Amsterdam Hotel Reviews Hotel-Airline Loyalty Promotions 2016-Q1 Las Vegas Las Vegas Hotels Las Vegas LAS Starwood Hotels Starwood Preferred Guest Tribute Portfolio W Hotels

Hotel Review SLS Las Vegas, Starwood Tribute Portfolio

a sign with a picture of a chandelier and a couple of palm trees

Two weeks ago I stayed at SLS Las Vegas, Tribute Portfolio Resort of Starwood Hotels. This same hotel originally signed on as Hilton Curio Collection, then rebranded in November 2015 to Starwood. Apparently the massive 1,600+ rooms hotel has lost loads of money since it opened.

SLS Las Vegas sign

It is not only the gamblers that lose their shirts in Vegas. Blackstone, parent of Hilton Worldwide, purchased The Cosmopolitan in 2014, Marriott’s high profile Autograph Collection property on the Strip. That property is undergoing $100 million in renovations. It seems like only five short years ago I was at The Cosmopolitan for its press media grand opening.

SLS Las Vegas

SLS Las Vegas has three towers, Story, World and Lux. My room was in the World Tower. The Lux Tower will become a W Hotel in mid-2016.

Link: SLS Las Vegas room types

SLS W Hotel

Hotel chains like to use a phrase kind of like: “This is not your parents’ hotel brand.â€

My parents entered the SLS Las Vegas room with me and my mother immediately commented on how the style was not the kind of place she would like to stay. We stayed in the Venetian the following week and that was her style.

SLS Las Vegas bed

My dad commented on the strange haircuts seen on the people in the window shade photo.

SLS Las Vegas bed sofa

The woods and grasses theme is kind of ironic imagery when you are situated in the middle of the mostly barren desert of Nevada.

SLS Las Vegas mini-bar

The desk area had an interesting map of Las Vegas.

SLS Las Vegas Desk  SLS desk map

The bathroom décor really turned my mom off.

SLS Las Vegas toilet

I doubt my mom has ever been inside a W Hotel or Andaz or one of the designer style properties seen in brands like Kimpton Hotels.

The room décor looked fine to me. My only complaint is the desk chair did not seem like a piece of furniture I would want to sit on for hours working.

desk chair

Hard wooden desk chair did not seem conducive to comfortable desk work.

Large mirrors on opposite walls of the room created an interesting visual effect.

SLS Mirrors

The view from my 31st floor room was limited to other tall buildings.

SLS Room view

SLS Las Vegas Elevators

The elevators offered one of the first glimpses of the casual design of the hotel.

SLS Las vegas Elevator

elevator-2   Elevator 3

elevator foyer

In a real rarity for a Las Vegas casino hotel, there are ice machines on the guest room floors.

SLS ice

SLS Las Vegas public spaces

The first thing I did at the hotel was go out for dinner. This was the incident where I was shocked to find Shark Fin Soup on the Northside Café menu.

Loyalty Traveler – SLS Las Vegas serving shark fin soup for Chinese New Year Menu.

SLS Pool Area

SLS pool-1

There was only the one main pool open and a second pool was closed off.

SLS towers

SLS Las Vegas three towers seen from pool area.

SLS Las Vegas pool-2   SLS pool cabanas

SLS Pool Cabana closeup

SLS Las Vegas is in kind of a dead zone of Las Vegas, away from most of the walkable casinos along the Strip and still quite a ways from the Fremont Street casino area. One convenience is the hotel is on the Las Vegas monorail line.

The resort fee of $29 + 12% tax includes complimentary airport transportation to and from the hotel with shuttle service to the Miracle Mile Shops too. These are the shops near The Cosmopolitan for central Strip location.

DSC_0359

Complimentary shuttle for hotel guests between SLS Las Vegas and McCarran Airport from 6:00am to 7:00pm is part of the resort fee benefits. The shuttle stops at the Miracle Mile Shops at the Planet Hollywood Resort(between Paris and MGM Grand) on the Strip.

SLS Las Vegas Hotel Stay Cost:

I booked SLS Las Vegas on an $87 room rate. After 12% room tax and $32.48 resort fee, total room rate was $129.92. I immediately filed a Starwood Hotels Best Rate Guarantee claim against a $71.37 rate on Vegas.com. My claim was approved in about two hours for the reduced rate plus an additional 2,000 Starpoints.

Loyalty Traveler – Vegas.com for Starwood best rate guarantee at SLS Las Vegas, plus In the Cards bonus offer (Feb 8, 2016).

There is a bonus promotion for SLS Las Vegas called In the Cards. I could not get the promotion page to work until after I checked out of the hotel. I earned an additional 1,000 points from the In the Cards bonus. Another 250 bonus points for the current SPG Take Two promotion and 166 points for my base points for the stay.

