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As I mentioned, we stayed at the Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas.  Since it is such a new hotel and I don’t know too many people who have stayed there yet, I wanted to do a separate post to share my thoughts on it.(*)

Room Rates: If you weren’t aware, the Cosmopolitan is a Marriott owned property, meaning that you can use your Marriott points and stay there for free. And this is exactly what we did. It cost 105,000 points for 3 nights in a Terrace Studio room. I think Terrace Studio rooms were going for around $220/night during our stay, so we saved nearly $700. Score!

First Impressions: I wasn’t overly impressed on arrival. We took a taxi from the airport and it wasn’t exactly stunning to drive through a tunnel and end up in an enclosed parking garage / taxi line. Due to the location of the hotel, there really is no other choice for how they had to set this up though, so I understand.

Check-In: Ugh. The check-in lines were packed. I think every line (there were probably 6 or so?) had 10-15 or more groups waiting to check-in. I really hate standing around in the lobby of a hotel with my luggage waiting to check-in. I mean, they are pretty much making me wait to spend my money in their casino. Annoying. They did have waitresses handing out free bottles of water to the people in line, so that was nice. After maybe 20 minutes, we finally made it up to the desk. Every desk had iPads built into the desk which showed you the weather, etc. The nice guy that checked us in asked if we had a room preference. I thought, well hell, if you’re asking, I want to be somewhere with a great view of the Bellagio Fountains. Not only did he give us that, but he upgraded us to a Terrace One Bedroom Room with a Premium View (we had originally booked the Studio Terrace). Score!!!  Now we were saving like $900 since our room was free.  I love that he didn’t make us ask for an upgrade or try to talk us into paying a bit extra a night.

The Room:  OMG, our room was amazing.  Like two little kids, we ditched our bags right when we got in there and started opening every door, closet, etc. to check things out.  And we were thrilled when we went on the terrace and saw the amazing view of the Fountains / Strip.  We also loved the two flat-screen tv’s and the seating area in the “closet”.  I thought the bathroom was awesome, but didn’t really think the modest set would enjoy it much.  Although, do modest people really go to Vegas and stay at hip new hotels?  Doubtful.  Watch out for the minibar though.  If you pick something up for more than 30 seconds, you might as well just have it, since you have now bought it.  At $4/can of soda, that can add up (I had two Diet Cokes and yeah, I paid $8).  The mini bar also had some, umm, adult novelties. Keep the kids away ;). Our room had a little kitchen area with a refrigerator, mini dishwasher, coffee maker, microwave, etc.   Bryan bought coffee from the minibar, but it turns out our fancy coffee maker was broken.  They happily took the coffee minibar charge, as well as, some other minibar charges which weren’t ours off the room, no questions asked.  My only compliant about the room would be that the kitchen had no silverwear, plates, etc.  I know room service would have brought me some, but I hate calling room service for stupid stuff.  I did call for a fork, and they happily brought it, but I felt bad.  All the cabinets in the kitchen area were empty.  Why not fill them up with something? Anything. Ohh, and I almost forgot. The TV controlled everything. You could order room service, control the lights, book spa services, etc. right on the tv. We seriously felt like we were on cribs. And their were buttons by the door that said “Hello” and “Goodbye”. Hello turned all the lights you had in the room on. And goodbye turned them off. What a great idea!!!

Amenities: The rooms were stocked with C.O. Bigelow products, which I loved.  And the internet was free, which I also loved!!  I really dislike spending a fortune on a room and then having to pay for internet.  If the Holiday Inn Express can give you free internet, why can’t Disney World? The desk had a million outlets / USB ports / ipod hook-ups, etc. And instead of just boring pens, they had a cute container of colored pencils on the desk. It’s the little things that I love! And the room had real accessories and books. Not fake bolted down stuff. Real stuff that you could touch and read and actually enjoy.

Fitness Center:  The fitness center cost $12/day for access.  I felt like I had to go with Bryan so that we could get our money’s worth.  The gym had great equipment and great views of the strip too.  We went to the smaller gym in the Eastside Tower (where our room was) and it was great for us, but I heard that the West End center had a boxing ring, tennis courts, group classes, etc. I really think the fitness center should be free. It’s great and all, but you are paying $300/night for a room and then they want to tack on $12/day for the gym???

The Pools:  The Cosmopolitan has three pools, the Boulevard Pool, the Bamboo Pool and the Day Club Pool. The Day Club hasn’t opened yet (I believe it’s opening the 9th) and the Bamboo Pool opened while we were there. We spent all of our time at the Boulevard Pool, which was fabulous. I loved the lounge chairs / daybeds to relax on and the shaded area (but still on the pool deck) with pool tables, tvs, comfy chairs, etc. is a great idea for when you need to get out of the sun for a bit. The pool is on the roof and overlooks the Strip, which is way cool. The service at the pool was great, until it got crowded. I do not think anyone was prepared for the amazing weather we had and you could tell on Friday. The girls were slammed, but they were working hard to keep everyone as happy as they could. I think it was a bit of growing pains and they will get it all worked out soon. Our waitresses were super friendly on both days and since I am a former waitress I can relate to their pain and don’t mind waiting a bit extra for a drink. The drink prices were pretty much in line with Vegas / beachy resort area prices. $13 drinks is about what I would expect. You can also order food out by the pool. This is great because chairs are sometimes at a premium and you’d hate to lose your chair while you were up eating. Speaking of chairs, get to the pool early if you want a good seat. It’s one of those places that people go out early and “reserve” their spots with towels, magazines, etc. I hate when people do this, but I suppose it’s hard to stop it. It sucks when people are wandering around looking for a spot when there are chairs / beds right there that you know no one has been in for hours and hours! I really liked the pool itself too. It had lots of shallow space that you could just sit / lay down with your drink and relax. A nice way to cool down without getting soaking wet.

