THEgood:

Rooms are among the biggest in Vegas, with massive bathrooms, a separate bed chamber, and a large living room (we comfortably watched a hockey game in our room with 6 people).

Bath products and linens were top notch; rooms had every amenity you would need. Loved the "THE TP" stickers on the TP.

THEhotel is away from the fracas of Mandalay, so no problems getting up the elevator (as was reported by our friends staying in Mandalay proper). Also has its own cab stand which was very convenient

Pool facilities are great (if you can get to them - see below)

Got a great rate on the room

Border Grill restaurant served some fantastic mexican dishes and drinks, and is right next to the pool

THEbad:
THEpool (shared with Mandalay) is a complete gong show. It's beautiful and the wave pool and lazy river are great features, but you've got better odds at the tables than trying to find a lounge chair anytime after 8:30 (and who wants to (or can) wake up early in Vegas??). Our theory was that they built the pool but forgot to account for the extra several hundred rooms in THEhotel. The facilities are also very kid-friendly, which I'm putting as a negative because that necessarily means there were tons of kids everywhere, thus contributing to the general state of pandemonium

THEservice was average at best, with some instances of it being outright poor. One was, despite the housekeeping cart being right next to our room when we left on one of the days, our room was not cleaned. We then expected evening service but returned late to find that it was still not cleaned. We also found that the restaurant service at the 4 hotel facilities we visited was below par for Vegas, along with the food being slightly overpriced (see below) and of average quality (except the Border Grill, which was great).

Nickle and dime approach quickly gets tiresome - everything seems to be at least 10-20% more expensive than it is anywhere else on the strip, and since it's at the end of the strip you can't easily go off-site. Several in our group compared the experience to Disneyland. Not a huge issue (particularly if you're braced for it) but added to the list of annoyances

Location at the end of the strip is somewhat inconvenient to most of the things we like to do (shopping, shows etc.). Again not a deal-breaker since you can always get a cab, but not ideal

THEconclusion:
I'm giving this 4/5 overall, but would really say it's more of a 3.5/5. It's certainly better than average, particularly the rooms which again are outstanding, and the pool if you can get to it, but I'm not sure it's quite at the "very good" level. Having stayed in many other places in Vegas I would return to many of them (e.g. Palazzo, Wynn/Encore, Caesar's, Signature at MGM) before this one.

There are different sort of reviews here, but let me tell this, short and sweet: this is the first time I was able to enjoy a true 5-star hotel for a 3-star hotel price. $85 a night during the week, and $139 on a weekend is cheaper than most MGM rooms I've ever reserved in my 8 trips to Vegas. Here are the pros and cons (cons are easily avoidable with some inventivness):

Pros:

1) Awesome soft beds with PLENTY of pillows, that can satisfy even the pickiest traveler.
2) Two A/C units - one in bedroom, one in living room - so you don't have to listen to your significant other's whining when he/she goes to bed and you still watch the TV
3) 42" Plasma - YEAH BABY!
4) Leave decent tip to housekeeping and your room will have PLENTY of everything you need - $3/day would do it

Cons:

1) Very expensive hotel - you won't find a McDonald or cheaper food places here, a sandwich at Starbucks is $8.50. Just eat elsewhere if you try to save money.

2) DVD player (Philips) Does not play Divx and you cannot plug in the cables to your own DVD players/game system. Live with it. Enjoy Vegas.

3) Mandalay Beach - have to go early and they often don't give more than 1 towel a person. Solution - bring an extra towel and if you can't find a chair, lie on the sand.

4) The only serious flaw - you can hear music from the Mix club in some rooms after 11pm. You'll get used to it after a day or two.

Overall - definitely a 5-star. Wonderful quality, total luxury (even bathrobes and sleepers), that's the hotel to stay if you can get a great deal.

Finally - Mandalay's buffet is one of the best in Vegas. Actually, if you want to taste Vegas and do it with decent food, you gotta try Mandalay Bay, Wynn, Rio, and Paris buffets. Avoid 3-star hotel buffets like a plague.

