My wife and I would like to use one of these next week before they expire. Have any VMB'ers used the reward -- and have advice on how to best redeem? Does it need to be done early in the day? Are any food or beverage items excluded from the offer? It almost seems too good to be true. Thanks in advance.
I believe StingerHook mentioned using it in his trip report. I think its an all day reward with a $175.00 food credit, no exclusion from the pool menu. You should be aware that there's an 18% automatic gratuity on both the cabana rental and the food credit that comes to slightly less than $70. Some of the Facebook fan pages and trip advisor have also mentioned use of the rewards.
Correct - the you have access to the cabana as long as the pool is open (9AM-7PM I think?). I was not informed of any menu restrictions. In regards to the auto-gratuity, my best guess is that it depends on the staff member(s) that are working that particular day. I did not come close to spending the full $175 on food & drink, but had to come out-of-pocket for the $63 auto-gratuity. Other players from one of the facebook groups report that they did not hit the full $175 F/B spend and thus were not required to come out-of-pocket for the tip. So again, it sounds like it's a 'your mileage may vary situation' (though if you do spend the full $175 on food & drink, I would fully expect to come out of pocket for the tip).
I'll have to re-think this one. Thank you both for replying. It seems like it would be a fun way to live it up -- private cabana at the pool, virtually unlimited F&B, a retreat to the shade ... but I did not consider that there would be a gratuity on the comped cabana rental itself.(Frugality rears its head) We will be staying at the Orleans next week which has an adequate pool area and enables us to retreat to our room to change and get ready for other activities. We were unable to use a MyVegas reward to get a room for the day at GVR to change and potentially crash in. So I guess the choice is whether it is worth approximately of $70 for an experience that we would not normally consider purchasing or if we should simply enjoy the Orleans' facilities and not consume a delightful poolside meal that we would not ordinarily eat or slurp frozen umbrella beverages that we would not ordinarily purchase. We normally rely on gambling activities to provide sufficient alcohol for our habits and comps to provide breakfast and dinner. Is there anything remarkable about the GVR pool area that should be considered?