In the past 6 months I have stayed at the Wynn, THEhotel at Mandalay, and the Palazzo, and in the past few years at several other hotels on the Strip including Caesar's and MGM, Luxor and Treasure Island, and I am now prepared to crown the Palazzo as the king among them. I had stayed here previously shortly after it opened and liked it, but I believe they were still working out the kinks. The Palazzo has now hit its stride and I believe this is due to their clear focuson the hotel side of their business, in stark contrast to many hotels on the strip where the rest of the hotel seems to take a back seat to, and/or be designed to drive you towards the casino.
My most recent stay was a real pleasure, starting with check-in. We were coming from THEhotel, so showed up quite early. We were greeted in the short line-up (surprising as I thought it would be huge due to people checking out, but the Palazzo wisely has separate lines for both check-in and check-out, as well as an in-room checkout system that actually works) by a "greeter", who chatted with us while we waited and then walked us to the check-in desk. A nice touch (and the first of many).
Not only was our room ready, but we were upgraded to one of the Sienna suites. This thing was among the nicest rooms we have ever stayed in and at over 1200 square feet might be the largest. Super clean, super classy. 3 flatscreens, and every other amenity you could want or need, including your own fax machine and multi-jet shower. If you ever get the chance to stay in one of these rooms you should take it - even at their current full price it would cost less than the comparable suite we stayed at in Hawaii last year.
The hotel pools are also fantastic, and we never had a problem getting a spot. More nice touches - they bring around cold towels, ice water and orange slices for you during the day, in addition to regular rounds by the wait staff. My only minor complaint with the pool is that due to the orientation of the hotel, the sun doesn't make it around the building until around noon. However, in the depths of summer and 100+ degree temperatures this is probably not the worst thing in the world.
The rest of the hotel is also top notch. The casino is on the smaller side but there always seemed to be room at the tables, and there were a wide range of table limits. The soaring ceilings in the casino and throughout the main level also made for a relatively smoke-free experience and really added to the ambience. We ate almost all of our meals on-site or at the adjoining Venetian, which features a number of options from top-end celebrity chef restaurants to a food court - Carnevino, San Telmo and Del Toro were our favorites but we'd have to stay another week to have gone to them all. There is also some great on-site shopping with many unique shops, some of which were window-shop-only for us but still interesting to see. The sports book was also a great spot to watch a game.
Finally, the location can't be beat. The Fashion Show Mall is kitty-corner, you've got every level of casino from Wynn and Caesar's to O'Shea's within a 5-10 minute walk, and its a short cab ride to the outlets and downtown.
To sum up, as of right now there is no better place to stay in Vegas in my opinion. We shall see what 2010 and City Center brings...
