READER REVIEW: Virgin Hotel Las Vegas (Curio by Hilton)
$5,000 Welcome Bonus
Today’s reader review, “The Grumpies in the Virgin Vegas Spirit”, is by reader GrumpyToTheLeft. If you’d like to submit a reader review for consideration, please contact . You can read his review of St Regis, New York, here and his somewhat controversial first review of the same hotel here.
Flights
Human evidence of loyalty program effectiveness, the Grumpies rarely fly outside the Oneworld bubble.
But for a recent quick lunar New Year’s dinner visit to Las Vegas, SNA was the closest departure airport, and unfortunately, no Oneworld partner offers non-stop service to LAS from there. Connections could have easily doubled the length of the typically sub-60-minute journey. The drive to LAX from “behind the Orange Curtain” takes over an hour as well, and pricing from LAX was high, with American Airlines asking $700+ for an economy round trip.
That price was topped only by JSX, deservingly favorably reviewed by Michelle here, which charged just over $1000 for a round trip from SNA. Since even the self-proclaimed “king,” Kanye West, flies economy, that seemed rather extravagant. The remaining options were Frontier, Southwest, and Spirit, bets from which most gamblers would rather walk away.
Fantasy prices around $70 roundtrip landed as follows when adding at least a carry-on and assigned seats:
Frontier – $246.94
Southwest – $ 229.96 (Since Southwest does not assign seats, an extra charge for early boarding of some type might have been incurred to avoid the dreaded middle seat.)
Spirit – $ 201.09 The “Just For You” bundle, including the aforementioned luxuries, also comes with early boarding. Notably, rather than Group 2 boarding as per the bundle terms, the boarding passes showed Group 1 for both flights.
Some additional observations that may help get fliers into the SpiritSpirit: While Southwest relies exclusively on Boeing aircraft, Spirit operates only Airbus planes, which may be comforting in light of recent Boeing news.
The first two rows consist of what Spirit calls Big Front Seat, essentially domestic US “first class” seats in a 2-2 configuration. Unlike their mainline counterparts, these seats do not recline; they do, however, represent excellent value, particularly on the airline’s longer routes. These seats can be purchased at the time of booking or via an auction system, similar to other airlines’ upgrade sales.
Given the significant cost of everything from seats to (carry on) luggage, top tier status in the Free Spirit frequent flier program is valuable as most, if not all, of those otherwise chargeable items become complimentary. Spirit has in the past offered a status match-challenge combination with the equivalent status being granted for 90 days and extended for a year if a certain number of flights were taken during the 90-challenge period.
Hotel Options and Booking
When a Las Vegas visit coincides not only with Lunar New Year celebrations but also the Superbowl, hotel prices are as sky-high as airfare. Grumpy favorites such as the Wynn or Palazzo at the Venetian cost close to $ 1000 per night, and thus, an alternative had to be found.
Seemingly cheap options on the Strip, such as the Tropicana, Linq, Flamingo, etc., only seem cheap until resort fees, often exceeding nightly rates, inflate the total cost. Something that infuriates even the US president. So off the Strip, we went. The Virgin Hotel & Resort was intriguing – even entry-level rooms looked sizable and new(ish), featuring sitting and work areas, mopable floors that at least seem cleaner than carpet, and decent Tripadvisor reviews.
Expedia offered two nights refundable at $ 653.07, including junk fees. The lowest rate on Hilton.com was $ 714.29, non-refundable, with no refundable option available. Eager to use Hilton Honors Diamond benefits and intrigued by the promise of a rate match plus a 25% additional discount, the Grumpies reached out to the Diamond desk for a price match. The agent acknowledged that making a booking and then seeking a price match via the online form was not a viable option since the Hilton rate was non-refundable.
Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do because “the rate is non-refundable”. While the Hilton price match policy rightly seeks to avoid comparing apples to oranges, this stance was bananas because the lower (Expedia) rate was refundable while Hilton’s higher rate was not. The Diamond desk agent did, however, give her assurances that she would forward the request to the right department.
The email correspondence with the Hilton price match team was surreal, more akin to a chat with a poorly programmed AI bot than a human counterpart, let alone one manning Hilton’s elite desk. Sadly, the humans at the hotel were of no real help either, offering to match the Expedia rate but without the 25% extra discount that is part of the Hilton price match promise. With Expedia’s commission rumoured to be between 10% and 30%, that seemed peculiar.