SLS Las Vegas Cards promo

All in all, 3,416 Starpoints on a $112 hotel stay in Las Vegas was a good value bonus offer for one night before heading out to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam – Las Vegas trip report segments I will write over the next week.

1. Allegiant Airlines low cost nonstop flights between Monterey and Las Vegas.

2. SLS Las Vegas, Starwood Hotels Tribute Portfolio

3. American Airlines LAS-PHL in First Class

4. PHL lounge reviews British Airways First and American Admirals Club

5. American Airlines Philadelphia – Amsterdam Business Class and Economy Class Seats Comparison

6. Amsterdam Radisson Blu Hotel – Room 1 – The Cave

7. Amsterdam Radisson Blu Hotel – Room 2 – The City

8. Amsterdam Radisson Blu Hotel – Room 3 – The Birds

9. InterContinental Amstel Hotel, Amsterdam – The Views

10. Hulp! Albert Heijn only accepts Maestro cards. How do I get one?

11. 75th Anniversary of the Amsterdam Strike against Nazi persecution of Jews.

12. Dutch Resistance Museum, Amsterdam

13. Rembrandt House Museum, Amsterdam

14. Oude Kerk Amsterdam

15. American Airlines Flagship Lounge London Heathrow

16. American Airlines London LHR – Chicago ORD business class

17. The Venetian, InterContinental Alliance Resort

I only posted two small pieces from Amsterdam last week during my trip.

Second most famous dead woman of Amsterdam – Saskia Rembrandt’s gravestone in Oude Kerk Amsterdam.

W Amsterdam – After drinking up at W Amsterdam rooftop bar, go downstairs for toilets.

Update: Dec 21, 2017 

Came across this post again. There was an ambitious posting plan for my Amsterdam trip following the SLS Las Vegas stay.

Here are the actual posts I completed.

Monterey to Amsterdam February 2016 trip report 2

Amstel-Hotel-ext-1.jpg

InterContinental Amstel Hotel, Amsterdam

1. Allegiant Airlines low cost nonstop flights between Monterey and Las Vegas.

2. SLS Las Vegas, Starwood Hotels Tribute Portfolio

3. American Airlines LAS-PHL in First Class

4. PHL lounge reviews British Airways First and American Admirals Club

5. American Airlines Philadelphia – Amsterdam Business Class and Economy Class Seats Comparison

6. Radisson Blu Amsterdam location is perfect for poke and toke

7. Hotel Review – Amsterdam Radisson Blu Hotel

8. InterContinental Amstel Hotel, Amsterdam

9.  Cost of food in Amsterdam at Albert Heijn and Marqt

10. 75th Anniversary of the Amsterdam Strike 1941 against Nazi persecution of Jews.

11. Dutch Resistance Museum, Amsterdam

12. W Amsterdam Hotel – After drinking up at W Amsterdam rooftop bar, go downstairs for toilets

13. Rembrandt House Museum, Amsterdam

14. Oude Kerk Amsterdam – Second most famous dead woman of Amsterdam – Saskia Rembrandt’s gravestone in Oude Kerk Amsterdam.

15. American Airlines Flagship Lounge London Heathrow

16. American Airlines London LHR – Chicago ORD business class

17. The Venetian, InterContinental Alliance Resort

4 Comments

  • Carl P February 24, 2016

    That desk chair looks like somebody was running short on budget and hit the local Kmart. I also like the Venetian (or the Palazzo) better, but I don’t think you’ll get that rate there.

  • Charlotte February 24, 2016

    I actually have a training conference coming up in Vegas and was staying at Harrah’s for the conference, but amazingly won a free Starwood Cat 1-6 night if I spent a night at the SLS Vegas. So, I cancelled one night at Harrah’s and booked one night on arrival at the SLS since I am coming in late that night. I will just move over to Harrah’s the next day- small sacrifice for a free night from Starwood.

  • Hugo February 24, 2016

    The SLS also caught my attention. It literally is almost like a gem in the midst of rubble.

    I gave it a try last year while it was still under the Curio Collection. After being very polite to the very friendly agent at the HHonors desk, I was able to score an upgrade from a World Superior to a high floor SLS King Suite.

    I really appreciated the modern, clean feel of the room. Windows encompassed the whole of the outer wall so as to illuminate the whole of the bedroom and front room. The bath and shower were very spa-like, without any of the “unique” decor you experienced. Additionally, there was this pleasant scent at the entrance of the hotel that I still can’t forget. I really enjoyed all the amenities and perks I experienced.

    However, some things about the location of the SLS make me indifferent about going back to it. Like you referenced, the SLS is way South of the strip and it seems secluded. There is a portion of the strip between the SLS and The Encore that becomes sketchy at night. Thankfully, you can either take a cab/ride, shuttle, or the monorail up to the MGM with stop points.

  • […] 2. SLS Las Vegas, Starwood Hotels Tribute Portfolio […]

Comments are closed.

BoardingArea