The Ritz Carlton - Lake Las Vegas (4 stars in my book)
Written: Jan 04 '04 (Updated May 01 '04)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Location (away from the strip), room service, and spa/fitness center.
Cons: Size of the room, room air pressure and lack of spa staff.
The Bottom Line: The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas Resort, is a good getaway from the strip resorts. However, I was expecting an "over the top" kind of experience which didn't happen.
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| GOkinaka's Full Review: The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas |
My company was having their annual Christmas party this year at The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas, and since we were able to take advantage of some special room rates, my wife and I decided to stay a couple nights and take in the Ritz-Carlton experience.
RESERVATIONS
The reservations process was simple. I just called the toll-free number (shown below) to reserve our two night stay there. The agent was cordial and very helpful in answering my general questions about the resort:
Check-in Time: Early as 3pm
Check-out Time: 12 Noon
Room View: Resort View (not the lake view)
She then transferred me to Resort Services reservations (702-567-4600) so I could request a full-brochure to be e-mailed to me, so that my wife and I could check out the Spa Vita di Lago to see what they had to offer. I would highly recommend doing this as each Ritz-Carlton spa offers different treatments and there may be changes to the offerings from the website as to what they have in their brochure. We discovered this to be the case when the "Champagne Per Due - Champagne For Two" treatment (which was a 45 minute exfoliation/bath in a candlelit room with classical music and champagne) was no longer offered even though at the time it was still on the website.
About a few days before our stay at the resort, we decided to reserve a spa treatment. We should've booked the spa treatment as soon as we had checked out the brochure because the earliest time that we could have our couples spa treatment was 6:00pm on Saturday night, well into our second day there. That was fine, but we would've preferred a little earlier time. So, be sure to reserve your spa treatments as early as possible as they do get booked up quite quickly.
GETTING THERE
Okay, since most of you have only been to the Strip or Downtown Las Vegas, you probably have never had the chance to venture out toward Lake Mead which isn't too far away.
If you're on I-215, go east all the way until it becomes (yes, the freeway ends to become a street) Lake Mead Drive. Then drive about 7 miles until you get to Lake Las Vegas Parkway, turn left and go for about 1.5 miles to the entrance of The Ritz-Carlton.
If you're on US-95 (I-515), go south until you reach the Lake Mead Drive exit, then follow the same directions as above.
Since we had been to the Lake Las Vegas area before, I had known where to go. Although at night, since there weren't a ton of street lights out there, it took us just a few minutes to find out where to go.
NOTE: Do not go to the Casino Montelago entrance even though the casino is located adjacent to The Ritz-Carlton. The Ritz-Carlton entrance should be the next one after the casino entrance.
CHECK-IN
After getting there, we proceeded to the front desk. It is a rather small one, but I guess that when you consider that they only have about 349 rooms there, that they don't need a huge front desk area like the megaresorts on the strip. We only had to wait a few minutes in line to get checked in, as when they saw that there were more than a couple people in line, another front desk agent came out to assist.
THE ROOM
Our (quality) room was on the same floor as the reception area or kind of like behind the gift shop. Upon entering the room, our first thought was that it was a little small. Don't get me wrong.....it was a very nice room. It's just that we had a room at the Venetian Hotel a couple of months before which is an all-suite hotel that was much bigger and cost about 50% less.
Anyhow, our room was in a light blue color (not exactly light blue but close enough) with white trim for the base and crown mouldings. The furniture was nice and elegant in a dark brown (more of like espresso) color which included the armoire, desk, headboard (for our king-sized bed), two-end tables, and a dressing valet. There was additionally a cherry colored honor bar cabinet as soon as you walk in the door.
For a better view of the bedroom, go to:
http://www.ritzcarlton.com/resorts/lake_las_vegas/accommodations/
However, our view isn't exactly the same as pictured, but we did have a very nice view of the high desert mountains, a portion of the lake, and the Pontevecchio Bridge which houses the Club Level accommodations at The Ritz-Carlton.
The bathroom was located to the right as you walk in the door with marble flooring. There was a separate bathtub and shower, an enclosed toilet room with it's own telephone (of course), two sinks, and Ritz-Carlton bath accessories. Also, two bathrobes for your stay were in the close (I think that you could buy them for about $110 a piece at the gift shop).