Just as we thought about staying elsewhere altogether in light of this, eying the newly opened Fontainebleau, the Expedia pricing dropped to $ 368.48, including junk fees. So we tabled the Miami expat (Fontainebleau) for a future review and went ahead with the Virgin sans Diamond perks.
At check-in, the agent inquired whether we were interested in upgrading to a suite at an 85% discount. That much of an upsell discount suggests low occupancy, which in turn could have been used to make a grumpy Diamond member happy with a free suite upgrade. The rules, of course, only “require” Honors perks when booking directly with Hilton. The check-in agent indicated, however, that he would add Mr Grumpy’s Honors number to the booking. Whether that happened, and with what effect, is unclear. The booking certainly never appeared in Mr. Grumpy’s Honors account.
Getting the Junk Out of The Way
Before going up to the room, it was time to put to use one of the half-off drinks coupons provided as one of the resort fee “perks”.
The well Manhattan and well Gin Martini were prepared to order and nicely presented in midcentury cocktail glasses. Unfortunately, their taste remains unknown.
Hoping to take the drinks up to the room, we presented the barkeeper with the coupon when she brought over the drinks, only to be informed that although the coupon applies to well cocktails, the well cocktails we ordered were excluded as per “fine print” that she could not identify on either side of the coupon.
With the drinks already made, customer service common sense might suggest accepting the coupon as an exception so as not to waste the product. Not at the Virgin Hotel & Resort Las Vegas. Instead, the barkeeper got to trash two cocktails, and the Grumpys got to see their room uninebriated.
Since revenge is a dish best served cold and a well cocktail is hardly worth fighting over, the issue was not brought up again until check-out. The front desk agents had an equally hard time identifying the fine print to which the barkeeper referred and agreed to waive 75% of the resort fees charged for the two-night stay. That brought the grand total down to only $ 271.94.
The Room
For all intents and purposes, even though it was the most basic room on offer, it felt more like a spacious junior suite featuring a sizable sitting area with a table and a make-up table that could also function as a desk, making for two workspaces in total.
A dividing door separated the sitting and sleeping area from the dressing area and bathroom, which unfortunately did not include a bathtub.
The shower, however, was spacious. Even though it opened in the spring of 2021, the Virgin is new-ish; the shower controls are on the same side as the shower head rather than opposite as in many newer hotel bathrooms.
The view was nothing to speak of:
Amenities were scarce even by Las Vegas standards: no slippers, no bathrobes, complimentary water bottles being half, if not less, the size of usual Hilton Honors bottles, and no tea kettle/ coffee maker. The latter being very typical for Las Vegas, the Grumpies came prepared with trusted aids in the form of a travel kettle and travel pour-over coffee maker.
A request for extra towels was answered so promptly that Ace Rothstein would be proud. Altogether, the Grumpies were enthused.
Unfortunately, a noteworthy wrinkle appeared on the second morning of the stay (Friday). The hotel is less than one mile away from LAS and, unlike many of the LHR airport hotels, does not seem to feature decent sound insulation. So the Friday wake-up call came not from a phone at the specified time but from incessant take-off and landing noise beginning at 6 AM and continuing through check-out shortly before 11 AM.
Special Mention 1 – The Gym
The Virgin Hotel’s well-attended gym rivals many non-hotel options with numerous state-of-the-art Technogym machines, free weights, and many toys. In addition to a good amount of regular treadmills the gym boasts two of Technogym’s high-end Slat Belt treadmills as well as a Skillmill. For those whose heads are not spinning enough from their time in Las Vegas, there are three spinning bikes, one of which is a Peleton.
Special Mention 2 – The Casino
Surprisingly, recent reporting points to a 42% decline in casino revenue at the Virgin (https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/indy-gaming-despite-losses-mohegan-gaming-not-walking-away-from-vegas-casino). Yet, for the gambling inclined, the Virgin is a solid option, much better than its strip competitors. 6 deck, 2:1 Blackjack, for example, is offered throughout the day with minimum bets of only $ 10.00. By comparison, the Wynn’s minimum bet was $ 200.00 with a far worse cut to boot during the Grumpy’s visit.
Like our “The Grumpies in the Virgin Vegas Spirit” – When Romance Meets Reality review? You can read more hotel reviews here.
