local calls” and “digital newspapers” is laughably ridiculous. Gee, thanks for the stuff literally any cell phone in the world can do for free. To charge that, then charge me, a registered guest and MGM Rewards member, an additional nightly parking fee? Get a grip. You’re doing it wrong. All that said, still a solid property but it, like most of Vegas, is likely in need of a bit of an adjustment for how it handles guests.

We normally stay at the Wynn or Encore so was a new experience for us. Room was showing quite a bit of wear and tear and lack of maintenance. Also small in size compared to other hotels in the same price range.

Beautiful hotel, and fine service. The room was nice but had a few dings which I would have ignored if we were staying at a lesser hotel. But, this is Aria. The side tables were chipped up and the one drawer kept opening. We had to stuff a folded piece of paper in it to keep it closed. When we tried to access the safe, it displayed an error message and could not open it. We would have had to wait around an unknown amount of time to let housekeeping in to repair. We choose not to wait. The smart room tablet was great but a little finicky. It would shut down and reboot from time to time. It also seemed to disable the volume function on the regular TV remote. There was no complimentary in-room coffee maker. I had to get dressed and walk to Starbucks to get coffee, which is too much effort early in the morning. After all, I'm on vacation, and it's my opportunity to be lazy. Also, no complimentary bottles of water in the room. A big plus was the security on access to the guest room elevators which was very reassuring. The service was elite. Every person we spoke with was helpful and very pleasant, and often was able to offer further suggestions which we did not think to ask about. Aria is up there the other fine Las Vegas hotels.

Aria is an MGM property. While staying at The Bellagio, we used the covered walkway to visit Aria. The food court is amazing with a huge selection. The Crystal Bar covers 3 floors and is beautiful. Bottom line: The MGM properties are connected by covered walkways and the free Aria Tram that connects the MGM properties.