Hotels

HRH Tower Suite at Las Vegas Hard Rock Hotel & Casino

Looking for a cheap Las Vegas hotel?

Hop on Twitter and start following @hardrockhotellv, the official Twitter account for The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.  While a lot of hotels are jumping on the social media bandwagon with the occasional Twitter contest, Vegas’s Hard Rock is using Twitter to offer screaming deals to followers.

Every Tuesday, @hardrockhotellv broadcasts a twitter hotel special to followers as part of their ongoing Twitter Tuesday promotion.  Recent specials have included $25 per night room rates for 25 followers, $29 nightly rates, 50% off specials, and an amazing $12 per night rate for 12 lucky followers.  The best deals are time sensitive and limited to a few fast acting followers, so you’ll want to pay close attention if you’re planning a Vegas trip in the near future.

In addition to weekly room discounts, The Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas uses Twitter to pass on celebrity sightings at the property’s restaurants and night clubs, of which there are many.  The Hard Rock has been host to A-listers like Brad Pitt and Sean Puffy P Diddy Big Mac Daddy Super Star Combs.

Of course, you’ll also find news about upcoming concerts and hotel improvements, including the recent opening of the new all-suite HRH Tower.  But don’t expect to find $29 rates for these upscale suites.  The HRH Tower is targeted towards “a more high-end, luxury-seeking guest”.  There’s even a seperate entrance and check in area so that upscale Tower guests can avoid any accidental mixing with the common folk.

After all, that’s what Twitter is for.

Photo Credit: Hard Rock Hotel

After five years of design and construction, The Ritz-Carlton Highlands, Lake Tahoe opened last week in the midst of 30 inches of fresh snowfall. What might be a hindrance for some hotel grand openings was a welcome sight for the Ritz-Carlton, which describes the resort as “the finest ski-in, ski-out experience in California if not all the world.”

Ritz-Carlton Highlands, Lake Tahoe

The Ritz-Carlton Highlands, Lake Tahoe is the first new resort development in the Lake Tahoe area in decades. Anticipated to be the premier northern California contemporary mountain retreat, the $300 million project, situated mid-mountain in the Northstar-at-Tahoe ski area will feature ski-in, ski-out access with mountain concierge services. Read More »

Dubai may have its financial problems these days, but they certainly haven’t impacted CityCenter, the Las Vegas urban metropolis that is a joint venture between MGM Mirage and Infinity World Development Corp, a subsidiary of Dubai World.

Distinctive crescent design of the Vdara Resort and Spa

CityCenter will celebrate openings throughout the month, culminating with one final grand opening celebration on December 16. Vdara Hotel and Spa, an all-suite hotel and spa designed for those who love the excitement of Vegas but prefer to enjoy it in an exclusive, non-gaming, smoke-free environment, was the first facility to open on December 1st. Vdara is physically connected to Bellagio and directly adjacent to ARIA Resort & Casino, offering access to all the amenities and energy of CityCenter while also providing a retreat from it all. Read More »

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree - New York

Christmas is barely three weeks away, and if you’re like me, one of the greatest joys of the season is admiring beautifully decorated Christmas trees. You can find all sorts of them displayed in outside environments, but don’t forget to duck inside some hotels! Christmas is an incredibly busy season for most hotels, and many go to great lengths to provide awe-inspiring Christmas displays. Check out some of the following hotels for their gorgeous Christmas trees this season – they’re perfect opportunities to add a little holiday cheer to your family or romantic outing.

What other hotels do you have to add? Please comment!

Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, CA - Christmas Ice Skating!

1.  The Hotel Del Coronado – San Diego, California

I used to visit this hotel’s beautiful tree every year when I lived in San Diego. It’s usually around 50 feet tall, and is decorated with the pretties ribbons, bows and ornaments. By the way, did you know that the country’s first outdoor, electrically lit Christmas tree was at the Hotel Del Coronado in 1904? The hotel has a grand tradition of Christmas trees. You can go ice skating, too, at this hotel – outdoors, overlooking the beach and ocean.

2. M Resort Spa and Casino – Las Vegas, Nevada

This resort is brand spankin’ new, and on December 12 it will unveil an 109-foot tall White Fir Christmas tree. That’s really, really big – to provide some perspective, the Rockefeller Center tree is generally around 80 feet tall, so this one towers over that!