In the armoire was the television of which you could (1) watch television, (2) pay and watch movies, (3) pay and play Ninetendo 64 games, and (4) pay and access the internet with the additional wireless keyboard. You could also access the internet with your laptop via a high-speed internet connection which is available in all rooms.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot to mention something about our room. I'm not sure if it was of where our room was located or not, but when we were in our room with the door closed and the window shut, you could hear the draft of the air coming from the door. I've noticed this sometimes, for instance, at home when the air conditioning is on and one of the bedroom doors are shut, but I've never heard it this loud. Sure, it wasn't LOUD compared to most other noises, but when you are trying to sleep, it was loud enough to be annoying. We found that we could alleviate this air pressure in the room by just slightly opening the window, but I still found this odd for a resort of this caliber.
FEATURES
Some of the other features of the Ritz-Carlton resort include:
- 36 holes of golf with the Falls Golf Club and the Reflection Bay Golf Club
- Convenient access to the Casino Montelago
- Over 32,000 s.f. of banquet hall and meeting room spaces
- A choice of indoor and outdoor dining (see below)
- A 30,000 s.f. spa and fitness center (see below)
- Italian gardens and a heated outdoor pool/hottub
- Beach/lake sports and activities (including stargazing, guided hiking and guided mountain biking - all at an additional cost)*
*The cost for stargazing ranged from $75 to $95, guided hiking ranged from $75 to $100, and guided mountain biking was at $75. I thought that these prices were a bit excessive (for what they actually were). For example, the "Morning Walk" which was an express 3 1/2 mile walk at dawn was $75? You know.....I don't mind paying good money for certain things like if it was for a sailing/fishing trip, but $75 for a guided walk?!? They also have several wellness/fitness sessions that you can attend, but for $110 for a 90 minute yoga session that would be FREE at my local 24 Hour Fitness (sure I pay a monthly fee, but still).....I don't think so.
DINING
You have several options for dining at The Ritz-Carlton resort:
- Medici Café and Terrace (for casual breakfast/lunch service and an elegant dinner service with Mediterranean inspired dishes)
- Firenze Lobby Lounge (a relaxing lounge in the main lobby area that has an "Afternoon Florentine Tea" with scones, finger sandwiches and Italian pastries.
- Galileo Bar (a club-like setting bar area with leather chairs/couches, humidor for fine cigars and live entertainment)
- Spa Vita di Lago (healthy spa cuisine is available at the Spa Vita di Lago with continental breakfast/lunch and fruits, fruit-infused waters, freshly-squeezed juices, and smoothies)
- Vita di Lago Pool & Gardens (outdoor dining in a casual atmosphere with sandwich wraps, fruits, fresh fish, salads and tropical drinks)
- In-Room Dining (this room service is available 24 hours a day)
We had room service both for dinner one night and a late breakfast the next day. My wife had a "Black-Angus New York Steak with Parisian butter and creamy potatoes" which cost about $32 which was good, but she thought that the Outback Steakhouse has more flavorful steaks at a better price.
For breakfast, I had the "Crispy Dungeness Crab & Potato Cakes with Poached Eggs" for about $14.50 which was good and pretty filling. My wife had the "Classic American Breakfast" in which she selected orange juice, scrambled eggs, Applewood bacon, country potatoes, and muffins. It included coffee or tea, but she had wanted the Vosges Haut Chocolate for $4.25 which was watered down a little.
NOTE: There is a room service charge added to your order which was about 18% if I recall, so I didn't add an additional tip to the bill.
SPA/FITNESS CENTER
Fitness Center
We had went to the fitness center on both Saturday and Sunday morning for a little workout. One of the little inconvenient things was that you have to walk outside of the Ritz-Carlton to get to the Spa/Fitness Center. This is a short walk, but if it was raining or very windy, it would've been a little unpleasant. They have some quality equipment that actually gets used in the fitness center with treadmills, bikes, elliptical and strength machines and an array of dumbbells. There are several televisions that you can watch while exercising away on some of the cardio equipment; you just have to get some complimentary headphones from the reception desk.
Spa Vita di Lago
As I had mentioned earlier, we had booked a spa treatment for us on early Saturday night. We were encouraged to get there 30 minutes prior to the treatment time to relax and enjoy the "Healing Waters" ritual with the steam room, sauna, whirlpool, cool plunge pool or tsunami shower.
