Cosmopolitan weekend Getaway

Cosmopolitan weekend Getaway- a long report for a short weekend.

I'm headed to the airport and am not taking a parka . Not even a coat, just sweaters and a hoodie. Wish me luck.

 

Have fun.
Win lots of money.
Stay warm.

 

Portland Airport

Got to the gate and looks like flight is delayed by 20 min. Airport is full of Oregon Ducks fans on thei gear. It appears that most of the people are going to watch the Ducks play in the BCS Championship game in Phoenix. The other half of the people here are sporting our teams colors. Glad I traded in my "parka" for my Ducks hoodie! Hope I make my spa appointment at 4:00.

 

This plane connects to Phoenix. It's a ducks party on the way to Vegas! Go ducks!!!

 

that's awesome!!! enjoy the party flight!!!

 

Flight was 30 min late. Baggage was easy, our bags were first 2 out!
Checkin at cosmo was a nightmare!! Got right up to desk but the toast on us! credit wasn't on my reservation. They were not willing to work with me even though I had paperwork showing it was part of my reservation. I asked for the manager 3 times before I got one and had to call SW vacations and get manager in he phone before they acknowledged that they were mistaken and it was all ok. Then the manager tried to make it up by walking me to spa, but had never been there and thought it was in the east tower. After wondering all over 13,14,15,16 floor in east tower we saw someone with keycard trouble who mentioned she had just gotten her toes done and I said,"Really where is the spa?" "Well it in the west tower she said, right by the check in desk." Then she turned to the manager and said "didn't you say you worked here?". Lol. Long story short by the time we found our way the manager had taken care of getting my bags to my room and comped my spa treatments.
Haven't even seen my room on 27th floor with supposed fountain views.
Waiting apt now which I'm late for.

 

comp'd spa treatments for minor inconvenience - not too shabby first win - score!

 

Friday

Had my Mani and pedi at the spa. It was ok, nothing really wrong except it was suppose to be 75 min aromatherapy pedicure and I was in and out with the addition of a manicure in 65 min. But at that point I just wanted to get to my room which I hadn't even seen yet. Checkout at the spa was again painful, they couldn't find my reservation anywhere. Their reservation system is screwed up!
There were issues with my room res., spa res., and dinner reservation was auto-canceled twice. Thank goodness OpenTable has it together and sent us an email everytime it was cancelled.
I was really excited to see the room so I headed off there. My husband was already in the room. He said when he first came in the room there was a mexican soap opera blaring so loud he dropped his stuff and looked for the remote to turn it down. "Sort of strange" I said, "but the room is beautiful and how's the fountain view? "What fountain view?" he said. I went to the terrace and we had a view of the parkinglot behind the hotel. If you went all the way to one side you could see part of the back tower of the Bellagio, but no water. I was so mad!!!!
I had paid for two upgrades on our room; one to a one bedroom from studio, and the other for a premium view. I wasn't up high and I couldn't see the strip so I had not gotten what I paid for. I called the front desk and asked for the manager I had felt with before. When I explained the situation to the guy who answered he immediately changed our room, but I had to go back to the front desk from the east tower to get keys.
Once in our new room I was finally happy! We were right in front of the fountains and in floor 26 they were close enough to have a beautiful view. We had 1 hr from settling into our room #2695 until we were meeting friends at ChinaPanlano.
Dinner at chinaPablano was wonderful and fun! Cocktails were great, food super tasty and interesting. I didn't see a lot of FUSION but the dishes were very tasty. Guacamole was amazing, medium was barely spicy, so go for hot. Lobster tacos were medium spicy and had a lot of lobster in them, spicy pork noodles were not very spicy, just right and delicious. Didn't have dessert. Bill was $111 for 3 cocktails & 4 entres/small plates shared by the two of us.
We then headed out to explore the casino a bit. Played some slots while DH played VP. He was up about $200 on VP and we decided to head back to room for a bit. Ordered our "free" bottle of Champagne from the Toasts on Us! special. That was another fiasco. On check in they told me that the free bottle was only available at EatDrink or through room service. Called roomservice and asked what wines we could choose from and they listed a Chardonnay a Merlot, and a Champagne. We chose champagne and a Meyer Lemon tart ( which was amazingly delicious). When the server came I presented him with the metal Toasts on Us! Voucher as instructed at check-in. He was a little perplexed about what to do with it. He left and then returned 40 min later to give us back the metal voucher. He said his boss told him to tell us to keep it with the receipt and have them take it off the bill at Checkout.
*"Oh Boy!" I thought, mental note, plan for extra time at check out to deal with this!
We enjoyed the japanese soaking tub with a view of the strip from the tub. (That's a nice touch!) Then went to bed in the super comfy bed.
It was a bit of a job to climb back into the tub and put down the blinds so the morning sun didn't wake us up in the morning, but it worked because we slept soundly until 9:00am when the bells of Bellagio Chimed right outside our room in their marque. No biggie It was a soothing wake up and small price to pay for our amazing view.

