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As I mentioned in a previous post, I booked a stay at the Four Seasons under a very lucrative “Preferred Partner” rate for my last trip to Las Vegas.  I am on the cusp of double-digits for Las Vegas stays, so I have been able to compare hotels and pick out my preferences.  After this stay at the Four Seasons, if I can get a similar rate in the future, the Four Seasons will be my first choice.

When we went to check into the Four Seasons, we didn’t realize it had its own separate entrance, so we went through the Mandalay Bay main entrance.  I’m actually glad we made that mistake.  We had to weave through the crowds of people checking into the Mandalay Bay.  There were about 8 people in line for each person at the front desk.  And since this was my sister’s first time in Vegas, it helped her really appreciate what we saw at the check-in line for the Four Seasons.

Or should I say, what we didn’t see.  No one was in line for the counters, and we were checked in immediately.

It was quiet.  REALLY quiet.

I was nervous about being this far down the strip.  My last few stays have been right in the center and pretty close to all the usual attractions in Las Vegas.  The Four Seasons was all the way at the end.  But this quiet was really incredible for Las Vegas.

I like hustle and bustle, but I like that hustle and bustle to end at some point.  Even though I loved the rooms at the Venetian, I didn’t sleep very well from random late night parties and people coming home drunk.  I can’t remember what high end property I was at once, but I woke up to early evidence of over-drinking in the hallway.  So even at high-end properties, you cannot escape the loud, drunkenness.

Except here.  I got into a conversation about that with the person at the front desk because I was amazed.  Just trying to get downstairs for a cup of coffee at the Venetian means working your way through crowds of loud tourists.  And don’t get me started again on the lobby of the Bellagio.

Anyway, back to the Four Seasons.

At check-in, we were upgraded to a room-with-a-view and provided us with paperwork to explain how our preferred rate works.

We packed pretty lightly (which surprises me to reflect on, since half my luggage was shoes) so we took our own bags up to the room and looked around.

The rooms don’t have that initial wow-factor that rooms at the Venetian have.  I briefly wished I had booked there so that I could see my sister’s face when she walked into one of the large rooms, but that wish evaporated pretty quickly.  The leopard (cheetah?) print pillows were appreciated by us two New Yorkers.  They didn’t have double beds in the upgraded room, but hey, my sister and I have gone on plenty of family vacations together, so we’re used to it.  (And this trip, I didn’t poke her badly in the eye while she slept, so we’ve improved over the last ten years!)

I stole this chair from my sister for the majority of the trip.

The view from our window.  It’s sort of cool how the extremely bright sun gave everything a greenish tint.  You can see almost to the end of the strip–but also are reminded about how far back we are.

The bathroom was more than big enough for two girls to be running around, getting ready in.  We didn’t really bump into each other and were able to use opposite sides of the sink to do our makeup and hair at the same time.

Since the bathroom had a tub AND a shower, this tub became our apply-sunblock-in vehicle.  We had the spray can kind, so one person would stand in and get SPF-hosed down!

L’Occitane bath products, which were very nice.  There wasn’t quite enough conditioner for two women showering, but it was never replaced.  On the last day, I grabbed the lotion with us for pre-tanning skin care, and that was replaced, so it must have just been an oversight.

Hey!  What are you doing in my hotel room in Vegas?!  Though, when I stepped on, I was two pounds lighter than I thought I would be.  Self-confidence ploy, a la the mirrors in Vegas that stretch you slightly to make you look thinner?  (Seriously, a lot of the mirrors in Vegas are “doctored”.  Hey, it adds to the self-confidence pouring out of everyone there!)

My sister is a tea person and I’m a coffee person, so I appreciated the individual brewer, so we never had to fight over the maker.

I really appreciated that their minibar had a variety of energy and sports drinks inside of it.  I hate Red Bull, but I’m a bit addicted to the Starbucks Doubleshots, so it was good I had them “on call”.  Though, we should have taken one with us the first day.  We were up since 4am traveling and went out pretty late for Pacific time and I actually started falling asleep on the walk back.  I’m not kidding, though I cannot explain the physics.  My sister had to half-drag me to a cab and I don’t even remember getting into bed.  (And yes, we hadn’t been drinking!)

We went wandering after looking at our room and stopped at basically every MLife Photo Kiosk.  They let you take a picture of yourself and email it to anyone for free, and since we didn’t really trust random people with our cameras, it was a great way to get shots of both of us.

Mandalay Bay has a free tram that leaves you in between Excalibur and New York-New York.  NY-NY isn’t very wide, so we walked across it to the Monte Carlo tram, which goes all the way to Bellagio.  I feel mean saying this, but I felt like the Aria/CityCenter/etc were all just impediments on my way to the rest of the strip.  I was excited when they were being built, but I never found a reason to go there.  I was glad to leap frog them every time.

The combination of these two trams made our hotel feel less far away.  Cabs were also readily available, and the Deuce Bus there is only $2 each way and runs up and down the strip frequently.  I don’t recommend the ill-placed monorail.

So after our night out, we were set to get up early to go to the Neon Museum.  We put in an order for room service the next day, since we wouldn’t have much time for breakfast.

It arrived exactly on time.  The gentleman who brought it quickly placed it down and quickly left.  He didn’t even give me time to tip him or sign any sort of bill.  This actually made me feel great because it seems that everywhere you go in Vegas, everyone is waiting with their hand out for a tip.  And I tip!  But it always feels weird being so overly expected to tip.

Then I found this discreetly under my breakfast plate:

The check with instructions to leave it on our breakfast tray.  Excellent!

My sister got the frittata, which is making me hungry to look at as I type this, with a side of chicken sausage.

My hash browns and sausage were delicious.  But you could tell the eggs had been sitting in a warm salt bath.  I ended up giving one of the eggs to my sister and she thought the same thing–the whites part of it tasted like nothing at all.  I overall enjoyed my “All American Breakfast” but would get eggs scrambled or over easy next time.

We were under our allocated $72 for breakfast by a little bit.  And our tip “counted” towards the $72, so we never paid a cent towards this breakfast.

We made our way to the Neon Museum and Freemont Street, planning on trying to most of the amenities at the Four Seasons the next day.  And more on that tomorrow!

Review: The Las Vegas Four Seasons Part 2