We have stayed at The Hotel twice over the past 4 years, most recently over the Christmas break. I love this hotel for the location because it is more peaceful to me at the end or beginning of each day not to have to walk through the casino maze. The decor is peaceful and I love the fresh white flowers in the black vases throuhout. If you want the casino it is one hall away at Mandalay Bay. The rooms are fantastic and we love the suite set up with TVs in both rooms. Our son hangs out in the LR and we hang out in the BR. (Not that much course - it's Las Vegas after all.) I love the decor of the hotel and the valets are really super there. We never ate at the hotel itself, but did enjoy two restaurants at Mandalay Bay.

I had really great hopes for THEHotel, arriving on Boxing Day (December 26), 2008. Two friends had independently told me how cool this place was, and how much I would enjoy the cosmopolitan feel of the rooms. So I thought I would give it a try. Indeed, I was really looking forward to the 4 nights there!

On arrival, there were only 2 people at the reception desk, and there was a lineup. We had booked THESuite through the hotel website, and had bought the Exotic Escapes package that included a $300 coupon for Mandalay Place, half-price tickets for Mamma Mia and some return airfare voucher. If you buy this package, know that the $300 DOES NOT cover spa treatments (I foolishly did not read the fine print...). Second, the spa had been advertising a deal in the elevators whereby if you came in for 2 spa treatments on the same day, the second, lesser-priced treatment was half-priced (at check-out, the front-desk person told me that that wasn't part of the package...). Turns out that the half-price deal on Mamma Mia tickets ended December 21 (we arrived December 26) and I never saw anything about any return airfare voucher.

The suite was nicely furnished although there was no chair for the desk (you probably shouldn't be working anyways...), and a sconce was "out" in the bathroom. During our time there, a desk chair never appeared and the bulb for the sconce was not replaced. The two little square coffee tables in the living area had looked as if they had seen better days and oddly, there was no coffeemaker in the room.

As others have said, the location of THEHotel is awful. If THEHotel had anything to offer that was unique and could not be found at the Venetian or the Bellagio, then maybe I would reconsider... But all that I want when I go to Vegas (proximity to good restaurants, proximity to shopping, proximity to show venues) can all be had at the Venetian or the Bellagio. And the the staff at those properties are more plentiful, nicer and more helpful. I should have followed my instinct and stayed at the Venetian or the Bellagio. They are far better properties, and their locations are much more conducive to getting out and about.

We left or room at 10 am and returned a little after noon on our second day for breakfast downstairs to find our DVD player stolen. The connected XBOX 360 and our video camera and cell phones were not taken. They did not even take the power cord or AV cords for the player, but simply unplugged them. I believe the thief thought it was a notebook computer as it was thin and hence could be placed inside a jacket and easily hidden. Hotel security took our data and when asked how the thief had gained access to a locked room, he stated that perhaps the door didn't lock and a "door pusher" came along during that time and stole our item. When we spoke with the manager immediately after the event, she seemed indifferent. (We did file a report with the local police department as we wanted to be sure this would be on record somewhere.) The hotel, of course, is not responsible and thus has zero incentive to find out what actually happened. We were told by hotel security that no hotel employee had accessed our room while we were gone. I personally tested the door a dozen times or so, once as we left with the security guard. It locked everytime. I teach physics at a local college and find it difficult to believe that this expensive system happened not to function this one time. My best guess involves the floor manager, who rang our doorbell about 9:30 to ask if we needed room service. While I was talking to him I believe he placed some tape over the lock on the door frame so it would close but not lock. My son stated that he seemed quite interested in what he was doing on the desk as I was talking with him. I just wanted him to leave so we could get ready to go down for breakfast at Starbucks. Then, when we were gone he could enter our room, take any interesting items, remove the tape and clean if needed, all without any record of the room having been entered. This is the only possiblity I can think of as I am sure the door had "locked". The hotel informs me that it is our responsibililty to keep all valuables in the room safe. Noted, but it is a pain quite honestly and we figured it should be safe in the locked room with limited (and recorded) access. We have used this DVD player and XBOX like this for the past 5.5 years in Cancun, India, and all over the U.S. including Orlando and have never had a problem. Guess we have been lucky and we learned a hard lesson. Perhaps this may help you avoid a similar situation. In sum, I must say that I believe the Hotel system has it sweet right now. They have no responsiblity whatsoever unless you leave the items with them at the front desk, if you care to do that. This certainly made the cost of our stay a lot more expensive and with bad experience, we will not stay here again.

I am picky when it comes to hotel rooms, but this hotel is fantastic. Our room was just one of their regular suites, but the furnishings, bathroom, view etc. were excellent. I did not have a problem with anything in the hotel. It was so peaceful and calm and totally high class.

The restaurant was not overpriced either. Eggs Benedict was $12.95 and who could fault that? There were great restaurants a short stroll from our room. We did a tasting menu at Fleur de Lys which was the best meal I have exprienced. Just beware the wine paring will pour you out of the place. The House of Blues restarurant was exceptional for breakfast.

We got around mainly by taking the free tram from the hotel to the Excalibur and then transferring onto the tram that goes along the strip (you have to go thru the MGM Grande to get to it). We finally figured out that if the traffic was light it was much more expedient to take a taxi to get around. It takes way to long to walk thru every casino on the tram stop just to get across the street.

If you get a chance rent a car and drive out to the Valley of Fire.