 

Saturday

AM coffee was an issue. Though there is a high end coffee maker in the room, coffee comes out of the mini bar. $5 seemed reasonable for two cups of coffee and not having to go downstairs right away so we opened up the cofffee/tea box to only find green tea, no coffee. DH called downstairs an they informed us coffee was $5.17 and we said we understood but there was no coffee.
We showered and dressed but no coffee arrived so we headed out. My husband did some poking around and noticed that the part where you put the little coffee packets was missing from our coffee maker so we wouldn't be able to make coffee even if we had it. On our way out we called he front desk and asked them to fix that when they brought the coffee.
Went to Aria and had breakfast at Jean Phillip. It was very good but crazy busy for 11:00.
I had a pretty good headache from a lot to drink while gambling followed by a bottle of champagne in the room. Wasn't impressed with City Center, none of it really. Crystals was visually interesting, but impractically designed as everyone here told me before we left. *I thought the interior of Aria casino was dark and dreary.
The Bellagio Consevatory was featuring Chinese New Year and was well done as always. Drink service at Bellagio sucked/ at the machines they came around but then never came back with the drink or would walk right past you and you'd have to chase her down for your drink.
Had lunch at Monami Gabi in Paris. Love that place! Good food as always.
Then walked though the miracle mile shops.
Gaming was pretty slow mid day everywhere. Maybe everyone was at CES during the day.
Went back to room to get ready for La Rev and found they had not brought up coffee or fixed the coffeaker. But the turn down gal was in the hallway and I asked her to help us. She got us a new coffee maker and the box with coffee in it. Good to go for the morning!
The Cab ride to Wynn was easy, no line at the cab stand at Cosmo at 5pm. Didn't take a coat (for those of you who chimed in on my wardrobe help thread!) The ride to Wynn was fast and $12. Husband surprised me with VIP La Reve tickets. The show was great and the seating so comfortable. The behind the scenes monitor was too much I couldn't keep up with it and the show. The chocolates were ssoooooo good, as was the champagne. Wow I think I drank more champagne this weekend Than I did for New Years!
Before the show we played craps and did horribly! 45 min later we had said goodbye to the VP winnings.
It was interesting that all the craps tables at Wynn were $10min all night, but at Cosmo they were mostly $25 min with a few $15min (Who's trying to pay off debt?) The guy next to us at Wynn was playing $450 on his 6 & 8. So the $10 min didn't seem to be hurting Wynn any, but attracted us!
After the show we had reservations at La Cave. Got right in to our table after waiting behind a few groups who were told it would be a 20-30min wait. Our waiter, Rafeal, was GREAT! Very personal touches with asking where we were from and talking to is about Willamette Valley wine country. He explained that most of the items were small plates served family style to share. I asked If there was a tasting menu and he said no but he could have the Chef put together a 5 course meal with paired wines. We handed him back the menu without even looking and said ok we're game!
Wow what a treat! I can't remember all the wines so I'll just list the courses with ** next to those you shouldn't miss (all were great some just amazing though).
Lumpcrab salad lettuce wraps with a citrus dressing topped with a grapfruit wedge**, Sea scallops on top of crispy fried polenta, Bacon wrapped dates with blue cheese fondue*, sliced sirloin with button mushrooms* and a creamy grits with wild mushrooms and black truffle oil****************wish I had more room for astrics, becuase those grits were so good and so creamy, can't remember what kind if cheese was in them but I'd love to have that recipe!! Ok and we finnishes with popsicles of coffee ice cream shaped like donuts and dipped in milk chocolate with toffee bits** they served that one with this strawberry beer from Belgium. Good but I was too full by that time to Finnish desert or that glass of beer. Tasting menu with paired wine was $158 plus tip for the two of us.
Left there uncomfortably full. We walked over to Venetian. Found a fun VP machine near the live music, and played there for an hour or so. Finally decided to head bak to Cosmo about 12:15. This was a long cold wait at the cab stand. 25 min prob. Got back to the hotel about 1:00, played some machines there for a while. Did pretty well in Wiz of Oz and Survivor. Headed to room around 3am.

 

Sunday

Sunday
Slept until the wake up Bells at 9:00. Called down and asked if we could have a 1:00 late check out since our flight left at 3:00. They said "No problem." Enjoyed our hard worked for in room coffee and decided to do brunch at the wicked spoon buffet so after packing up our stuff we hit the buffet. Check out was complicated as I expected. Front desk guy told me the wine credit wasn't good for room service, I told him I didn't believe him. He had to consult a manager to get the $55 bottle of Champagne removed from our bill. We disputed a $10.89 & 9.98 minibar charge and he took that off the bill no issues, especially after I shared the coffeemaker story with him.
Finally after 30 min at the checkout desk we came to a number for the bill that I agreed with.
Walked right onto a cab to the airport. Flight about an hour late otherwise uneventful there.