The Henry: The Henry is a sit-down restaurant in the casino. We went there for breakfast one morning, because, well, it was the only place that we knew of that was open. My banana pancakes were good, but when you pay $50 for breakfast, I expect fabulous. My breakfast tastes are a bit cheaper and I am happy with IHOP for like $7.99. And although there were like 10 people working there and no one else waiting, it took them 5 minutes to seat us. It wasn’t bad at all, I just wanted more of, I don’t know. Something.

Wicked Spoon Buffet: We weren’t sure where we wanted to eat on our last night, but knew we wanted to try someplace at the hotel. We thought about trying China Poblano, because whenever we get take-out I always say I want Chinese or Mexican, but we ended up at the buffet. In all my Vegas trip, I have only been to one buffet, one time. Oh and I have only been to one show. LOL. We went pretty early on Friday night (maybe 6pm?) and there was no line at all. We were seated within 2 minutes. I thought the buffet was awesome. So many choices and I LOVED the little pots, dishes, bowls that the servings were in. I think it made things look way cooler and less of a mess than a traditional buffet with a big bowl of salad that people just shove the tongs in. Plus, you don’t end up with a giant serving of food and only take a few bites of each! My favorites were the cute little chinese take-out boxes. I really liked the pretzel bread they had. I wanted to shove some in my purse. I was also very excited for the dessert station, but I wasn’t overly impressed. Maybe it was because I was so stuffed from all the food? But I thought the chocolate covered crab apples were great and so was the gelato!

Overlook Grill: The Overlook Pool is the restaurant by the Boulevard pool. We ate lunch outside so we could enjoy more of the Vegas weather, but you can also sit inside. The menu is fairly limited and I wasn’t sure what to get because some of the descriptions made the stuff sound, well, super fancy. However, they were not at all. I had a tuna sandwich, which was yummy and the next day I got a chicken club delivered to the pool. Bryan got the fish tacos, but wouldn’t recommend them. They weren’t bad, but they also weren’t great. He said they lacked flavor. But he still did eat every last bite! He got a sandwich the next day and liked it way better. We had great service though, so really, this place gets a thumbs up.

Sahra Spa and Hammam: I didn’t go to the spa (what’s wrong with me??), but my husband did and loved it. He said it wasn’t quite as amazing / big as the Qua Spa at Ceasars Palace, but that it ranked right up there. He tried out all the features (monsoon cave, heat slab, steam room, etc.), got a treatment (the Neroli Cypress Vitality Bath) and came back to the room looking very refreshed. I’m not really sure why I didn’t book something?? But it sure seems like I missed out.

Other Thoughts: The hotel has cute shops and restaurants on the 2nd and 3rd floors. They have a secret pizza place on the 3rd floor which everyone raves about. Had we stayed out late, we for sure would have hit this place up. I don’t think is has a name. Just head down the hallway by the sushi place that is lined with record albums and you will find it. While walking to the buffet we got to see the conference / ballrooms which looked great. We thought the giant high heels were hysterical and liked the old school “video cameras” too. And the old school cigarette vending machines that sold mini art pieces? Way cool. I was this close to putting $5 in to get something, but I restrained myself since I had no use for it (when has that ever stopped me before?). Vitals, the general store was stylish and had a cool edgy feel. It for sure didn’t feel all junked up like a lot of hotel shops do.

The Casino: The casino was every eye catching and cool. I heard someone else describe it as spectacular and I agree. It is stunning. I say that even though I helped pay for it with all the money I “donated” while I played there. There were a lot of “suits” walking around the casino floor / pool area, which was nice. You could totally tell they wanted to make sure everything was running smoothly and wanted to be involved.

The Employees: I saved the best for last! I would say that 99% of the employees were dealt with were fabulous. The other 1% wasn’t bad, they were just average. It seemed like everyone who works at the Cosmopolitan really enjoys working there and wants to do a great job. I don’t know what kind of training Marriott does, but they are doing something right. All the employees were smiling, laughing and talking to us like we were old friends. They made us feel right at home and all seemed to be totally comfortable in their jobs.

We are already looking forward to our next stay at the Cosmopolitan and are plotting ways to earn more Marriott points quickly. We cannot wait to get back! It’d be more than fair to say that the Cosmopolitan is now my favorite Vegas hotel! Thanks for making our stay great!