3.  The Inn at Christmas Place – Piegon Forks, Tennessee

I blogged about this hotel last year because it was so unusual – it’s Christmas here year-round! You can even request a room that has your very own Christmas tree. You’ll see Christmas throughout this Victorian themed hotel, all decorated differently.

The Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana

4. Roosevelt Hotel – New Orleans, Louisiana

This hotel was devastated during Hurricane Katrina, and after$145 million in renovations, it is finally open again to the public and is featuring its gorgeous Christmas displays once again, including a host of Christmas trees.

Photos: Ewen and Donabel, armatoj, infrogmation

Santa is very, very mad at the Holiday Inn Las Vegas – something about the huge number of black sheep in Sin City and the Holiday Inn being responsible. Turns out the whole mess is due to a New Year’s Eve promotion rolled out by the hip new hotel near the Strip.

Vegas

They’re inviting guests to submit five New Year’s ‘Anti-Resolutions,’ and in return, you get 15% off on the room rate and a complimentary bottle of Champagne.

No wonder Santa’s miffed. Cheap gifts stuffed into a stocking are no match for a 15% discount on Las Vegas hotels and a bottle of the bubbly to boot.

Sounds like a good deal, so let’s get to work on the anti-resolutions. The Holiday Inn was kind enough to provide a few examples:-

Holiday Inn

•   I will save less money and buy more things I don’t need
•   I will accept more people I do not know as my “friends” on Facebook
•   I promise to shop online more at work next year
•   I vow to over-caffeinate more next year
•   I promise to pay less attention to what people are saying to me in 2010
•   I will get less sleep and do less exercise
•   I will call in sick more often when I am not

I’m sure you get the picture now… All anti-resolutions must be rated PG in nature, approved by management and once submitted, will be posted on the hotel’s Facebook page. You need to submit your entries in writing upon check-in.

Holiday Inn photo credit – VisMedia, courtesy IHG Plc; Vegas photo by Bala

Info: 4055 Palos Verdes Street Las Vegas, NV 89119; (702) 473-6400; www.hilasvegashotel.com/

Related posts:-
Things to do in Las Vegas – New Years Eve
Celebrate New Year’s Eve Las Vegas Style
Top New Year’s Eve Hotels

Bellagio Glass Art by Dale Chihuly In Las Vegas

For me, this glass art throughout the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada, never gets old. So beautiful, so delicate…like crystallized clusters of colored jellyfish.

See more Wordless Wednesday entries here.

Photo: O Palsson

Mandalay Bay Pool Area

I guess Las Vegas, Nevada has been on my mind lately. If you go this summer, you going to want a hotel that has a great pool so that you can stay out of that 110 degree heat! Here’s a list of the best pools in Vegas.

Mandalay Bay

It’s going to be a while before Las Vegas comes up with a hotel with a better pool than Mandalay Bay. There’s an 11-acre wave pool that’s absolutely fabulous – it sounds like a real ocean when the waves break! There are at least two other pools besides that one, and a Lazy River that’s great fun as well. Really fun music and activities by the pool during the day. This pool is impossible to sneak into, you pretty much have to stay at the hotel since they swipe room cards and there are turnstiles.

The Flamingo

I haven’t actually stayed here, but I hear the pools here are pretty nice! The pool area is apparently 15 acres, there are four pools actually, and there are lots of foliage and jungle-like foliage. There’s also a 150–foot water slide and an 80 foot heated pool, which isn’t that great during summer, but I guess that one is open year-round! Swim-up bars and black jack tables too.

The Golden Nugget

I have to say that The Golden Nugget appears to be one of those hotels that managed to slip off of my radar, and I’ve never really considered it before – mainly because of the prices I would find for it on sites like Hotels.com ($80/night). BUT – this hotel looks a lot nicer than I though, and newly renovated pool area looka spectacular! There’s a water tunnel you can ride which swooshes through the shark tanks! I’m definitely checking this place out when I go back.

