MGM Grand the SkyLofts
Las Vegas, NV
The Hotel
Opened in 2005 and sitting atop the massive MGM Grand, the 51-room boutique hotel, within a hotel, offers high-end personalized service that you can’t get in the main resort.
The Room
The smallest room at the Sky Lofts is 1400 square feet spread across two floors. On the first floor, there is a half bath, dining room, living room and office area. There is a television in the living room and bedroom. The first-floor dining area also had a coffee station that grinds your beans, a small refrigerator with complimentary non-alcoholic beverages including fresh squeezed orange juice. On the second floor is the bedroom, a large bathroom with a huge 3-way shower, infinity bathtub and a toilet. It also has a walk-in closet the size of a small apartment.
The VVagal Experience
Hearing about the legendary customer service of the SkyLofts, we decided to stay there for the last three of a five night stay in Vegas. They do offer transportation from the airport, but since we were coming from another hotel, we took advantage of their $40 per night private entrance valet parking. The 5-star treatment begins upon arrival. The valet attendant/doorman greets you with an eagerness to please. The Valet/doorman then radios to the concierge that you have arrived as you wait in the quiet SkyLoft valet room for someone to take you to the SkyLoft lounge. You are then escorted upstairs for check-in. After checking in, your personal butler escorts you to the room and explains all that the SkyLofts have to offer. The great thing about this hotel is its exclusivity. This is about as close to being treated like a rock star that most of us will ever get. I will go so far as to say that it feels more exclusive than the Wynn and Encore Tower Suites. I say this, because everything is private here including the entrance, elevators, and lounge. Besides privacy, I experienced something for the first time in Vegas...every time we left our room on the 27th floor to go downstairs the elevator was waiting on us when we pushed the button. To be fair, when we stayed here it was a lot slower than usual, so I really want to stay again during a busier time to find out if I get that same rockstar feeling. As the butler was giving the room tour, he casually mentioned that the cable was out, but COX (the cable provider) was working on it. I initially thought "no biggie" since it was around 4 p.m. We just figured it would be back on by the time we returned to the room after dinner and a night enjoying Vegas. We returned to the room around 12 a.m. and no television. Now, I know what some of you are thinking, “It’s Vegas who needs a television?” The short answer is, me! The long answer is if I wanted quiet, I would have rented a cabin in the woods. When I’m taking a break from the bright lights of Vegas, I like to relax in my room and watch movies, sports, news etc. Not to mention, I like the television to watch me fall asleep, if you know what I mean. The next morning, there was still no television, so I inquired with the concierge about the resolution of the situation. There were two members of the concierge team at the desk, one said that the cable was out through the entire resort and COX was working to resolve it, but the other was acting like he didn’t know anything about a resort wide outage and was ready to send an engineer to our room. Despite the right hand not knowing what the left hand was doing, they handled it well, and the television was working by mid-afternoon on the second day of our stay. They also sent a complimentary charcuterie board and chocolates for our discomfort. On a side note, my wife misplaced her phone somewhere on the casino floor during day two of our stay, it was about 8:30pm and the lost and found closes at 8:15 pm. The funny thing is there was another person who lost their phone standing a few feet away from us. The lost and found person appeared from the back and handed him a phone. Great! Surely, she can check to see if the wife’s phone was found. Nope, she promptly told us she was done for the night. At that moment, I couldn’t help but think "would this have happened at the Wynn?" Finally, we did not get an opportunity to eat at the famous Mansion at MGM. They were all booked up because of Lunar New Year.
Overall, I have listed my pros and cons of staying at the at the MGM SkyLofts:
Pros:
Supreme customer service.
The privacy is unmatched. It felt like you don’t have to encounter another human unless you want to.
Cons:
Although the rooms were probably ahead of their time in 2005, they are severely outdated.
Also, it is a part of the MGM Grand, which is not the classiest resort in town.
Although there were some disappointments, they did not take away from the overall experience of staying at the SkyLofts.
Was it worth the splurge? Well, there was a split verdict on this one. I think the privacy and exclusivity alone was worth the price, but my wife, on the other hand, thought the room's electronics were so outdated she wouldn’t stay here again citing the old tube-like television in the living room as an example.