 

Summary
Vegas is always excellent! But I felt like a real bitch most of this trip. The Comopolitan was comfortable to us, but before staying there again I'd be sure to check these message boards to ensure they have ironed out the wrinkles. Someone predicted that all the geeks in town for CES had all brought laptops and wireless devices and that's why the Internet was so undependable. I understand that they just opened and they were working through unexpected issues, but it seems like they should have been ready or foreseen some of it. That place really needs to do well to survive and they spent a lot of money this weekend keeping "ticked-off guests" happy.

Our time at the Wynn was excellent, great show, great service at the show and La Cave and a delicious dinner. The place was clean and just felt luxurious all around.

*******Pros*********

Rooms with a view have an amazing view.

Location is excellent

Chandelier bar is so elegant.
Hotel is beautiful inside

Rooms are beautiful inside.

Resturants we ate in were all great (secret pizza place was fun and yummy).

Drink service in casino was excellent.

The staff wanted to help they were just either mis-informed, didn't know, or the technology wasn't working right.

*******Cons*********

Technology was an issue for them:
Reservations system was terrible, they were having so many issues at check in.
Internet was spotty and often the tv in the room that was your directory to find resturants, pools , deal with climate control and lights in the room and much much more was not working half the time.
Key card were not working for many people, luckily we didnt have that problem. *But when they changed my room they were going to remotely reprogram my key but that system was down.

All those who signed up for their Identity card online had to re-do it at the casino because they couldn't see it in house. *Even though we could loggin to our account before leaving home.

Policy's were not known or understood by many. If they weren't going to train those effected about the special offer deals then they should print the details on the vouchers.

Minibar items should go in a cabinet. *The kitchenettes have 2 unused cabinets they could out a "convenience food" pull out on but instead they put it right on the counter where you set things and bump them setting off the movement sensors. *Staff told us you wouldn't believe how many corrections they had to make to mini-bar bills.

If they would have just had these things worked out they wouldn't have had to comp me nearly as much for "inconvenieces".

 

The Cosmopolitan opened without much of a shakedown cruise. So working the kinks out of the system is obviously being performed at the expense of the guests.
No big deal perhaps but its to be expected.

 

thanx for trip report. I'm glad the comped your spa treatments. I think I'll wait 6 months b4 thinking about an overnight there.

 

It is a shame for such a short time you encountered all these problems.
I recently went to NYC for a weekend and had all kinds of small problems. Bed size,heat and leaky faucet. At 300 dollars per night. I blame myself because I used a 3rd party (Expedia)
The good news is I have a free weekend coming in 2011 because I wrote back to the hotel. This is 1/2 block from Times Square.

The moral of the story due diligence will get you something in return.
When you have a chance send the Cosmo a nice honest letter about the "special weekend " you had planned and what happened. They do not like bad publicity. Tell them you have read all the reviews on line and this is the reason why you chose the Cosmo.
Tell them you appreciate any consideration shown for the disruptions and you would like an opportunity to really enjoy their beautiful property in the future.
Trust me ,though it sounds like BS. it works.

 

Enjoyed your report, especially the details of the mishaps and the corrections staff made. Good stuff, although I'm sure very draining for a trip.

Although I will say things like pkg specials and stuff can be bad at any resort, it doesn't help the Cosmopolitan that they have some unique offerings and their staff isn't capable of pushing them through. It's frustrating when you have to fight to get what you purchased, and even more so when staff can almost make you feel like you are in the wrong for requesting it.

Glad though that they seemed to resolve most of the issues with some work, that at least shows a decent attitude and an attempt at rectifying things, whereas other places at times take an opposing style attitude.

 

Enjoyed reading your report!

I think I read on this board that the Cosmopolitan is more of a 20-30's crowd. Would you agree with that? My girlfriends and I are looking for a place to stay and were debating about staying there. We are in our early 40's.

 

Great report also. I am very interested in the Cosmo parts as I am staying there in May. Hopefully they have the kinks worked out by then (if not, then I feel bad for them long-term as they will have the label of mismanagement by then).

A question about your room. You said you are 26th floor I believe. How loud is it there from the fountains and the strip?

 

It was noisier In this room than any other o have stayed in in Vegas. I think that's to be expected from the sliding glass door. Most Vegas rooms don't have any opening windows. The advantage was we could hear the fountains music with the door open.

Think you could probably say that the primary crowd was 20-30. We still enjoyed the casino and restaurants a lot.

 

Perfect. Thank you for the info.

 

Nice report Lisa, really enjoyed it. Was disappointed to read about all the problems you had at Cosmo. I'll be staying there in March and am hoping to have a few less problems than you. All in all, it sounded like a nice weekend getaway.