MGM Grand

This pool had me at “1,000 foot lazy river.” It takes 10 minutes to finish! There are actually five pools here to check out, so take your time. There are three whirlpools and places where you can show off your water volleyball and table tennis skills, too.

Have a splashingly good time.

Photo Credits: Chip_P

Twenty Dollar Trick

Have you heard of the Twenty Dollar Trick? It’s a great way to get a free (ok, almost free) upgrade to your hotel in cities like Las Vegas, New York and Boston. My fiance and I used it in Las Vegas, Nevada, this past weekend at Harrah’s and it worked wonderfully! Basically, this is how it works. When you check in, you slip a $20 bill between your credit card and ID, hand them to the receptionist and immediately ask, “Are there any free upgrades available?” If there are, chances are they’ll give you one. And if not, they give the $20 back. We tried this over Memorial Day weekend, and it worked like a charm! We had booked a standard room, and we were immediately upgraded to a Junior Suite that came with a King Bed, a large couch, a printer (really!) and a view of the pool. The room was in the newer tower, so it was nice and large.

I’ve heard that this tactic works in bigger cities like New York as well, so give it a try the next time you check in to a hotel and see what happens! Let good old Jackson do a little work for you. I wonder what would have happened if we had slipped the guy $40…

Harrah's Las Vegas

Photo Credits: StopnLook, ILoveButter

Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada

About one year ago, rooms at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, Nevada were pretty darn expensive. My Internet searches kept turning up prices in the $220-$400/night range. Now, though, with the economy in the gutter, room prices have been seriously slashed. I just stayed there with my fiance this Memorial Day weekend for under $200/night, and that was for a holiday weekend! I’m seeing prices now for as low as $89/night with special promotions, and it looks like the average prices are about $150/night.

Grab up these prices while they last! This hotel offers a LOT for your money. There’s an amazing 11-acre beach and wave pool (so cool), at least two other pools to choose from, fabulous restaurants, big, comfortable rooms and first-class service. All we had to do to get two extra keys for friends to get into the wave pool was ask, no questions.

We stayed in a jacuzzi suite on the 17th floor, which was completely awesome. The ONLY thing wrong with this setup was the elevators. I kid you not, we waited 30 minutes for an elevator to get down during checkout time! This is apparently not a problem in the lower floors, but the suite floors have major waiting times for the elevators.

This is my one and only complaint about Mandalay Bay, though. It’s still one of the nicest hotels in Las Vegas, and for right now, it’s an incredible value as well.

And don’t forget that it puts you only ten minutes away from the airport!

Mandalay Bay wave pool in Las Vegas

Photo Credits: Heather0714,

kckellner

South Lake Tahoe

Wedding season is just around the corner! If you’re tired of the thought of planning a big wedding, and you haven’t even started yet, then maybe you need another option. A good friend of mine just eloped to Lake Tahoe with a very small party, and they’re getting married at Harvey’s in Lake Tahoe. It’s a nice hotel, and rates can be crazy low if you book when they have specials – I just saw a special for $60/night just a few minutes ago!

My friend reports that Harvey’s wedding chapel is really pretty, and there are these huge, 18-foot high windows with views of the surrounding (often snowy) mountains. There’s room for small to large wedding parties, and the hotel can accommodate anything and everything that you need to make your wedding day special.
As for the hotel itself, Harvey’s is perfect for your wedding guests and for the new bride and groom as well. Check into the Summit Suites – you’ll be provided with your very own butler! If these rooms are a little out of your budget range, there are five other categories of rooms which are cheaper, but very nice as well. The Mountain Suites are over 720 square feet in size, and the Premium Rooms are over 525 feet. And for only $11/day, you can have wireless Internet in any of the rooms.

And, when you stay at Harvey’s in Tahoe, you’ll have access to tons of entertainment options just outside your hotel room door. There are casinos, shows and dozens of restaurants to enjoy. The hotel’s casino has a large variety of gambling options, and you and your guests can stop by the Cabo Wabo Cantina for a fun night of listening to some great musical artists. In the mood for some laughs? Head over to The Improv at Harvey’s Cabaret instead!

Harvey’s is surrounded by gorgeous scenery year-round, so there’s always something to do outside, no matter what month you come to visit. Skiing, hiking, swimming – it’s all here.