Thursday June 4, 2009 I left Brussels for a quick visit to Las Vegas. Wanting to enjoy the trip to the fullest I decided to go for it and upgraded my flights to business class to make it a real Vegas Experience. The flight from Brussels to Washington by UA went very smooth and staff was great! After boarding the connecting flight to LAS we received notice that there were some issues with some fuelindicators leaving the plane grounded untill repaired. After about 4 hours of waiting the replacement aircraft arrived to take of to LAS. Since I didn't wanted to take a risk I called ahead to THEhotel mentioning that my plane was grounded and that I'll be checking in after midnight. This wasn't a problem and the remarks were noted in the system so that I wouldn't lose my room. After arrival in LAS I took a cab to THEhotel and enjoyed the time talking with the driver. It was a couple of years since being in Vegas but people are still friendly. The entrance of THEhotel is located inside Mandalay Bay or inside the parking space. A bit strange but no problem for me. Due the late arrival there weren't any lines at check-in and a room was issued very quick. I requested a room with some view on the airfield and got a room on the 17th floor from where I could see planes taking off. The room was a pleasant surprise. While some hotels make extremely good pictures and deliver extremely poor rooms THEhotel delivered the room (a suite) just like in the pictures. I was a very nice and spacious room with a large bathroom containing a huge bathtub and a nice shower. I loved it on first sight! The 42" Philips tv in the living room was actually a bit to big to be enjoyable from the couch. It would be better in the bedroom were you are a bit farther from the tv (which is a regular CRT screen). Also the tv in the bathroom is a nice addition. Small but enjoyable. I spend a lot of time on the desk writing some reports, surfing on the internet (expensive, it would be better if compimentary but faster then many other hotels) or doing some research. It was enjoyable to have a nice desk to work from.

Although the bed was very nice and big I actually didn't sleep well in it. I'm used to sleep on a hard bed instead of a soft one and this bed was one of the softest In ever slept in. Enjoyable to relax a bit but I couldn't get any sleep, due this I only slept about 3 hours a night at most. Not the fault of the hotel since probably there aren't to much customers who enjoy a hard bed but it kept me awake ;)

One smaller issue is the airconditiong, there are actually 2 units in the room which can probably cool to a freezing point. Although they AC unit could be set on a specific temperature it seemed to cool when it was not necessary, especially during the night. But this could be fixed by turning them off ;)

I've ordered a couple of times through roomservice and although not cheap the food was actually very good! Never had an issue that it was allready cold or something, everything was just fine and the portions are huge (at least to European standards).

Check out went also very fine, due the fact I was on irregular hours on my room the minibar was never checked upon so I gave them a list with everything I took from the minibar and they thanked me for my honesty (since I didn't leave a credit card they wouldn't be able to charge it afterwards). Lovely and friendly service!

After a quick cabride to the airport I could take my flight back home to Belgium. Leaving with a loss of only a couple of hundreds of dollars (far below the max. loss I calculated) I enjoyed myself again to upgrade the flight to business class (IAD-BRU route). After a quick and delicous meal on the plane (I loved the food which was actually good and that something for a man who hated airline food) I slept for several hours and woke up an hour prior to landing in Brussels on Tuesday, June 9, 2009. After collecting my car from the car hotel it was a short ride to home to grab a quick shower and heading to my office to start a new working day.

It was a very nice stay at THEhotel and I certainly will stay there again in the future, maybe in one of the more expensive suites.

Stayed at the Hotel June 8th-11th. The lobby was very clean and check-in was a breeze. I was able to get into a room at 11:30 am. Rooms are huge and clean with a very nice bathroom. My only complaint would be the bed. The mattress was pretty lumpy and worn. We also only had two pillows for a king size bed and both pillows were old and worn. If staying at this hotel you will be sharing the pool area with guest of Mandalay Bay. While the pool area is huge it is not relaxing at all. There are alot of people and many young partiers who are very disrespectful to the people around them. We had massages at the spa which I felt were below average for the price. I would recommend this hotel if the price is right but when rates go back up you may want to consider another location.