So, we got there actually about 45 minutes prior and checked in at the spa reception desk. From there the receptionist told us to go downstairs (men to the left and women to the right) and that we'd see each other for our couple's treatment which was the 50 minutes - Exfoliation and Bath for $90 (times 2 for couples).
So, we went down to our respective sides, and there was a small reception desk at the entrance to the men's area and the women's area. However, there wasn't anyone there for either side. After a couple of minutes just waiting for someone, I decided to just go in and see if I could find anybody. Well, after going through the hallways on the men's side, I still couldn't find anyone, so I decided that I would go ahead and change in the locker room that I had found. I noticed that there were several clean robes laying on the benches, so after disrobing, I put on a robe and proceeded to take a shower. I had only found several clean slippers in the locker room AFTER I had already taken my shower, so I put some on. Actually, I should've waited to take my shower until after I had gone into the whirlpool, so I took one again after relaxing in the whirlpool. The point is that I had never been to a spa before, and I didn't know what to expect or what order to do things as there wasn't anyone there to ask. Only later did I see a couple of other guests around in the shower and the locker room area. After showering again, I didn't know what to do about our couple's treatment, and there was a door that said "Treatment Rooms", so I went in. Inside there were a plethora of doors going into different treatment rooms, and I could hear some people in some of them, but I wasn't sure which room that we were going to be in. I walked throughout the treatment room corridor until I got to the door that said something like the Women's Locker Room, so I wasn't going to go through there! I wound up going back into the Men's Locker Room area and found another guest to ask where I should go, and it was only then that I found out that I should wait in the relaxation room with couches and a television for the therapist to come and get me.
Anyway, the therapist had come to get me and took me to our treatment room. My wife was taken there by her therapist, and they proceeded to do the exfoliation treatment which was a sea salt type exfoliation on most of the body which felt pretty good. The therapists then left for us to enjoy the bath together which had a "Relaxing" (Geranium) powder that we had put in it. After bathing we laid back down on the tables for them to apply some moisturizing lotion to our bodies.
Overall, the treatments were a pretty relaxing and romantic experience (once we got in there), and we'll definitely take advantage of the spa again; now that we know what to do. They just could've used a little bit more staff there at the spa because for about a half hour or so as I mentioned, I was totally lost.
Besides our couples treatments, some of the other treatments offers are the following:
- Facials from $110 to $225
- Facial Enhancements from $40 to $715
- Massages from $75 to $175
- Exfoliations with a vichy shower rinse from $70 to $110
- Envelopments from $115 to $155
There is also a salon at the Spa/Fitness Center for nail services, hair designs and treatments, and makeup application.
THE COST
Now comes the wallet-breaking part, the cost. As I mentioned before we had a special room rate as my company was having our Christmas party there in one of the ballrooms. This room rate was $149 per night plus 10% occupancy charge. I had looked online at The Ritz-Carlton website, and the quality rooms were going for about $179-199 per night (the rates changed as it got closer to our stay there). So with the room charges, the room service, and the spa treatments.....we had spent about $650 for our stay there for a couple of nights.
OVERALL
Overall, the Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas Resort, is a really good getaway from the usual Las Vegas strip resorts, especially for us locals. Although, I actually expected a little bit more from this resort. I was expecting an "over the top" kind of experience which I didn't quite see.
Sure all of the hotel staff were friendly and accommodating, but there was definitely a lack of customer service at the Spa (not with the therapists but with the lack of staff in the locker room areas). Also, I wasn't overally impressed with the size of the room especially comparing it to the Venetian Hotel.
To find out more about the resort, go to their website at:
http://www.ritzcarlton.com/resorts/lake_las_vegas/
Or you can contact them directly at:
The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas
1610 Lake Las Vegas Pkwy
Henderson, NV 89011
(702) 567-4700 Phone
(702) 567-4777 Fax
(800) 241-3333 Toll-Free
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
GOkinaka
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 - Top 1000 |
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Member: George Okinaka
Location: Las Vegas, NV (USA)
Reviews written: 130
Trusted by: 196 members
About Me:
George is a native Las Vegan in commercial real estate who loves to travel.
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